Stepped up my pulled pork in the last 6 months.

[thigpen1]

My pulled pork has always been good when it was fresh, I never really cared for it after I froze it. I had resigned myself to only cooking 6 to 8lb butts so my q would be fresh when I wanted to eat some. About 2 years ago I bought a vacuum sealer and it helped. What really brought my game up was a couple of apple sider vinegar sauce recipes I found about six months ago along with a good Brunswick stew recipe. Three weeks ago I found some boston butt's for $0.99/lb and cooked 3 10lb butts, had some people over that night and bagged and sealed the rest in pound serving portions. For dinner tonight we threw one of the bags in a pot of simmering water till it was warm, put some meat on a bun, covered it with some ACV sauce, threw a couple of hamburger dills on top and served with a side of Brunswick stew. Man, that was a good meal

[jimmypop]

Sounds good brother. Im just getting into really cooking pork butts but they are cheap and make some good q. Any tips or tricks for a rookie cooker? I’ve been treating them like a brisket (because that’s what I know) and doing them unwrapped until around 165 and then finishing them covered in a foil pan with juice and brown sugar.

Comes out good but definitely not great...

[thigpen1]

Originally Posted by jimmypop

Sounds good brother. Im just getting into really cooking pork butts but they are cheap and make some good q. Any tips or tricks for a rookie cooker? I’ve been treating them like a brisket (because that’s what I know) and doing them unwrapped until around 165 and then finishing them covered in a foil pan with juice and brown sugar.

Comes out good but definitely not great...

Sound like you got it pretty much down, for more bark I skip the wrapping and use hickory and apple chunks for smoking. I do wrap in foil and throw in a cooler for a couple of hours after done. In the WSM I would try some apple juice in the water pan, just use the cheapest you can find and fill it up like you would with water, cook to 195 and you should be good. The ACV sauce recipe really turn my q around when eating leftovers. I found a recipe on this forum but don't have the link just mix 1 cup ACV, 1 cup ketsup, 1TBS red pepper flakes, 1 TS worstershire sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1TS salt, 1 TS cayenne pepper. Just mix up a day or 2 before eating. This is a little "hot" so I did about 1/4 the amount of cayenne pepper listed. On my last cook I put some Sweet Baby Ray's on the table along with the ACV sauce and nobody touched the SBR's, a few people didn't use anything.

[Dr. Trout Bum]

Originally Posted by jimmypop

Sounds good brother. Im just getting into really cooking pork butts but they are cheap and make some good q. Any tips or tricks for a rookie cooker? I’ve been treating them like a brisket (because that’s what I know) and doing them unwrapped until around 165 and then finishing them covered in a foil pan with juice and brown sugar.

Comes out good but definitely not great...

I don't wrap my butts. I use a UDS between 300 and 325 straight on the rack. I take the temp only to gauge when I should get serious about probing it, looking for that knife through butter tenderness. Rest for a few on the countertop, then wrap and stuff in the cooler to hold until I'm ready to eat.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by thigpen1

Sound like you got it pretty much down, for more bark I skip the wrapping and use hickory and apple chunks for smoking. I do wrap in foil and throw in a cooler for a couple of hours after done. In the WSM I would try some apple juice in the water pan, just use the cheapest you can find and fill it up like you would with water, cook to 195 and you should be good. The ACV sauce recipe really turn my q around when eating leftovers. I found a recipe on this forum but don't have the link just mix 1 cup ACV, 1 cup ketsup, 1TBS red pepper flakes, 1 TS worstershire sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1TS salt, 1 TS cayenne pepper. Just mix up a day or 2 before eating. This is a little "hot" so I did about 1/4 the amount of cayenne pepper listed. On my last cook I put some Sweet Baby Ray's on the table along with the ACV sauce and nobody touched the SBR's, a few people didn't use anything.

