Made "Pulled Pork"

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glenn514

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Brewers and cooks...

On Sunday, I sat myself down and grilled/smoked up some "pulled pork." Started with a shoulder roast of about 8 pounds. Applied some of our favorite pork rub, and then wrapped it TWICE in aluminum foil. Cooked it indirectly on the gas grill for FOUR hours, rotating it 90° every 30 minutes. Then, I unwrapped it, applied some bbq sauce cut half-and-half with water, and put it on the Weber. I would have liked to leave it on the Weber longer, but the internal temperature was over 180°F! So, I took the meat off, let it cool, and began to pull it apart...which was quite easy since it was VERY tender.

The mistakes I made were

#1...too long on the gas grill!
#2...didn't keep all the good juice that collected in the foil...could have poured some of that back onto the meat after pulling it apart.
#3...not long enough on the Weber...but fixing #1 will take care of that.

And we've got LOTSA pulled pork in the freezer! And it was YUMMY!

glenn514:mug:
 
No, the mistakes you made were

#1 - Gas grill
#2 - If you double-wrapped it in foil, you certanily didn't "smoke" it. But then again, this was on a gas grill (see mistake #1), so there wasn't much a chance of any smoking going on.
#3 - You disturbed the meat by moving it.
#4 - You basically "braised" the meat by cooking it in liquid. I just mist mine with a spray bottle with a half and half mix of vinegar and apple juice.
#5 - Agreed. I don't take my pork shoulder off until the internal temp crests 200 degrees. Then wrap in foil and towels and place in a cooler for about 40 minutes or until it's time to pull and eat.

MOST important mistake:
#6 - You didn't send any to me for quality control. ;)

But hey, as long as it tasted good. :rockin:
 
180 is not too hot for pork shoulder. Mine comes off in the high 190s. It's done when a skewer goes in with very minimal resistance and the bone pulls out clean with a very easy pull with your fingers.
 
man, I really need to start cooking some meats... all this talk of brisket and pulled pork lately has got me frikkin hungry.

Can anyone suggest a place to start? I am a complete novice, really. I can grill an excellent steak, do a roast in the oven, but that's about it. Should I get a smoker?
 
180 is not too hot for pork shoulder. Mine comes off in the high 190s. It's done when a skewer goes in with very minimal resistance and the bone pulls out clean with a very easy pull with your fingers.

Yeah. That's a good test. I love it when the bone slides out really easily.

;)

TWSS!
 
Thanks, JetSmooth, for the input. I'll let it cook longer next time and get a higher internal temp. And since I don't own a true smoker, my old Weber has got to stand in for one. Maybe less time on the gas grill and more on the Weber?

glenn514:mug:
 
Maybe no time on the gas grill and go straight on the Weber. Thing is, you absorb smoke when the meat is cold and only in the first hour or so of the cook. So if you put it on the gas first, you're missing out on your smoking opportunity.

I mean, I guess you could use a smoker box oin the gas grill. But why bother? Throw your wood chips straight on the charcoal.
 
+1 on skipping the gas grill. That's all I have, so I cook my pulled pork in the house until I can get something to cook it right with outside.

If you don't want to do the whole thing in the Weber, then put it on the Weber to smoke for a few hours, then finish it off in the oven. Better than sticking it on the gas grill. And always smoke first and cook later if you're doing a 2-stage process like that.
 
Nothing wrong with a gas grill. As I said, that's what I have. You just can't make good pulled pork on it. It's great for tons and tons of other stuff I make all the time though.
 
Thing with gas is it is a good heat source. But does nothing for flavor, so you have to compensate with other stuff.

Gas and electricity should heat your home and run your car, but not be used in cooking food.

Just my personal opinion. People should use what they have access to.
 
Thing with gas is it is a good heat source. But does nothing for flavor, so you have to compensate with other stuff.

Gas and electricity should heat your home and run your car, but not be used in cooking food outdoors.

Just my personal opinion. People should use what they have access to.

I agree with the simple addition I made. I prefer gas when cooking indoors but can't bring myself to use it outdoors. Nothing wrong with others using a gas grill, just isn't for me.
 
Thing with gas is it is a good heat source. But does nothing for flavor, so you have to compensate with other stuff.

18447184v1_225x225_Front.jpg


:D
 
my weber char king works great as a smoker, smoke it for 3 to 4 hours, then finish it in the oven or gas grill.
 
Last weekend I made 2, 8-pound pork butts on my Weber charcoal grill. Started with off-set, Minion-method coals and a drip-pan under the meat on the charcoal rack and covered with Plowboy's rub. I smoked them with a couple hunks of apple wood and one chunk of hickory. When the butts hit about 165F I put them both in a pan with a splash of apple juice and foiled it.

