Pulled Pork question

I smoked a pork shoulder yesterday, but didn't have time to cook it through. The middle was about 15 degrees low. I should have foiled it and finished in the oven, but thought it would get done outside. It got late and so I brought it in and foiled it and let it sit while getting ready for bed.

So what it's going to be like after I finish it up in the oven? Any good?

It looks amazing, but it only got up to around 140 in the center, and it doesn't pull apart quite yet.

I'm bummed because I got a late start and was really hungry for a pork sandwich yesterday.

On top of that, I finally got to working on my mustang again and didn't even get 4 inches of weld complete before running out of gas!

Should be fine, since you wrapped it immediately after taking it out of the smoker. Finish it and enjoy.

Well, I wrapped it up and let it sit for 45 minutes while I put away the nuts and bolts I was sorting (no way I could leave that junk inside the house!)

And when I checked on it, it was still not tender enough to pull, but there was a bunch of juice in the bottom of the foil. Then I tore the foil, so I had to rewrap it.

I think the thing weighed 4.5 lbs? So I read 1.5 hours per pound, so the 8 hours should have been enough? Trouble is, even though my thermometer reads about 250, it is never done within the time I plan.

How much time should this take? I want to be able to plan better.

Smoking a butt usually takes at least 8-10 hours. For the large majority of this time, the temp hovers in the 150-160 range. During this period, heat energy slowly liquefies the fat. Once this phase is completed, the meat temp will start to rise. When it reaches 190-ish, cooking is complete.

Without the fat liquefaction stage you can't get "pulled" pork.

Using foil should be avoided at all costs. It ruins the bark and makes the meat soggy. However, when things go wrong it can be used as a crutch to help soften the meat.

I've found that for best results you can't go by the clock. You need to monitor internal butt temp. I've never had one finish in under 10 hours.

I always start at least 12 hours before serving time. Once you pull it out of the smoker, you need to wrap the butt in a towel and let it sit in a cooler for an hour. This rest is needed for the liquefied fat to absorb into the meat. If it finishes sooner it sits in the cooler longer.

arturo7 said:

Smoking a butt usually takes at least 8-10 hours. For the large majority of this time, the temp hovers in the 150-160 range. During this period, heat energy slowly liquefies the fat. Once this phase is completed, the meat temp will start to rise. When it reaches 190-ish, cooking is complete.

Without the fat liquefaction stage you can't get "pulled" pork.

Using foil should be avoided at all costs. It ruins the bark and makes the meat soggy. However, when things go wrong it can be used as a crutch to help soften the meat.

I've found that for best results you can't go by the clock. You need to monitor internal butt temp. I've never had one finish in under 10 hours.

I always start at least 12 hours before serving time. Once you pull it out of the smoker, you need to wrap the butt in a towel and let it sit in a cooler for an hour. This rest is needed for the liquefied fat to absorb into the meat. If it finishes sooner it sits in the cooler longer.

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Yep, that's what I've done before. I couldn't remember the time needed so I looked it up and figured I had a little extra time. I'm just going to plan on 12 hours from now on.

I probably should have just left it on there and set my alarm for an hour at a time, but I didn't know that I was going to be wide awake until after midnight!

I was just curious to know if it will be tough or mushy after finishing in the oven today.

Homercidal said:

I was just curious to know if it will be tough or mushy after finishing in the oven today.

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Not sure what you're going to get. I would have left it in the oven all night at 200.

I've had pork butts get cooked soft enough to pull in 4-6 hours by braising them.

weirdboy said:

I've had pork butts get cooked soft enough to pull in 4-6 hours by braising them.

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That ain't barbeque

I've finished almost all my pork shoulders in the oven, mostly because I have trouble controlling the temp on my smoker. In order for it to "pull" like you want it to, you need an internal temp around 190. Like arturo said, it's all dependant on the meat temp, not time.

Oh, and make sure your significant other likes the smell of barbecue. If you finish one of these in the oven, your house will smell like a smokehouse for days. Nice when it's cooking, but not so nice on day 3 when it smells like old hotdogs....

Now I'm wondering if I shold put it back on the smoker. I have a few chips left and it would keep the house a bit cooler. I don't think the wife minds a bit of smoke smell. She doesn't even mind the malt and hops smell from brewing anymore.

I don't know how the braising would work. After I took the time to put the rub on it, seems like the braising would help wash all that off.

Lady at work said she just makes pulled pork in the crock pot. I've had it that way and it was nice pork, but the rub and spices was missing. I guess you could imitate the flavor by adding smoke flavor...

Can anyone tell me why ribs are so DARNED expensive? I mean it seems like a part of the meat that should cost less. Tough unless cooked for hours, mostly bone, yet it sells for many times the price of some other meat.

I'd stick the butt in your oven. Once you get past the first 2-3 hours, the meat does not absorb much smoke. Any smokey flavor you're going to have is already there.

Ignore the braising comment. Totally different process.

Homercidal said:

Trouble is, even though my thermometer reads about 250, it is never done within the time I plan.

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Is this a digital thermo or the thermo that came on the smoker? The thermo on my smoker is usually 75F off from the digital I put in at grate level so I never listen to it.

MikeRLynch said:

That ain't barbeque

I've finished almost all my pork shoulders in the oven, mostly because I have trouble controlling the temp on my smoker. In order for it to "pull" like you want it to, you need an internal temp around 190. Like arturo said, it's all dependant on the meat temp, not time.

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Like you're one to talk. You finish it in the oven!

What I do is the opposite. Braise for 4-6 hours in the oven, then put it on the grill for a couple hours and let it finish there and get a nice bark on the outside.

SOB said:

Is this a digital thermo or the thermo that came on the smoker? The thermo on my smoker is usually 75F off from the digital I put in at grate level so I never listen to it.