If you are smoking said butts on a WSM, I would suggest not using any water at all. Line the water pan with foil, or just throw a disposable aluminum pan in there to catch drippings.. You will be happier with the finished result if you eliminate the water. Use the apple juice for spritzing or mopping, if its needed. Its really hard to mess up a pork butt too badly, but I recommend a vinegar based finishing sauce to help cut the richness after letting it rest for at least an hour after coming off the smoker.

[jimmypop]

Thanks for all the responses. Now Im really ready to get started! I'll definitely include that ACV sauce on the next one. I didnt realize you should stop around 195 on the butts, had been doing them into the low 200's...usually 205 or so. Was probably overcooking them and drying them out a touch.

If you were going to freeze much of it would you try to leave it intact or go ahead and pull it apart and then vacuum seal? I'm thinking I'll do a hand full of butts on the next cook since I have the pit fired up anyway.

[wmarkw]

I do the same when reheating my bbq. If I know I'm eating it that night for dinner I'll take the pkg out of the deep freeze and let it thaw during the day. I'll get a pot of water to a slight boil then will turn off, place my vac sealed bag in the water, cover with the lid and let it sit off the burner for about 30 mins. Like it came off the smoker.

[dgaddis1]

Originally Posted by jimmypop

Thanks for all the responses. Now Im really ready to get started! I'll definitely include that ACV sauce on the next one. I didnt realize you should stop around 195 on the butts, had been doing them into the low 200's...usually 205 or so. Was probably overcooking them and drying them out a touch.

If you were going to freeze much of it would you try to leave it intact or go ahead and pull it apart and then vacuum seal? I'm thinking I'll do a hand full of butts on the next cook since I have the pit fired up anyway.

I always pull it before saving any leftovers.

Don't forget - all those juices on the cutting board while pulling the meat, pour that right back in with the shredded meat.

We generally only use left over pulled pork as ingredients in other stuff. Tacos, quesadillas, pizza, etc.

[wmarkw]

Originally Posted by jimmypop

Thanks for all the responses. Now Im really ready to get started! I'll definitely include that ACV sauce on the next one. I didnt realize you should stop around 195 on the butts, had been doing them into the low 200's...usually 205 or so. Was probably overcooking them and drying them out a touch.

If you were going to freeze much of it would you try to leave it intact or go ahead and pull it apart and then vacuum seal? I'm thinking I'll do a hand full of butts on the next cook since I have the pit fired up anyway.

I always cook my butts to about 205; more tender for me that way. Anything under 200 there is a chunk of meat that doesnt pull very well; stringy like texture.

I mix back the juices from the foiling pan to the pork and let that sit over night. I'll then do the vac seal that next day. I find that the juice doesnt get sucked out as much during the sealing process when it has time to congeal on the meat in the fridge. ymmv.

[OklaDustDevil]

No need to wrap, foil pan, spritz, etc. Just rub and cook low and slow.

[jimmypop]

Originally Posted by wmarkw

I always cook my butts to about 205; more tender for me that way. Anything under 200 there is a chunk of meat that doesnt pull very well; stringy like texture.

I mix back the juices from the foiling pan to the pork and let that sit over night. I'll then do the vac seal that next day. I find that the juice doesnt get sucked out as much during the sealing process when it has time to congeal on the meat in the fridge. ymmv.

You guys rock and thanks for all the info. Sounds like I need to take a "sick" day asap to light a fire!

[bonz50]

Originally Posted by Steve S

If you are smoking said butts on a WSM, I would suggest not using any water at all. Line the water pan with foil, or just throw a disposable aluminum pan in there to catch drippings.. You will be happier with the finished result if you eliminate the water. Use the apple juice for spritzing or mopping, if its needed. Its really hard to mess up a pork butt too badly, but I recommend a vinegar based finishing sauce to help cut the richness after letting it rest for at least an hour after coming off the smoker.

catching the drippings and adding a portion of that back into the pork after you pull it will leave you with some seriously tasty/juicy pork. I started doing this last year and it really helped when reheating from vacuum bags