PULLED PORK THROWDOWN


 
S

Sal Fontana

TVWBB Member
My fellow Bulletheads,

I was challenged to a pulled pork throwdown tomorrow afternoon!!

I cook down and scim the drippings from the water pan most of the time which supplies great flavor.

Do we have any other secret weapons up our sleeves for a killer sauce!!??

Thanks all!!
 
Nope, that's going to be my strategy to add to my finishing sauce tomorrow for my 16lb butt cook.

Great minds think alike, I suppose? Was cleaning up after my rib cook this week and looking at those juices in the pan I was tossing away.

Only question was - why am I not cooking this down and skimming the fat?

Don't remember this being mentioned anywhere previous, but haven't done a search.

Given that those drippings are there for the duration of the cook, it will be interesting to see how much liquid vs fat is actually left though.

One other thing I am doing based on my last butt cook though is to foil once the butts get to say 165 degrees for an hour to collect liquid, then throw them back on out of foil to bring the bark back until done.

Also I am going to pull on site this time.
 
I say go for the Eastern North Carolina style sauce/dressing. Go by taste and you will NOT be disappointed!

To the pulled pork add:
* Lots of apple cider vinegar
* White pepper
* Red pepper (aka chili aka cayenne)
* White sugar
* Salt
* Splash of your favourite hotsauce for the complexity (I use Cholula).

Mix VERY well.

It should be a good balance of sweet (sugar), sour (vinegar), salty (salt) and hot (chili/cayenne/white pepper), but more on the sour/hot side.
 
I am not sure where I got this recipe but here you go.

Ingredients:
2 cups apple cider vinegar
½ cup ketchup
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2-3 dashes moonshine (optional) we use grappa.
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp crushed fresh garlic
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Juice of ½ lemon
3 Tbs. Tabasco sauce
Directions:
Combine the vinegar, ketchup, sugar, moonshine, Worcestershire, onion powder, garlic powder, crushed garlic, black pepper, cayenne, red pepper flakes, lemon juice and Tabasco sauce in a large saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Cool. I halved this recipe and there was little left over, so that was prefect. As you can imagine, this sauce is quite tart. Add a little more ketchup if you want to mellow it out just a little.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave from Denver:
In my experience the liquid left after a full butt cook is nearly 100% fat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Dave,

I poured the liquid trapped in the foil from yesterday's small pork butt into a separator cup last night. It yielded about 40-50% fat-free liquid which was, then, poured back over the pulled pork. This is typical of my experiences with butts foiled at 160-165 degrees F. and cooked 'til tender while wrapped tightly in foil. YMMV.

###
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for all of your great advise!!

Yesterday was a grand slam!! I used Dave's sauce listed below and everyone was blown away with the results. A few people told me that sauce wasn't even needed with this great cook.

It is soooo cool seeing everyone enjoying a great cook!!

Thanks all and keep smokin'!!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sal Fontana:
I cook down and scim the drippings from the water pan most of the time which supplies great flavor.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by D. L. Whitehead:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave from Denver:
In my experience the liquid left after a full butt cook is nearly 100% fat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Dave,

I poured the liquid trapped in the foil from yesterday's small pork butt into a separator cup last night. It yielded about 40-50% fat-free liquid which was, then, poured back over the pulled pork. This is typical of my experiences with butts foiled at 160-165 degrees F. and cooked 'til tender while wrapped tightly in foil. YMMV.

### </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think Dave was referring to Sal's use of the drippings left in the water pan after the cook, not juices trapped by foiling a butt. I don't know how others' cooks go, but the stuff left in my water pan looks more like something I'd use to lube the engine in my truck than something to sauce my pork.
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Never know unless you try though, I guess.
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So I didn't use the pan material. I used the BBQ Guru for the cook, so it was a dry pan.

The fat is not the challenge as you can always get rid of that if you want. The challenge is that I foiled the pan as usual. There was a fair amount of caramelized drippings stuck to the foil. I was in a hurry so couldn't spend time with that.

I had my juices for finishing and mixing with sauces I made by foiling for 1 hr after the 165 degree point. I dumped the liquid and put the butts back on to finish and get the bark hard again.

Anyway - next time if I have more time I'll simply take the foil, rip of the area that has the drippings (basically the bottom area) and boil them out in a sauce pan and start from there.

I'm convinced that there just might be gold there
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HI ALL,
THIS EMAIL BELOW WAS SENT TO ME THIS MORNIG FROM A BUDDY OF MINE. IT'S GREAT TO HEAR STUFF LIKE THIS ABOUT YOUR COOKS.

They all loved it at work. Some said the best they ever had, better than most restaurants they said.
 
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