Brought them up to about 195F when the bone would come right out, wrapped them in foil and rested in a towel-lined cooler for a couple of hours and then pulled.


Tasted great!
 
go grab a cheap smoker, might find some good end of the season sales right now actually. I will never look back, cook anything from pulled pork to pizza on the thing and it is all good
 
Grilling and smoking are different things and if you want to make honest BBQ, get a dedicated smoker. You can get some smoke flavor out of a Weber type charcoal grill but it won't replace a real smoker. I live in an apartment now and had to give up my smoker. I do have a very nice gas grill but I've given up getting smoke flavor on it. Foil packs just burst into flames. In a perfect world I'd both gas and charcoal grills, plus a decent smoker.
 
Go buy a smoker. I broke down last year and bought a cheap $70 cabinet smoker from Home Depot and haven't had issues with it. You do have to drill holes in the coal basket and put some bricks in the bottom and get a new thermometer, but for the price it couldn't get any better. From then on it's just low and slow. I truthfully love my gas grill, but it is for steaks and the like, anything that is cooked a long time goes on the smoker.
 
Gas and electricity should heat your home and run your car, but not be used in cooking food.

I have to dispute that. I use a Smokin Tex electric smoker. Now you can yammer all day about real smoking involving feeding a fire box and tending coals, and I'll give you that there is more skill involved there.. On the other hand I put in my pork butt, 3 or 4 ounces of wood in my smoke box over my electric element, insert a thermometer and set the temp control. I can then walk away for 12 hours till the temp alarm tells me it's done. And yep, it's all yummy smoky goodness.
 
Grilling and smoking are different things and if you want to make honest BBQ, get a dedicated smoker. You can get some smoke flavor out of a Weber type charcoal grill but it won't replace a real smoker. I live in an apartment now and had to give up my smoker. I do have a very nice gas grill but I've given up getting smoke flavor on it. Foil packs just burst into flames. In a perfect world I'd both gas and charcoal grills, plus a decent smoker.

That's why I have one of these:
http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/AcademyStorefrontAssetStore/ShoppingArea/CatalogSection/ProductImagePopup.jsp?imageUrl=w8VC4ZHHaMqduIJVH9K8ZXrpwZVyFL1UdN8V7f4q2r4pm2Ycwkz7f5YXPJkEwPzEPUFJi4yB37U%3D&langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051

I've only had it a couple weeks but I've already used every part of it except side burner. Worth every penny.
 
I have to dispute that. I use a Smokin Tex electric smoker. Now you can yammer all day about real smoking involving feeding a fire box and tending coals, and I'll give you that there is more skill involved there.. On the other hand I put in my pork butt, 3 or 4 ounces of wood in my smoke box over my electric element, insert a thermometer and set the temp control. I can then walk away for 12 hours till the temp alarm tells me it's done. And yep, it's all yummy smoky goodness.

Agreed! I've smoked meat twice now on my homemade electric flower pot smoker, and I may never use my UDS again. It's so simple to just warm it up, put some wood chips in the pan, and leave it alone for as many hours as needed 'til its done. My UDS simply requires more thought.
 

UUse the side burner to start charcoal in a charcoal chimney - now you have a use for all of it. ;) I had seperate gas grill and smoker when I was married but after that was over and I became an apartment toad, only the gasser could come with me. :(
 
Well, the dedicated smoker just ain't gonna happen in this household. I'll just hang on to the old Weber and let it do what it does. Thanks, all, for the input on either doing ALL the cooking on the Weber or starting on the Weber and then going to the gas grill. My gas grill, by the way, uses ceramic brickets that look just like Kingsford charcoal to impart some flavor into what is being grilled. The flame is under the brickets so any juice/grease drops on them and starts to smoke.

Again, thanks to all for suggestions. I will certainly put them to use the next time I make "pulled pork."

glenn514:mug:
 
I have to dispute that. I use a Smokin Tex electric smoker. Now you can yammer all day about real smoking involving feeding a fire box and tending coals, and I'll give you that there is more skill involved there.. On the other hand I put in my pork butt, 3 or 4 ounces of wood in my smoke box over my electric element, insert a thermometer and set the temp control. I can then walk away for 12 hours till the temp alarm tells me it's done. And yep, it's all yummy smoky goodness.

Funny, I've never once had to "feed" or "tend" to my Big Green Egg. Fillt it. Light it. Tune it. Smoke it. (sounds like a Daft Punk song, haha)

I'm just funnin' with everyone anyhow. Everyone has a preferred way of cooking and as long as it's working for you, go for it.

