My first Low and Slow Pulled Pork cook!

[YetiDave]

Not sure I could bring myself to spend £10 per kilo, but maybe on a special occasion I can get a whole brisket from my butcher at £6/kg, but I've not ordered one yet

[aris]

Not sure I could bring myself to spend £10 per kilo, but maybe on a special occasion I can get a whole brisket from my butcher at £6/kg, but I've not ordered one yet

Yup, but the USDA one looked very nice indeed. I liked the shape of the Australian Grain fed one though - would cook more evenly.

[AndyHull]

I've done pulled pork (Morrisons boneless shoulders) a few times now and feel i have i licked.
I cook until 200f and when it's taken off to rest it tops out at around the 205f mark.
I foil it as for some reason i always get a stall at the 170f mark.

One thing i did notice was that my first ones were nice and moist but not quite done right, flavour/texture etc, that was cooking with a pan of water in the middle under the shoulder.
Then i started doing them with a fire brick (clay saucer heat stabiliser) instead of the water pan and found they were dryer than previouse so i have now gone back to the water pan and have found they are just right.

I get a nice dark bark whick because i foil isn't crisp but is still very nice and a very juicy tray of meat as the end product.

The othe rgood thing about the water pan is that if you leave it to cool and put it in the fridge for an hour or so the fat solidifies and you can pour the neat meat juice into a pan and add apple juice, cider vinegar and some rub and you end up with an amazing sauce to put over the meat, only problem then is SWMBO and the kids demolish it straight from the pan in the fridge.

Andy

[LucozadeJim]

Some great info here, and great first Low an Slow PP...

I am hoping to do my first one next weekend on a Cactus Jacks Smoker, (Whole New world to Me so appologies now for my rather clear lack of knowledge, but as me dad used to say, "If your not sure then ask...")... I bought a pack from Costco of pork shoulder, there is 2 pieces each aprox 1.2kg, Im only going to do one to start but I am a little concerned on best method, there is no bone and it is tied in a string type mesh.

Should I leave it as is, apply rub an hour before cook, water tray underneath rack, then here is my quandary....

I get the smoking chamber upto what type of temp, 225 F?
then cook for 1.5 hours per pound? the temp of the meat should rise to?
and at what point of the cooking process is that temp to be expected etc??
How long would you let it rest for?
If you were going to apply foil at what point would you wrap it?

Sorry for all the Q's but ive read that much I am completely puzzled.... Just want to give it my best shot..

I now need to do the conversions to the temps and weights..lol

[JEC]

Some great info here, and great first Low an Slow PP...

I am hoping to do my first one next weekend on a Cactus Jacks Smoker, (Whole New world to Me so appologies now for my rather clear lack of knowledge, but as me dad used to say, "If your not sure then ask...")... I bought a pack from Costco of pork shoulder, there is 2 pieces each aprox 1.2kg, Im only going to do one to start but I am a little concerned on best method, there is no bone and it is tied in a string type mesh.

Should I leave it as is, apply rub an hour before cook, water tray underneath rack, then here is my quandary....

I get the smoking chamber upto what type of temp, 225 F?
then cook for 1.5 hours per pound? the temp of the meat should rise to?
and at what point of the cooking process is that temp to be expected etc??
How long would you let it rest for?
If you were going to apply foil at what point would you wrap it?

Sorry for all the Q's but ive read that much I am completely puzzled.... Just want to give it my best shot..

I now need to do the conversions to the temps and weights..lol

I would aim for 225 to 250 F cook temperature, the 1.5 hours per pound is a rough guide, you want it to be somewhere around 200 F when you take it off, that said however you need to stick a fork in the side and make sure it turns, as you become more experienced you'll learn to feel with the temperature probe when it's done, it should slide in with no resistance, if it fails the fork test stick it back on and check it again in 15 to 30 minutes, I wouldn't recommend leaving it to go much past 205 F though. I don't worry about letting it rest but do let it cool for 10 minutes before pulling using bear claws, longer if using your hands, it's simply to hot too handle if you do it any quicker. I rarely wrap in foil anymore but when I do for speed I wrap it around 150 F just before the "stall" starts

Hope that helps. Once you've done a few cooks like this try cooking at 325 to 350 and see if you notice a difference in end result, most don't and it significantly reduces the cook time

[LucozadeJim]

Thanks Jec,
I'm guessing it takes the whole duration to get to 200, is the aim to get it that temp in meat or to get it there and hold for a period??
What's the stall.....

[JEC]

Thanks Jec,
I'm guessing it takes the whole duration to get to 200, is the aim to get it that temp in meat or to get it there and hold for a period??
What's the stall.....

Yes takes the whole cook to get to that temperature, once the meat gets to that temperature you don't need to hold it there, that said though you can drop the temperature once it's done to keep it warm if it finishes an hour or two early if you don't want to foil, towel, cooler (FTC) it. The stall is a stage during the cook where the meat temp stops raising as the collagen starts to break down, it can last anywhere between 30 mins and 6 hours, it's quite a scary thing the first time it happens, people tend to start cranking up the temperature worrying it's stopped cooking, there's an excellent summary on amazing ribs

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/the_stall.html