Pulled pork timing

[savski]

Thank you, will do.

[Chris__M]

At the risk of repeating myself from other threads, I've taken to cooking my pulled pork a day or so before the BBQ. I cook it in my own sweet time, then let it sit for a while in a cooler before pulling it. I then sauce it and pack it into either foil trays or an oven tray or two, before putting it in the fridge.

Then on the day, it just has to be heated through, either in a domestic oven, or on the BBQ/Smoker itself. I prefer to do it on the smoker, as it seems more authentic. I heat the pulled pork up first, then my guests can dig in, while I cook fast stuff on the already heated grill.

I find the pork actually improves with sitting in the fridge overnight, so it is not even a compromise; and it is a lot less hassle than trying to time things.

[keith157]

Nice work Chris, I've had great results with mixing stock with the pork while it's warm I find it absorbs better.

[Chris__M]

Aide from the convenience, because you are not working to a deadline, surrounded by starving people , you have more time to experiment with the sauce, and get it just right.

[aris]

Pre-cooking sounds like a good plan, but seems to me like you loose a bit of the theatre of outdoor cooking.

[keith157]

Not at all, unless PP is all you are offering, you are more relaxed and with greater concentration, plus a casually dropped spoonful of sauce/stock on the hot grills adds to the theatre, with smoke, smell & steam

[The Social Smokers]

Just get up early!

On the day of a BBQ i get up at 5am, whack on the pork and just cook it all day until the internal meat temp reaches 92c (197F). Sometimes it reaches that temp quickly, sometimes little longer. Usually between 8-12 hours. Your pork will be ready by 7 at the latest. Our guests came at 6pm the other day but my butts were ready by 3pm. I just wrapped them in foil and towels, and shoved them in a cool box. Pork butts can hold for hours if they finish early.

Just get up early, it's a labour of love. It's worth the effort.

p.s foiling is essential if you want your pork to be ready on time. The internal meat temperature will naturally stall (this can be for hours), foiling will push it past the stall. Get yourself some decent thermometers if you haven't already.

[Chris__M]

Pre-cooking sounds like a good plan, but seems to me like you loose a bit of the theatre of outdoor cooking.

That's what I thought at first, but seeing my guests drool when I brought out 2 trays of perfectly sauced pulled pork put any such reservations out of my mind.

As I say, I do like to reheat on my smoker, and this is largely due to theatricality.

[The Social Smokers]

I don't like the idea of reheating anything at all, especially when there's no need to do it!

[aris]

I think I'll wake up early and chuckle to myself as I pull a beautiful lump if pork out of a 44 gallon drum with a radioactive warning sin on the side of it Theatre is everything.