I still maintain that "BBQ" requires three things; heat, smoke, and time. There are more natural ways (fire) and more technological ways (electricity) to achieve them. It's like brewing, what comes off and whether you like it is what counts.
 
I picked up a Brinkman "El Cheapo" electric smoker for $10 at a yard sale. Definitely nothing fancy, but it gets the job done with a couple of very minor mods.

But even then, I've had to smoke for a couple of hours, then bring in to finish in the oven sometimes.

I've heard you can use several different electric heating elements and a coffee can to turn your gas grill into a smoker. After the smoke is on the meat, fire up the gas grill on low and cook it through. I imagine it takes a LOT of gas to do this though...
 
I've heard you can use several different electric heating elements and a coffee can to turn your gas grill into a smoker. After the smoke is on the meat, fire up the gas grill on low and cook it through. I imagine it takes a LOT of gas to do this though...

I'll bet it uses a lot of gas becuase a gas grill is intended to. . err. . GRILL. i.e.: high temp cooking.

So the surners aren't probably very efficient when you're trying to maintain sub-250 degree temps. Though I think there are some pretty good advances in gas technology that may allow to half-light burners or use a different orifice for lower temps (pilot lights run ALL the time, so they have to be efficient, right). Of course, this is all conjecture. I haven't cooked on a gas grill since guest-cooking at a friend's party a few years ago.
 
I've smoked many a Boston Butt on my weber grill, lovingly tending the coals every hour.... then I got a ceramic grill! Never again will I use my weber for smoking. I also think that the charcoal imparts a flavor beyond the smoking wood.

+1 too internal temp of 195F+, I bet at 180F you had a hell of a time pulling that meat!
 
@ Pickles...

Actually, while it was sitting inside, cooling off, the internal temp went up to over 190°F. That's why I left it sit for a time before doing the pulling...and it was very easy, and the shoulder bone just fell out.

I'm going to search for a source of hickory and apple chips. My nephew soaks wood chips in water for a time and then just lays them over the burning charcoal in the Weber. That, I think, would impart some additional flavor to the meat, yes?

glenn514:mug:
 
I did some ribs in my gas grill last weekend. I soaked apple chips, then wrapped them in foil and set that down across the burners in the grill. I actually got a nice smoke ring n the meat and it took on a good bit of flavor from the smoke. Not as much as a real smoker would have done, but there are SOME things you can do to enhance the process if you're using gas.
 
Quote[I'm going to search for a source of hickory and apple chips. My nephew soaks wood chips in water for a time and then just lays them over the burning charcoal in the Weber. That, I think, would impart some additional flavor to the meat, yes?]

Walmart has both in my area. And that is how I usually smoke my meat. If it is not a planned smoke I'll just throw the chips on dry.:mug:
 
Sure the meat will take on smoke no matter how it's produced (smoker, foil pack, smoke box in gas grill, directly on the coals) but only if the meat is smoked when it's cold. Just burning some wood in any grill isn't smoking. You want to let things settle in and get the blue smoke, otherwise it'll taste acrid and bitter. I personally don't like hickory or mesquite, cause I like a little more surely flavor. I like oak or maple, I also have tons of bourbon barrel staves that are fresh (long story) that work great!
 
I did some ribs in my gas grill last weekend. I soaked apple chips, then wrapped them in foil and set that down across the burners in the grill. I actually got a nice smoke ring n the meat and it took on a good bit of flavor from the smoke. Not as much as a real smoker would have done, but there are SOME things you can do to enhance the process if you're using gas.

I hear you chshre. I have done that before I got my electric smoker. I would put water soaked wood chips wrapped in foil right next to the burner on one side of the grill and light that side on low heat. I would then put the food on the cold side of the grill and let it take smoke for an hour or two. It doesn't work half bad actually.
 
Beer is the mind-killer. Beer is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my beer. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see it's path. When the beer has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Great Sig by the way. I luvs me some Dune.

Zensunni Brewer
 
Sure the meat will take on smoke no matter how it's produced (smoker, foil pack, smoke box in gas grill, directly on the coals) but only if the meat is smoked when it's cold. Just burning some wood in any grill isn't smoking. You want to let things settle in and get the blue smoke, otherwise it'll taste acrid and bitter. I personally don't like hickory or mesquite, cause I like a little more surely flavor. I like oak or maple, I also have tons of bourbon barrel staves that are fresh (long story) that work great!

+100 Well said Nate! Sweet blue is what we seek.
 
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