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The thermometer on the smoker reads way low. I have the thermometer from the turkey fryer mounted in the lid and calibrated it at 32 in crushed ice and water, and boiling by comparing with my 2 brewing thermometers.

When the built in thermometer reads LOW, the temp on the turkey fryer thermometer is at like 250-300.

The thermometers I used to check the meat is my last remote brewing thermomter, which has always read fine, and a new brewing thermometer which is just a stick. I want to check them both now just to be sure, but I figure they can't both be off more than 2-3 degrees.

The turkey fryer thermo is located at just above meat high, about 2-3 inches from the top of the lid. I'll have to check the calibration on it again, because it "could" be off.

Ok, so at about 2 am Tuesday morning I finally put the Butt in the fridge. It had reached done temperature and seemed pullable. I pulled it out after work on Tuesday and put it back in the crock pot to warm up while I ran to get some tires for my utility trailer.

Came back and found that I forgot to plug the damn crock pot back in! So at like 8 pm, 3 days later, we had pulled pork. My wife says I need to start the next one tonight.

It ended up being pretty good. Not as good as I hoped/expected, but def enjoyable. My first sample I ate with Whole Wheat Buns, which I wanted to try. Not good.

Also, the BBQ sauce sucks. I just used what we had in the fridge, a bottle of some honey smoke stuff. Too thick and just not tasty. Today I had it with some Sweet Baby Rays. Much better, but I'm still thinking that I need to start the search for the best sauce yet. Homemade, and made just for pulled pork.

Sweet Babys Rays is a good store bought sauce, but homemade is always the best. My own sauce varies almost every time I make it, but it has the same core ingredients: ketchup, mustard, vinegar, spices, brown sugar and/or molasses.

I think I might go buy some pork butt tonight

Yeah I always make mine from scratch too.

In fact a little pork butt this weekend does sounds like some kind of idea. I wish I had a smoker...

I wonder if my wife would kill me if I bought one?

weirdboy said:

Yeah I always make mine from scratch too.

In fact a little pork butt this weekend does sounds like some kind of idea. I wish I had a smoker...

I wonder if my wife would kill me if I bought one?

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You can make one on the cheap from a trash can or clay pot and a hot plate. Just google DIY smoker.

Yeah I know about the DIY versions...I guess that's something to consider. We do have a hot plate somewhere that we never use.

Problem is I don't think she'd appreciate the aesthetics of a garbage can smoker.

Homercidal said:

Ok, so at about 2 am Tuesday morning I finally put the Butt in the fridge. It had reached done temperature and seemed pullable. I pulled it out after work on Tuesday and put it back in the crock pot to warm up while I ran to get some tires for my utility trailer.

Came back and found that I forgot to plug the damn crock pot back in! So at like 8 pm, 3 days later, we had pulled pork. My wife says I need to start the next one tonight.

It ended up being pretty good. Not as good as I hoped/expected, but def enjoyable. My first sample I ate with Whole Wheat Buns, which I wanted to try. Not good.

Also, the BBQ sauce sucks. I just used what we had in the fridge, a bottle of some honey smoke stuff. Too thick and just not tasty. Today I had it with some Sweet Baby Rays. Much better, but I'm still thinking that I need to start the search for the best sauce yet. Homemade, and made just for pulled pork.

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I like pork Eastern Carolina style. The link below has a recipe for that sauce and also a Piedmont sauce.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm#rubs

And, yes, use white bread. The bread is a utensil, it shouldn't taste like anything. Especially with pork which is delicate in flavor.

arturo7 said:

You can make one on the cheap from a trash can or clay pot and a hot plate. Just google DIY smoker.

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I would love to make a UDS but I have no where to "hide" the ugly thing when not in use. And a clay pot just doesnt seem big enough to put a butt or a brisket on...

On that note I'm gonna be smokin' up a 9lb butt on Saturday and a Brisket on Sunday for a 4th July party...I'll be sure to post some pics!

When I smoke pork shoulder or butt, I put the rub on the night before, wrap it in heavy foil and place it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I heat my oven to 225 and put the meat into the oven while I prepare the smoker for use. When I get smoke and temperature where I want it (usually 1/2 to 1 hour, I pull the meat out of the oven, drain off the juices into a pitcher and get it into the smoker. I baste the shoulder/butt with the reserved juice.

My shoulder/butt typically takes 10 - 12 hours even with preheating in the oven. I try to get it close to 175 - 180 before pulling it out. I then wrap it up tight in heavy foil and let it rest for 1 hour. During this time, the internal temperature will rise to close to 190, but all the juices stay inside.

Your shoulder/butt can be slowly re-heated as long as you kept the juice inside the foil. I would not shoot for 190 as this may over cook and dry out your meat. Remember, meat will continue to cook for a period of time when removed from the heat if covered.

Good Luck.

Salute!

That was one problem. I pulled it off the smoker before bed the first day and wrapped it up and put it in the fridge to stay until after work the next day. But the next day when I got the smoker going for round 2, the bottom of the foil had a nice puddle of juice! I put it on the smoker again anyway, and hoped.

It didn't turn out dry much at all, but I wonder how much of that would have stayed in if I had cooked it properly.

We've ate that thing the past 2 days and nobody seems to be getting tired of it. Last night I settled for a 3-day-old brat leftover because the others wanted to finish off the pulled pork.

So, I'm planning on doing this again maybe this weekend. And i'm going to buy some fresh cabbage and try making Cole Slaw again, this time being more careful with the cabbage to sauce ratio! (I don't care much for it, but the wife is a big fan. I'll just pour an extra glass of beer!)

When you pull the butt off to rest, Id recommend wrapping it in a kitchen towel, not foil. Bark is good.




EDIT: yes, I am a broken record



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