Pulling Pork Butt


 
J

John White

New member
After pulling four pork butt roasts with two forks and many hand cramps, isn't there some sort of contraption that can do it faster and a little less painfully? (I saw a clip from one of my little lady's cooking shows and I caught a glimpse of a rotating bowl with some sort of shredder device built in). Does anybody know what this doo-hicky is called and if it works and if it is worth getting? It looked like something built for high quantity pulling like something a catering outfit would use. For me, pork butt on the WSM is the end-all-be-all for BBQ, so I am sure I would put it to good use.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John
 
I use PVC coated gloves, and just have at it while it's still hot. If it's causing you hand cramps, maybe you need to take it to a higher finishing temp. There is a product called Bear Paws that is useful for both lifting hot roasts and pulling them, too.
 
I was watching a show where they just had at it with a couple of cleavers. That made short work of pulling a butt. Of course, that's not really pulled (neither would the machine you described). I think one thing you'd sacrifice with a cutting method is the cleaning of the fat. When I pull by hand, the meat gets really cleaned of any fat. If I was cutting, I wouldn't be pulling out as much fat.
 
Bear Paws do a good job of pulling the pork, but as Jerry notes, you sacrifice getting rid of the fat. One thing that is rather annoying - maybe it's just me - is that the meat sometimes gets packed in the claws and you have to keep scraping it out.

Doug, I'm doing a rib roast today and will use your idea of using the claws to lift it. Good timing!

Rita
 
John,

It sounds like the machine you're talking about is called a Buffalo Chopper. It's an industrial strength machine meant for high volume operations and carries a price tag to match.

The average hobbyist is not likely to justify spending several hundred dollars on one to save a bit of time pulling the occasional butt.

I wear PVC coated gloves and pull the butts while they’re too hot to handle with bare hands. If a butt is cooked to the pulling stage, I pull the bone out and push down on the meat and apply a little pressure to it and the butt will essentially fall apart into it separate muscle groups.

From there, it’s just a matter of removing any remaining fat and interstitial membranes from between the muscles with a fork and shredding the meat with my gloved fingers. The process doens't take long at all.

Hope this helps.

Ken
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ken Nelson:
I wear PVC coated gloves and pull the butts while they’re too hot to handle with bare hands. If a butt is cooked to the pulling stage, I pull the bone out and push down on the meat and apply a little pressure to it and the butt will essentially fall apart into it separate muscle groups.

From there, it’s just a matter of removing any remaining fat and interstitial membranes from between the muscles with a fork and shredding the meat with my gloved fingers. The process doens't take long at all.

Hope this helps.

Ken </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My son has had good luck by using the paddle on a KitchenAid mixer to do the final "pullinh."

Dudley Rose
 
Thanks for the tips,

I guess I'll be getting the PVC gloves and maybe I'll try the mixer paddle method.

This site is the best.

Good cookin'

John
 
For $10/pair, the texasbbqrub.com site has them. I ordered two or three pairs, some rub, and have been happy with them.

I agree with the temp folks ... gotta take it up around 190 to get it to the pullin' stage. Otherwise, just slice it and it'll still be the best BBQ around.
 
I use 2 large serving forks and sort of rake across the meat holding a chunk with 1 fork, and pulling it apart with the other fork flipped so the tips point down.

No cramps for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top