Calling Voelkels

[Rhyd6]

Hoping for some help from you. We have a family drop in day between Christmas and New Year and I'd like to try my hand with pulled pork. I've read several recipes but do you have a tried and tested one? Not too spicy as age range will be between 2 and 96 with everything inbetween. Any suggestions from anyone gratefully received.

R6

[redsturgeon]

The secret to this IMHO is the use of the slow cooker. I've tried it slow on the BBQ and in an ordinary oven but it is a lot of work and you have much more scope for it to go wrong. Here is a recipe that I have used and works well but feel free to change it as you wish.

https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/easy- ... pork-30356

The key points:

Shoulder of pork, on or off the bone.

A bed of onions (I add some apples too.)

A spice rub for the pork.

Leave it cooking for 6 hours or so.

It is always tender and delicious.

John

[voelkels]

Funny you should ask as we had pulled pork sandwiches for supper. I don’t have an exact recipe to give you but I can tell you what I do. I’ll start with either a bone in pork shoulder (what is also called “Boston Butt”) or a “pork picnic” (fore leg of the pig). I’ll sprinkle on a goodly amount of my “Butt Rub #1”, rub it on all sides of the meat, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight in a glass or stainless steel pan (to catch any juice leaking off the meat).

The next morning, I’ll remove the pan(s) of meat from the fridge and set it on the counter while I prepare my Weber Smokey Mountain smoker (See; https://www.weber.com/US/en/blog/smoker-101 ). I’ll remove the cover from the smoker, chase out any rats, mice, bugs, etc., etc. and, if necessary, wash the grates. I’ll set the base on the short sidewalk by the pool and level it. I’ll get my smoking wood out from storage (I like apple, wild cherry, pecan or hickory - mesquite be a little strong IMHO) and put a large chunk of wood in the bottom of the charcoal pan. I’ll then start a chimney full of charcoal burning (I use the side burner of my gas grill to get it started) and, when the top coals are lit, dump the charcoal into the pan around the wood. I’ll set the middle section of the smoker in place and fill the water pam. The grate(s) go in next along with the meat. I have thermometer probes in the thicket parts of each hunk of meat (being sure that the probe isn’t touching the bone). I’ll put on the smoker lid and adjust the vents so that the thermometer probe I installed just below the top grate reads around 250 degrees F (122 or 121 degrees C).

I’ll allow it to cook occasionally watching the temperature (s) of the meat and smoker for 12 or 10 hours. If the temperature at the grate starts to increase after 8 or so hours, I’ll check the water pan. It the temperature at the grate drops below 215 degrees F, I’ll add more burning charcoal and/or burning wood. When the temperature of the meat gets around 180 F or so, I’ll remove it, wrap in aluminum foil and allow it to cool in foam or plastic cooler for a few hours. The internal temperature will increase and then start to decrease. When the temperature drops below around 180 F, I usually will open the cooler and allow the meat to cool to hot room temperature to pull it apart.

I’ll usually remove the excess fat and bone(s) to simmer for pig stock. Anything that isn’t fairly lean meat, I’ll dump in the stock pot along with the juice from the aluminum foil. I usually will make up portions of meat enough for a generous meal for the two of us and freeze a dozen or so of them. I’ll also freeze larger size portions for other uses besides sandwiches (smoked pig enchiladas, etc.) using my vacuum sealer. The meat at that point isn’t very spicy. When I serve it as sandwiches, I’ll mix the smoked meat with a commercial BBQ sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray’s Raspberry Chipotle sauce but Kraft’s sauces are also good) thinned down with some of my defatted smoky pig stock and nuked in the microwave until hot. You could also just heat the meat up and serve the sauce(s) on the side.

If you don’t have a smoker, the meat can be slow cooked in an oven or (“Please god, don’t hit me with lightning, no”) or a slow cooker with some barbecue sauce. ;-

You might also want to check out http://www.bbqfools.com/BBQGrillsandSmokers.php, which is more than a bit dated but there is some good information there.
C.J.V. – hope that helps some

[Rhyd6]

Thanks C.J.V. and Redsturgeon, you've both given me some ideas to get my teeth into - sorry couldn't resist

R6

[JMN2]

Receding gums are like honey traps for pulled pork...noticing the age range of up to 96...might be a good idea to stock up on tooth picks.

[TonyB]

Here's an oven-based recipe from the Serious Eats website who I find have a range of good recipes with explanations of why things work or don't work.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016 ... ecipe.html

TonyB