Pulled pork is one of the easiest things to cook in a smoker and one of my favorites.
Wild or domestic pig can be used. Yesterday I smoked an 8# domestic pork shoulder that was rubbed down with dry seasoning the night before. There's plenty of shelf brands of rub to choose from or you can make up your own as I do most times. This one has a brown sugar base with lots of other goodies added.
Smoking a shoulder to the point of "pulling" vs "slicing" is not a quick process. Yesterdays pork took almost 13 hours at cooker temps ranging from 200 to 250 to reach an internal meat temp over 190. Strong cold winds prolonged my smoking time.
I took my meat out of the fridge a few hours before I was ready to cook so it could reach room temps. Normally I'll go straight to the smoker with the meat, but yesterday I started it in the house oven due to basement flooding issues. By 6:00 a.m. it was in the oven, by 9:30 it was in the smoker. I like to cook it in a foiled covered pan for about half of the cooking time to insure I'm gathering juices to add to my barbecue sauce later. Sometimes I take it out and place it on the grates, sometimes I just leave it in the pan, I don't think it much matters. You are going to get good smoke flavor no matter which way you do it. I also would like to add that I have been using mostly maple wood this year.
Once the meat has reached 190 I'll bring it in and let it rest on the counter covered with foil and then a towel. The meat will keep cooking and gain another 5 to 10 degrees. During this time I'll mix up the juice from the pan with some vinegar and some barbecue sauce. Original Open Pit, or Lil Jug works good for me. I'll try any sauce as long as it doesn't have liquid smoke added. (can't stand the flavor of liquid smoke) I do prefer tomato based sauces.
Last thing I'll add is make sure to have plenty of cold beer on hand!
Butt all rubbed down!
I was getting close to 170 with the meat temps here
190 and getting ready to rest
Two forks is all you need to pull the meat
Platter full of goodnes! No is needed at this point unless you want it.
Half was done in sauce, half was served without.
(as a side note, a few pics were taken from an old thread of mine as I didn't take pics of the pulling process yesterday)
Wild or domestic pig can be used. Yesterday I smoked an 8# domestic pork shoulder that was rubbed down with dry seasoning the night before. There's plenty of shelf brands of rub to choose from or you can make up your own as I do most times. This one has a brown sugar base with lots of other goodies added.
Smoking a shoulder to the point of "pulling" vs "slicing" is not a quick process. Yesterdays pork took almost 13 hours at cooker temps ranging from 200 to 250 to reach an internal meat temp over 190. Strong cold winds prolonged my smoking time.
I took my meat out of the fridge a few hours before I was ready to cook so it could reach room temps. Normally I'll go straight to the smoker with the meat, but yesterday I started it in the house oven due to basement flooding issues. By 6:00 a.m. it was in the oven, by 9:30 it was in the smoker. I like to cook it in a foiled covered pan for about half of the cooking time to insure I'm gathering juices to add to my barbecue sauce later. Sometimes I take it out and place it on the grates, sometimes I just leave it in the pan, I don't think it much matters. You are going to get good smoke flavor no matter which way you do it. I also would like to add that I have been using mostly maple wood this year.
Once the meat has reached 190 I'll bring it in and let it rest on the counter covered with foil and then a towel. The meat will keep cooking and gain another 5 to 10 degrees. During this time I'll mix up the juice from the pan with some vinegar and some barbecue sauce. Original Open Pit, or Lil Jug works good for me. I'll try any sauce as long as it doesn't have liquid smoke added. (can't stand the flavor of liquid smoke) I do prefer tomato based sauces.
Last thing I'll add is make sure to have plenty of cold beer on hand!
Butt all rubbed down!
I was getting close to 170 with the meat temps here
190 and getting ready to rest
Two forks is all you need to pull the meat
Platter full of goodnes! No is needed at this point unless you want it.
Half was done in sauce, half was served without.
(as a side note, a few pics were taken from an old thread of mine as I didn't take pics of the pulling process yesterday)
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