Pulled pork finishing question


 
M

Matt A 3

TVWBB Member
A year after getting my WSM I have made a lot of pulled pork. It is great. And I love making it -- my freezer is full of foodsaver bags of pulled pork...I end up giving most of it away as gifts.

But I would like to experiment a bit with different finishing methods and have some questions about them:

(1) Mixing rub into the pulled pork - I have not tried this but it sure sounds tasty. My concern is that if you add too much rub it will be overpowering. Are there any suggestions for how much rub to mix in per X of pulled pork, where X is something easy to measure, like pre-cooked weight?

(2) Finishing sauce - There is a really simple finishing sauce I saw on other posts with equal parts BBQ sauce, butter and stock. Sounds great - you probably can't go wrong with those ingredients. Any suggestions as to amount of finishing sauce to add per X of pulled pork? How exactly do you add it (a little at a time as you pull, after you are finished pulling, etc...)?

One other question is about evaporation. On some butts I have pulled them after only a short rest, when the internal temp was still extremely hot. I feel like those ones were less moist. Is it possible that evaporation is a material contributor to that? When you pull a butt with high internal temp you certainly get a big steam cloud.

Thanks,
Matt
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Matt A 3:
A year after getting my WSM I have made a lot of pulled pork. It is great. And I love making it -- my freezer is full of foodsaver bags of pulled pork...I end up giving most of it away as gifts.

But I would like to experiment a bit with different finishing methods and have some questions about them:

(1) Mixing rub into the pulled pork - I have not tried this but it sure sounds tasty. My concern is that if you add too much rub it will be overpowering. Are there any suggestions for how much rub to mix in per X of pulled pork, where X is something easy to measure, like pre-cooked weight?

(2) Finishing sauce - There is a really simple finishing sauce I saw on other posts with equal parts BBQ sauce, butter and stock. Sounds great - you probably can't go wrong with those ingredients. Any suggestions as to amount of finishing sauce to add per X of pulled pork? How exactly do you add it (a little at a time as you pull, after you are finished pulling, etc...)?

One other question is about evaporation. On some butts I have pulled them after only a short rest, when the internal temp was still extremely hot. I feel like those ones were less moist. Is it possible that evaporation is a material contributor to that? When you pull a butt with high internal temp you certainly get a big steam cloud.

Thanks,
Matt </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Hey Matt I know the finishing sauce your talking about and it works well. Every once in awhile I will foil one of the butts for an hour or so during the last 4 hours, unfoil dump off the juice and then back on out of the foil until I pull it. That juice goes into the finishing sauce and there is usually a good bit left for next time (have a quart of FS in the freezer now). Not necessary but a nice touch.

Anyway as far as adding rub or finishing sauce, I would say the reason you saw no responses is that it's pretty basic. In that you really don't need an actual amount per lb to mix in. You do it to taste. add a little at a time and mix into the pulled meat and taste it. You'll know how you like it. As far as the FS - add until it has enough to be moist but not sloppy wet. That's all I've ever done.

When you pull the butts when done foil for a few hours until they drop down in temp to say 140 to 150 degrees. I leave them in a cooler wrapped in towels during this period. Then pull/shred. This will allow the juices to pull back into the meat a bit and will let it cool to the point that you don't loose as much moisture during pulling (less vapor/steam escaping). Any juice in the foil when you pull from the cooler goes into the sauce/PP.
 
For the adding of rub when pulling as Ray said it's to taste. I'd say prob no more than a 1/4c per butt. The finishing sauce ratio I use is a 1/4c of BBQ sauce, to 1/4c of stock, (chicken for butts) to about 2-3 TBS of butter, for one butt. I used to do 1/4c of butter, but cut back a little on it. You don't want to add too much of the finishing sauce, or the meat might/can get mushy on you. Sometimes I use it all, other times not. This will really add to the flavor of the butt along with the added rub and really make some great PP. HTH
 
For finishing, I add more rub (just a good sprinkling, but not very much really) after pulling the meat as well as some apples juice and little apple cider vinager...its outstanding.
 
Jason, if you click the Edit button on the post you want to get rid of it will bring up the post then, under the entry window you'll see a Delete box. Click it then continue.

Matt-- I use an emulsified vinegar-based finishing sauce, about 1-2 T per large handful of pp. I never add rub as I'm not looking to add uncooked flavors to the pork. You can -- but be sparing, The flavors can clash and/or the rub can suck up moisture and get pasty, the meat more dry.

As to your other question, you'd have to say what you mean by 'after a short rest' but evaporation likely had a role to play, albeit limited. Time for juices to redistribute after (any) meat cooks is important; residual cooking can be important, depending on when you removed the butt; meat increases its ability to retain (and even absorb) moisture as it cools.
 
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