First pulled pork cook was dissapointing

[dannysmith43]

Hello!
I reckon I'll post a "disappointed" thread every time I try something new, can't seem to nail it first time
I bought a lump of pork shoulder from Tesco's on Friday, it was about 2.1KG (4.5lbs or so). I know it's not the best quality but I thought I'll try it for my first foray into pulled pork. I trimmed the fat cap off of it last night, left a good spread of fat still! I made my rub, applied it using french's mustard and left it in clingfilm over night!

So the day went;

8am - Setup snake method on Weber 57cm using Aussie heat beads, cherry wood chips in smoke box in place. Snake lit!

8.30am - Temp up to 275f, pork went in

Between 1.30pm-2pm - noticed the internal temperature was stuck at 151f, not moving. I wrapped it in foil, and plonked it back in, magic!

3.30pm the internal temp was 183f - I thought great, I'll un-foil it and let it crisps the bark. Well the internal temp DROPPED from 183 to 171 in the space of an hour! Not sure what was going on here, I checked it with my more trusted Thermopop instant read thermo and it confirmed internal temp was in the 170s - found it very odd that this would happen.

4.45pm - wrapped in foil again in anger, added some more beads of heat and the temperature started to pick up.

6.15pm - heard the ring of joy, the magic number of 195f was hit! Time to pull it off right? Well I put my Thermopop in to double check and it read 205f! Grrr, didn't feel particularly soft either! At this point I was in two minds to let it rest, or pull it. I chose to rest it for 30mins as opposed to an hour.

6.45pm - Pork pulled and it was in my opinion, dry!

Should the pulled pork be soft and juicy? That's what I was expecting. Perhaps the cut was cheap? or I overcooked it? Expectations too high?!

I would welcome any criticism, tips or suggestions to the steps I outlined above! thanks for you time.

[gavinbbq]

I would say that you done alright. I don't think pulled pork should be soft and juicy like you see briskets.
I think one of the benefits of wrapping in foil before the stall and leaving it wrapped is that you can add any accumulated juices into the pork as your pulling it to moisten it back up. Also letting it rest properly for an hour or two helps the meat absorb back the juices that it effectively sweats out.
Also if it was a supermarket pig these could possibly be the quick growing ones and of not such a high quality as a rare bread pig.
Don't let it dishearten you just keep going at it!


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[hihosilva]

Hey Danny, here's my 2 cents:
- I find that the supermarket stuff, as Gavin says, is the fast growing variety that has next to no intra-muscular fat in it. This fat is vital in keeping the meat moist in a long cook like this - that being said, a tender end product is possible with the leaner, supermarket offerings.
- I like to follow the Chris Lilly approach of injecting a sweet brine solution just before sticking it on - definitely worth investing in a meat syringe in my opinion, just a few pounds on Amazon.
- 275F seems a bit high for me, especially for the aforementioned kind of shoulder. Generally, I shoot for somewhere between 210F-240F.
- After 4-5 hours, my shoulder generally hit a stall too, at aroun 150-160F. This used to freak me out when I first started, but that was until I came across an excellent article online by Dr. Greg Blonder explaining this phenomenon - I definitely recommend giving this a read. It's at this point I tend to wait for a good looking bark to be formed, before wrapping (foil or paper) for the rest of the cook, generally another 4 hours, until 195F-197F is reached.
- A lot of recipes online call for 30 minutes resting. I find this far too short - I generally rest wrapped for at least 1h30 and have not had a dud shoulder for years.

[Kiska95]

Hi

I think your first line nailed it............ Cut off the fat cap? On cheap supermarket cuts I leave it on to avoid any dry out but with this method you forgo some bark on the top, but I do find that there is enough bark on the surrounding meat. Also the guys are spot on with the resting period to be much longer to re-absorb the juice held in the foil which is why it is sometimes wise to leave it in the foil to braise/steam the meat. Once pulled you can pour the retained Au Jus from the foil (minus the fat) over the meat for a more juicy product.

