Pulled Pork???

Pulled pork is the most forgiving of all bbq meats other than maybe sausage. Hard to screw up and tasty, it's no wonder that it is a favorite of the millions of drunken idiots in the SEC that couldn't smoke a brisket to save their pathetic lives.

You can make it out of whole hog, shoulder or hams. The preferred cut is bone-in pork shoulder, which usually means a boston butt or picnic roast in the grocery store bins. Trim skin (boston butt is usually skinless) but leave the fat alone except for hard or loose fat as it will help self baste just like a brisket would.

Most pork rub recipes contain salt, black pepper, paprika and substantial amount of sugar, usually brown. While this might sound odd to those of us with a Texas 'cue palette it does work with pulled pork. I tend to add more heat in the form of cayenne or other chile powder cause that's just how I roll, so find a rub recipe that appeals to your taste. Some guys marinate, inject and are mustard slatherers, but I'm not going to go there.

You are going to want a hotter fire than with brisket, more in the 225-250 range. Expect 1.5 - 2hrs per pound to complete the cook. I wrap at about 165-170 and remove from heat at 195 seeking a peak of 200 before cool down. Just like with briskets, you have some that wrap and some that don't. Most everybody and their grandmother mops or sprays during the cooking process, but that is optional as well. The most common mop sauces usually involve plain apple juice or cider, but many add apple cider vinegar, bourbon and rub to the mix.

Like a brisket, let it fully rest and soak up its juices. Then put on your nitrile or rubber gloves and pull that bad boy apart. Reserve some of the juices to make your own sauce (best option) or to add to a store bought sauce.

A good source for rub, mop and sauce recipes is The Link
 
Get a pork butt rub it with Stubbs BBQ Rub then rub it with brown sugar. The brown sugar will "melt" into the meat as you rud it in. Then Baste with apple juice starting about an hour after you put it on the fire. Like ANY large meat let it sit out an hour before placing it on the smoker so that the whole roast is closer to room temp for more evn cooking.

I like to spray the apple jusice with a little trigger pull spray bottle so as not to disturb the brown sugar, rather than use my usual paint brush.

Go an buy some Marzettis', cole slaw sauce and make your own "homemade" cole slaw. Pull the pork after about 10-12 hours of cooking and place it on a bun, top the meat with the slaw and you have a delicious but messy meal!. I would also imagine that brining the meat would work well.

Anyhow it's sort of like a brisket in time frame and witht he slaw is a great sumertime meal.
 
The Virtual Weber Bullet has a couple recipes for pulled pork. I am partial to this one. One practice from the site I use is to cover the meat in yellow mustard before adding the rub. It helps make a better bark. I also use apple wood for smoke and baste with apple juice while cooking (if I remember). The other thing that the site teaches you to do is to prep the meat before cooking. Most people do not trim the excess fat cap from the meat before cooking, but I get much better results and there is still plenty of fat on the meat to keep it moist after trimming.

Also, check out Kevi's Miss Piggy Mustard Sauce. It is great on pulled pork sandwiches.
 
Like the other posters said, pulled pork is pretty hard to screw up. There's a bunch of recipes online. I like mine pretty spicy, so I use more black pepper and chili powder that most recipes call for. All you really need is pepper, salt, and smoke.
 
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I went to school in Atlanta for a year and I discovered the joys of pig - pulled pork, ribs, mustard based bbq sauce, etc.

Texas barbeque (beef) beats it, but I'm not one to discriminate.
 
To get true pulled pork, the temperature of the meat really has to get up there, much higher than you would a brisket. I usually pull the meat once it's around 195-200. If you take the meat out at a lower temperature, you'll only be able to slice the meat, not pull it apart.
 
I think some of the biggest keys are (1) know that it's going to take a while to go through the dwell stage. At internal temps between 160 and 170 it just takes a long time. In fact, it's not uncommon for the temp to drop a degree or two around the 160 mark. Don't rush it. The longer it goes through this period the better because it's breaking down the collagen in the meat.
(2) I always find that it's a little more moist when you let it sit wrapped in towels in a cooler for a couple of hours before you pull it. Plan for this time.
(3) Buy a foodsaver and smoke an extra butt so you can have some at your disposal.
 
FWIW, I smoked a pork shoulder last summer on a Weber bullet expecting to make pulled pork, but it was so moist and good that I didn't "pull" it; instead, we ate it like brisket. Pulling it and adding all that vinegary sauce would have ruined it. So, if you're using a water smoker, maybe see what it's like before you pull apart the meat.

I think I used a vinegar-based mop every hour.
 
and of course if you are really brave you can do pulled pork Cuban style and do a whole pig.The Link The only thing I think that I would do different from these guys is add a little hickory to the charcoal. BUENO!!!
 
I'll smoke it until it falls apart, but I, too, don't waste its smoky goodness by drowning it in sauce. It's moist and juicy enough to throw on a bun without the sauce. But I always leave the sauce on the side and allow folks to make their own choices.
 
For whatever reason, pulled pork was the rage at ACL Fest. The Stubbs and the County Line booths both had pulled pork sandwiches on the menu, and I think there was another booth that had a "fru fru" pulled pork dish. And Roy's had pulled pork nachos on the menu. I was surprised to see the popularity.
 
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