Pulled Pork for Hungry Realtors - Advice?

[misterrachel]

I'm going to make pulled pork on the UDS tomorrow night for a Realtor tour that I'm doing at one of my listings. Here's my tentative plan, please chime in if you think I could/should be doing something different:

-2 Butts from Costco
-Plowboy Rub
-3 to 4 chunks of cherry

Get the UDS up to 275*ish and put the butts on. Foil with some apple juice at 165* and continue to cook until 195 - 200*ish. Throw in cooler until I get to my listing and then pull.

Questions: When I foil, do I just literally wrap it in foil or do I need to put it in an aluminum pan covered with foil? (sorry, dumb question, I know). Is 2 butts enough for 15 to 25 people? What time should I start tomorrow night to be safe? My tour starts at 11:00, but I need to be done no later than 7 or 8 in the morning.

 

[Boshizzle]

Sounds like a good plan to me. You can just wrap foil. There is no need for a pan if you prefer not to use one. One thing that I would suggest is to get the internal temp up to about 208 before removing from the smoker. I'd suggest giving yourself 8 hours just to be sure. Two 9 pound butts should be plenty.

 

[Porky]

If you come up short on the internal temp you can always foil and finish in you oven. Always allow extra time. It usually takes me 14 hours for 2 butts on my Egg @250. I double foil wrap and place them in a cooler for 2 hours and then pull by hand making sure to get the fat out of the meat before serving. Just my thoughts for you.

 

[Stoke&Smoke]

Costco around here only has boneless butts. Just a warning in case it matters to you.

 

[---k---]

Sorry if this is an offensive question, but is this your first pork butt on your UDS??? I would do at least one practice cook before serving at a party where you are trying to stir up business. Make sure you have a back-up plan.

Ditto my Costco. Different Costco, but both in Chicagoland...

I typically use more chucks than that.

Do you have a plan for serving and keeping it warm after you pull? My pulled pork gets cold pretty fast once I pull it.

Do you have a plan for saucing it, or are you going to let people sauce it themselves?

For 25, depending on the ratio of men / women and depending on how many people come to EAT versus just a snack, 2 - 8# butts might be enough, three probably would be safe, but left overs freeze well and easy to give away, so do 4 butts!

 

[jimithing78]

You're going to pull at your listing? Is that just to retain the temperature a little more? My concern is that you'll be making a mess at your listing. I'd rather pull in the comfort of my own kitchen and then reheat in the oven at the listing. As far as it being enough food - I've never actually weighed before and after but my understanding is that the yield of a bone in butt is about 45 or 50%. Maybe someone else can confirm that. Serve it with some potato salad if you have any doubt and they can fill up on the carbs.

 

[grillzilla10]

If you pull at your home and reheat at the listing you will need something to moisten the meat a little , I use 1 part vinegar and 1 part apple juice and mist the meat lightly and mix it up.

 

[bignburlyman]

Questions: When I foil, do I just literally wrap it in foil or do I need to put it in an aluminum pan covered with foil? (sorry, dumb question, I know). Is 2 butts enough for 15 to 25 people? What time should I start tomorrow night to be safe? My tour starts at 11:00, but I need to be done no later than 7 or 8 in the morning.

I used to wrap meat in 2 layers of foil, because the foil would always seem to get a hole in it. In the last year I started using foil pans and just covering with a sheet of foil. I think it works great.

 

[misterrachel]

Thanks for the advice fellas! The tour went great! First to answer a couple questions:

Yes, it was my first attempt at pulled pork. I did use the boneless shoulder from Costco. I allowed everyone to sauce their own.

I rubbed it down with Plowboy in the morning and let it sit until I got home from work on Monday. The UDS was running a bit hot that evening, about 275*. I used a few chunks of hickory.

Started at 6:00 and by 10:00 both shoulders were at the 165* mark. Put both in an aluminum pan, poured a mix of 50/50 apple juice/RC cola over the top and foiled. By 1:00AM they were at 205*. Triple wrapped both, wrapped in thick towels and put in my cooler.

The tour started at 11:00 and when I went to pull it at 10:45, the temps were still in the neighborhood of 150*.

Some comments from the agents:

-"Wow!"
-"I've never had pulled pork this moist and flavorful!"
-"My husband is a BBQ enthusiast, and you did a real fine job with yours."

One agent even called me after she left the open and told me that she thought it was so good that I should tell people not to bother saucing their sandwiches. She then asked me if I would make pulled pork for an upcoming office event.

So, all-in-all, I'd say it was a pretty awesome trial run! I'm sure that I need to upgrade to a bone-in butt the next time, and my fire control was sure sloppy this time.

 

[---k---]

Glad the pork turned out great. Hopefully the house is as big of a hit.

Good luck.

 

[misterrachel]

I made this again for another Realtor tour yesterday. This time I injected it with apple juice/water/bovine bold/worchestershire and rubbed the outside with Plowboy. Went on the UDS at 11pm. I fell asleep and when I woke up at 3AM, it was at 185*. At 200, the probe went in like butter (at 5:30AM). Wrapped them up in foil and towels and in my cooler they went until 11. OMFG, it was the best I've made yet! Several agents went back for thirds. My partners were razzing one particular agent who was practically licking his plate clean. I'll post my cruddy phone pic pron later.

 

[---k---]

That's awesome. :thumb: I'm hoping it is helping you sell some houses, because I know around here it takes something special to get the to sell.

 

[BigBobBQ]

Well congrats on your success and keep it up!!!

 

[humdogj]

Awesome work. I'm looking to sell my house and instead of cookies and milk, it will be fatties and butts! Boom goes the dynamite!!! :boxing:

 

[Lake Dogs]

Injection baby!! And the one you just used is what many competitors use. There's a REASON they use that injection.... Drop the water from the injection.

Serve this stuff hot, just after pulling, if they like barbecue at all they'll be hurting themselves; eating WAY too much...

 

[misterrachel]

As promised, here's my bad-picture pron. I got so busy serving up agents once I pulled it that I never had a chance to snap a picture of it after being pulled.

 

[Frankbbq]

You can use a low out put crock pot to hold the pork for a period of time on the serving line. At parties I do one with sauce and one plain, both in crock pots.

 

[court]

Very Very nice! I am going to do my first pork this weekend! Hopefully it turns out this good!

 

[misterrachel]

Gearing up for another Realtor tour in the morning. I've used boneless butts for my tours several times since this original post. Tonight I'll be trying out bone-in for the first time. Wish me luck!