[essexsmoker]

I opened one of these cheap joints up once and found it was a total hack job inside. Literally just bits and lumps , even with an off cut chucked inside to make up the weight I guess. Not enough good fat either.

I think foil is your friend with the cheap cuts.

I my experience so far the quality of the meat is the single biggest problem when trying to cook like the youtube videos. Dont forget they are probably using a 150+ dollar USDA prime lump of meat.

[dannysmith43]

Thanks for the responses!
I will definitely be trying it again, if I can get it right, it's a real crowd pleaser. I screwed up by removing the foil and lost about an hour and a half trying to get the temp back up, I would have let it rest longer. The joint was a hack! Once the fat cap came off, it was falling to pieces so that probably didn't help either. I usually buy meat from a local butchers, I happen to pass this in Tesco's and thought I'd give it a go - mistake I won't be repeating! I'll keep the fat cap on too, although....it did make some lovely crackling. I put oil and salt on it, left it indirect for 4 hours and then grilled it for 10 minutes whilst the shoulder rested...probably the best bit.
I think I'm going ribs again next, my first attempt was not cooked to melting point so they were tough but after a brisket and pulled pork, I feel more experienced and will hopefully do a better job.

Thanks again.

[KayCeeSmoker]

I usually inject my Pork Butts with the Chris Lilly Pork Shoulder Injection. Then I let it sit at least overnight in the refrigerator. Next morning, I give it a good rub down with a fresh commercial rub. (I like Jack's Stack for this. Bad Byron's Butt Rub is good but pretty peppery). Following that it gets a light prepared yellow mustard and brown sugar rub down to help the first rub sink and back in the fridge. I take it out early enough for it to come up to roughly room temperature before it goes on the smoker. I use the overnight method on brisket and shoulder.

I use my Weber Smokey Mountain for Pork Shoulder and Brisket. I use the Minion Method for firing up the (charcoalhttp://virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html) and let the smoker come up to a 205-210 temp and put the shoulder on. Pork loves fruit wood, so I favor either cherry (favorite) or apple; sometimes a bit of both. I always toss in a bit of oak for the nice rich base flavor that gives. I will usually put some aromatics in the water pan; some herbs, maybe apple slices or orange sections, a beer or some wine.

Generally, I will put it on about 10-11pm at night, before going to bed. Right before it goes on, it gets another light sprinkle of rub. It will be pretty wet with the remains of the mustard/brown sugar glaze.

With a good size 4+ kilo shoulder, I expect a long smoke. 12 or 13 hours isn't unusual to get to the dark bark I favor along with a internal temp of about 195. I always get bone-in, so the other good indicator is the meat pulling away from the bone and being able to start the bone slipping out with a good tug.

OK, I'm an old man, so I get up at night to do what old men have to do because of our old prostates. When I am up, I check, making sure I have a good temp, enough charcoal, wood chunks/chips, and keeping the water pan full enough. After it starts getting a good bark on it, I'll spritz some apple juice from a spray bottle on it during these checks. I usually get up twice a night at least.

It's probably ready after about 12-13 hours, so it comes off a bit before or around noon time. I rest mine about 30-45 minutes and then pull with Bear Claws. As the shreds get cleared from the cutting board I'll sprinkle a bit more rub over it (lightly) because you're getting deep interior meat in there that never had any rub on it, mix around by hand a bit and then transfer to the serving bowl. Obviously, you can rest it longer or start later in the evening to adjust serving time.

All that said, do it the way you like it. Almost a BBQ is good, some is just better than others and that is a matter of personal taste. After all, Carolina style doesn't suit the Texans, Texan style doesn't suit the Memphis school of BBQ and Memphis style doesn't suit Kansas City folks and Kansas City style doesn't suit the Carolinians. Round and round we go.

It's all pretty good, really.