Journey to Pulled Pork


 
Rich G

Rich G

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It's been a while since I got up early (well, it actually wasn't that early!) to put a pork butt on the WSM. My wife scored me a package of butts at CostCo, and today was the right day to get one of them in a bath of smoke. I broke open the package, grabbed a piece, and did my usual three-string roast tie to keep it from falling apart......what's this? A bone? I didn't even notice they were bone-in since our CostCo has had nothing but boneless for years! Oh, well, I tied it anyway (totally not needed), slathered with mustard and a good blanket of DP Dizzy Dust.

Set up the WSM22 with a full load of charcoal, empty foiled pan, and a chunk of hickory, apple and cherry. Fired up some coals right in front of my Guru port, and off we went with the CyberQ driving the bus. Now......we wait.

See ya in a while, Sir Butt:

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.....I'll be back in a few hours with a progress report!

R
 
WSM is still running hot (about 290F), but I'm letting it go...... Here we are about four hours in:

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Smells heavenly (something about the mix of wood smoke and pork), and is at 154F internal temp......stall should be coming up shortly! :)

R
 
A little over 7 hours, and still cruising along. Grill temp has settled back down to about 265, and the pork is at 186......blew right through the stall (or maybe stalled higher), so we'll see if the connective tissue broke down, or I was too hot......

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While waiting on the pork, some bread happened.....:

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And, I harvested some parsley, thyme and oregano:

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Ok, back in a while.....thanks for coming along for the ride!

R
 
Wow that looks great! Tell me more about the bread too. Going to be fantastic. No smoking for me today I hope. I am on the South side of downtown Chicago. Still hoping no smoke day....
 
Tony-Chicago said:
Wow that looks great! Tell me more about the bread too. Going to be fantastic. No smoking for me today I hope. I am on the South side of downtown Chicago. Still hoping no smoke day....
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Thanks, Tony. The bread is the two-loaf batch of sourdough I make every week (at least once a week, anyway.) It's about 33% fresh milled whole grains (hard red spring wheat, rye, spelt and durum). Happy to share the formula details with you if you want them.....how's your bread baking going?

R

PS: Stay safe out there! Crazy on top of crazy going on!
 
Just an everyday thing you threw together nonchalantly. That bread looks great! My bread been okay. Not ready for prime time but edible. Rest of house likes plain bread one step from wonder. Your bread looked great. Yeah it is a bit scary here. But I am a bit trapped here. All transport is shut down now. And the roads out are blocked. But no issue yet. My hang-glider will get me about 20 feet maybe. Bridges are up so my submarine would be useful. oh wait i ate that loaf...
 
;) It took many years for me to sound that nonchalant about making a nice loaf of bread, Tony, and plenty of "interesting" loaves along the way! :)

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Ok, so, 10 hours after my pork went on the grill, off she came......bone pulled out cleanly, the chef's snacks were super good, and she is now resting nestled in towels in my cooler......I'll pull it in a couple of hours for dinner.....I'll be back then!

R
 
Wow. Nice. I too was surprised Costco usually no bones. But now they are probably overwhelmed. Empty shelves. I did get one dino-chicken. I make soup with them. Whoke thing goes in. Separate later i the morni g after cooled. Your pulled pork looks fantastic.
 
Ok, if anyone is still following along, I'm going to wrap this one up with two pictures......

Pulled:

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Bowl o' pork:

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The higher than anticipated heat didn't harm anything along the way, super tender, tasty, and didn't even need a bun! :)

Thanks for going on this journey with me! ;)

R
 
BrianCal said:
Looks perfect. What sauce did you use?
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Thanks, Brian!

My "house" sauce:

1 cup chicken stock
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1T Molasses
1T Yellow mustard
1T Chili powder
1T Honey
1-2 t garlic powder
1-2 t onion powder
.5-1 t black pepper

Add ingredients to sauce pot, bring to simmer, simmer ~15 minutes, cool, eat.

R
 
Looks good, Rich!

And even though the cook may have gone a little sideways at times, it's good that you Didn't Stop Believing.;)
 
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