Pulling pork

[Guest]

How do you do it?

After an 18 hour cook and rest in foil, my procedure is to separate the muscles by hand. Remove the connective tissues and what little fat there is and begin pulling. The outer crust or Mr. Brown I like to reserve till the end. After pulling all the easy to pull meat, I then chop Mr. Brown.

Additions: I season with Raichlens basic rub (with very minor changes-less salt).
Liquid additions include a Lexington sauce and very, very little Kansas City sauce.

There never seems to be any apple cider around to provide moisture, so I have used the Lexington sauce.

The finnished pulled pork works very well as is for sandwitches.

What do you do differently?

 

[Susan Z]

I smoke the thing to 205, let it rest in foil in a cooler for an hour or so (which means it's STILL piping hot), then don my neoprene gloves (heat proof) and take two long meat forks and start pulling! In mere minutes there's nothing but a beautiful pile of moist pork butt. It's a beatiful thing.

Oh, if there are big chunks of bark, I'll take the meat cleaver to 'em, but they sometimes pull nicely too.

Maybe yer not taking yer meat high enuff, tempwise?

 

[Chris K]

I just put the butt in a really big baking pan after cooking to about 200-205 and go at it with 2 forks. No real technique, just try not to get burned to bad. Somehow I am always full by the time the pork is pulled.

 

[B. Foster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris K:
I just put the butt in a really big baking pan after cooking to about 200-205 and go at it with 2 forks. No real technique, just try not to get burned to bad. Somehow I am always full by the time the pork is pulled. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I pull the same way as Chris K. Next time, I'm going to try to solve the mystery of the fullness I feel when I'm done pulling. I may have to set up a camera.

 

[Guest]

Susan, mine usually goes to 195 in 18-19 hours using boneless butts from Costco. I prefer the bone in but Costco is more convenient. This pulls just fine with VERY little to remove.

What I was trying to get to is do you season with rub or other and what do you moisten with?
I read alot bout apple juice but I have not used it.

What I dislike in pulled pork-usually from a poor BBQ joint-is pork 'hash' that is watered down with juice, water, or stock. Dry is not acceptable on the other extreme.

 

[Rob D.]

i usually use a spicy vinegar sauce (i like the one in Raichlen's Barbeque Bible). I did some butts friday nite, but didn't have any jalapenos to make the vinegar sauce, so i just took some of my spicy Dino sauce and thinned it with some cider vinegar. It tasted better than I thought it would. I have some apple cider kickin' around, but I think that might be a little too sweet for my taste....

 

[Dale Perry]

Susan is correct on the advantages of a good ol meat cleaver. Bits of bark mixed in the shredded pork with some chunks blended in for texture changes is the way I do it. To me the PP is at its very best taste when pulling, without any sauce or bread. I actually think I prefer PP without any bread. Just a big pile and some sauce works for me sometimes.
DP

 

[Vernon N]

Steve -- I like eastern style so after letting the butts rest, I pull it a little and then chop it. I then put liberal quantities of an eastern style spicy vinegar sauce on it. Currently the one that I am using is "george's," hot variety, which I buy in Food Lion in Charlotte. This sauce is made in Nashville, NC, right outside of Rocky Mount. The hot variety is not all that hot; the mild is so mild that you might as well not use any.

By the way steve, are you going to Shelby (see the competition section) this weekend?

 

[Susan Z]

Oh, I get you now, Vernon! I mop her during cooking with a sop sauce made of cider vinegar plus whatever rub I used initially, so after pulling I sprinkle a little more in the meat, and then I set the rest alongside for folks to add to their sammitches.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the opinions. It sounds like a vinegar sauce is the winner.

Vernon, I hope to go to Shelby-no word yet if my pee-wee team plays Saturday.

I will have to look up 'Georges'.

I am a little surprised no one uses any apple juice.

 

[Chris Finney]

Steve,
I keep a bottle of George's Hot around too. You'll know it when you see it in the store. Of course it will say George's on the label. Duh. It looks like a Lexington style mop sauce.

Or is it Scott's that I keep?

Now I'll have to look, when I get home.

Sometimes I feel like the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of OZ. If I only had a brain.

 

[Guest]

Chris, I have used Scott's. It is good. If I remember correctly, it has a red pepper and vinegar flavor that predominates.

My preference is a lexington sauce-touch of ketchup, good fresh black pepper, and touch of (for shame) worchestershire (in addition to what is normally found in Eastern NC sauce).

 

[Chris Finney]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris Finney:
Steve,
I keep a bottle of George's Hot around too. You'll know it when you see it in the store. _Of course it will say George's on the label. Duh._ It _looks_ like a Lexington style mop sauce.

Or is it Scott's that I keep?

Now I'll have to look, when I get home.

Sometimes I feel like the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of OZ. _If I only had a brain._

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Back to the brain statement... forgot to look.

I also make mops to use, but keep what-ever it is on hand just in case.

 

[Vernon N]

Scotts tends to be a lot of fine suspended solids and have a lot of spice and heat. George's Hot tends to be mostly clear with larger red flakes in the bottom and is a much milder flavored sauce than Scott's.