Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork

Choice of meat:

 Bone in Pork Shoulder – They range from 7 to 9 pounds. You can use a fresh pork picnic which is the Butt (Shoulder) and the upper front leg bone together. They are larger than the Butt alone.


Preparation:

About 12 hours before the meat goes in the smoker, trim the fat cap off there is pleanty of marbling inside it doesn't need the fat, apply a coating of mustard to the shoulder and use the rub of your choice, and wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. ( the coat of yellow mustard before the rub is to hold the rub on and add to the bark. The mustard taste cooks out.) This is a good time to soak your wood.


Smoking:

Start your smoker and get it up to 225-250 degrees F. Place the meat in the smoker, fat side down. I don't flip as it interferes with bark formation. When the meat gets over 100F I spray it every half hour to an hour with a 3 to 1 mix of apple juice and water sometimes I use white grape juice. The sugars in the juice will caramelize, and add to the bark. An optional mop/ spray is a spiced rum ans apple juice mixture.

Foiling:

When the meat gets to about 165F, double wrap it in Heavy Duty aluminum foil. Put some of your spray of choice in the foil to help braise the meat. At this point I usually stop making smoke. You can finish cooking from this point on in the oven set at 250F. Continue to cook until the internal meat temps gets to 195-205F. Remove the foiled meat from the cooker and wrap it (still foiled) in a couple old bath towels and put it in an insulated cooler to rest for at least an hour before you pull it. This step forces all the juices back into the pork.


The Plateau:

Almost all marbled meats will hit a plateau where the temps of the meat stops rising. Don’t be tempted to raise the heat as that will dry out the meat. The meat is absorbing a lot of heat at this point while the connective tissue is breaking down. This is what makes the meat tender. Low and slow is the way to go! I’ve seen some actually drop in temp by a couple degrees. Patience – it may be over an hour before the temp starts climbing.

Pulling:

There is a tool called bear claws, I use my hands. I un-foil the meat, the bone usually falls out on it’s own, and I break it apart in to big pieces that I let cool for a few minutes. I then go through each piece and pull out the extra fat which there is little and shred by hand.

Sauce:

I serve my pulled pork with sauce(s) of choice on the side.

Time of smoke:

The general rule of thumb is that it will take about 1.5 hours per pound. Keep in mind that this is just a guideline as each piece of meat is different. Go by temp not time to know when it's done. Give yourself extra time, you can always keep it wrapped in the cooler a little bit longer before you have to serve. It's hard to rush a piece of meat if it does not want to be rushed. So a 8lb shoulder can take 12 to 13 hours.