The Meatwave

Basic Pulled Pork

Basic Pulled Pork View Recipe

I was bad to my blog last week, but I hope you'll trust me when I tell you that the reason why rightfully outweighed my responsibilities to this site. Now, with the other done, I can get back to business as usual, and last weekend I was in the business of smoking some seriously delicious pork butts. Fire up your smokers, because your about to take a journey through hog heaven, and there's a pulled pork sandwich with your name on it waiting for you at the other end.

Pork Butts

Pulled pork is an epic quest for me, so I usually only end up making it once or twice a year, always making sure to cook enough to last me and my friends a long time. It all starts with some pork butts. I chose two seven-pounders to bring home with me from the butcher, both with excellent fat marbling. I believe this is anomaly in NYC, but finding a pork butt in grocery here is difficult. The first few times I made pulled pork I used a Picnic cut, the lower half of the pork shoulder, which is more widely available here due to the popularity of pernil. Having made pulled pork with both halves of the shoulder, I can say first hand that they both produce equally delicious pulled pork. The picnic usually produces a slightly sweeter, even hammy, final product, but the bone is bigger, there's more fat, and you have to deal with removing the skin (or you can leave the skin on and enjoy some crackling at the end). I have come to prefer the pork butt, since it has a better balance of meat to fat and a smaller bone, producing more pork and less waste. Although it can be hard to find a pork butt at a grocery in this city, almost all butchers have them, another reason to make sure you have a good butcher.

Pork Butts in Brine

My pork butts never need a great deal of trimming, usually the most I have to take off is some fat if the top layer is too thick. These 2 particular pork butts came perfect, so they went straight from the butcher paper into a brine. My usual brine is a simple mixture of salt, sugar, and water, but taking a cue from Alton Brown, I adjusted my pulled pork brine to use molasses instead of sugar, which I believe helps add a little extra barbecue flavor to the pork in the end.

Pork Butt Rubbed

I brined the two butts in a large plastic, food grade bucket for twelve hours, removed them and dried them with paper towels. Then I applied my favorite rub, but omitted the salt, since the brine provides enough of that. As with my ribs, I do not go easy with the rub. I pile it on the pork, rubbing and patting it in, and then reapplying until there is not a piece of raw meat to be seen. Then the pork butts got wrapped in foil and sat in the fridge another 12 hours.

Smoking at Night

I knew two seven pound pork butts would take anywhere from 14-16 hours to smoke, so I had to start the cooking by midnight if I wanted to feed the Meatwavers by 3pm the next day. Although I equate the sweet smell of smoking meat with barbecue, I have one "crazy neighbor lady" who is convinced I'm burning down the city every time the smoker is fired up. Because of this, I'm paranoid that she'll call the fire department whenever I'm doing an overnight cook, effectively ending The Meatwave. Under normal circumstances, I'd light the fire, get the meat in, and go to sleep once the smoker hits 225 degrees. Instead I sleep restlessly, waking up ever 30-60 minutes to check on things. My fear lies more in my neighbor coming looking for me than smoker temp, as it easily held steady around 225 degrees for the entire 16 hours using the Minion Method.

Two Temps

After a mostly sleepless night, day broke, and pork's temperature was rising nicely. Then about seven hours into the cook, it hit 172 degrees, and there it stayed for many hours. This is the plateau, the point where most the fat and collagen start melting away, transforming the meat from tough to absolutely tender. The first time I made pork, I did not know about the plateau and freaked out when the temperature didn't rise for hours, and ended up finishing it in a 350 degree oven. That yielded decent pork, but if you want the best of the best, just stay put and wait, it will take many hours at 225 degrees, but the pork's temperature will begin to rise again and you'll have a smokier, tastier, and more tender final product.

Bark

I've found 190 degrees a perfect temperature to remove the pork from the smoker. These butts took 16 hours to get there, which was just a little longer than the 14 hours I originally was expecting. Under 190 degrees I find there's still too much fat left in the butt, and under 180 degrees it's harder to actually pull the pork. I figure it's pulled pork for a reason, and I want to be able to pull, not chop, it, so I give my pork the extra time it needs to get to my desired temperature that results in a butt that's easy to pull and has little fat left compared to when I started.

Pulled Pork

Now all that's left is to pull. In my excitement, I tried to pull this with only about a 10 minute rest, but decided to stop when I realized my finger tips were starting to cook. I had to wait another 1/2 an hour until was cool enough to handle safely. This pork was cooked perfectly, pulling easily with almost no resistance. While I was pulling the pork, I removed most of the extra fat remaining in the butt, but tried to salvage every bit of bark, the dark outer crust that once was the rub, which makes for the tastiest sandwiches. I served the pulled pork on a choice of potato rolls or sweet Portuguese rolls, with another choice of bbq sauce or vinegar sauce, and coleslaw. The sandwiches were great, but this pork doesn't need anything extra, it holds its own. Juicy, tender, spicy, sweet, this pulled pork is what I imagine heaven is filled with and there is not one second in this almost 2 day process that wasn't worth it.

Print Recipe

Basic Pulled Pork

  • Yield 10 servings
  • Prep 20 Minutes
  • Inactive 1 Day
  • Cook 14 Hours
  • Total 1 Day 14 Hours 20 Minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Brine
  • 3/4 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt
  • 2 quarts cold water
  •  
  • Your favorite dry rub, salt omitted
  • 1 pork butt
  • Hickory and Apple wood chunks

Procedure

  1. In a saucepan, add the molasses, salt, and 1/2 quart of water. Stir over a medium flame just until all the salt is dissolved. Pour mixture into your brining vessel and add the rest of the water and stir to combine. Completely submerge the pork butt in the brine and then store in the fridge and allow to brine for 12 hours.
  2. Remove the pork butt from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Rub entire butt liberally with your favorite dry rub. Wrap the rubbed pork butt in aluminum foil and place back in the fridge for another 12 hours.
  3. Remove the butt from the fridge while you start the smoker. If using a Weber Smokey Mountain, light using the Minion Method with a mixture of hickory and apple wood chunks.
  4. Smoke the pork butt at 225 degrees until it reaches 190 degrees, about 12-16 hours. Remove the butt and allow to rest for 1/2 an hour to cool down. Pull the pork using your hands or two forks and serve.

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Comments

  1. Jacob Schneider I really love your blog. I have been cooking meat for many years. I still haven't got into the smoking of it but I did try the 12 t0 16 hours in my oven for pork butt recently and used the brine receipe on your blog. I kept the internal temperature of the pork st 195 to 200. It came out very tender and moist, pulled well with perhaps a little too much fat so the next one I will trim some of the fat cap off of it.
    I intend to build a smoker as I have an unending supply of cherry wood, oak and maple wood. I do roast pigs outside as well as cook a lot of meat on a rotisserie. Lamb, venison, beef, turkey and pork of course. Keep up the good work and please keep your archives as I will look through them whenever I have a cookout to do!

  2. Josh @Jacob: Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. You should definitely try smoking the pork butt someday, a mix of cherry and oak would be great. I've made pulled pork in the oven before, and even though it was still absolutely delicious, the absence of smoke really made a big difference in the end product.

  3. Jacob Schneider Hi Josh,
    Hope all is well with you and yours. I was wondering if the Meatwave has included any fish. We are in the middle of the Steelhead season here on the Vermilion river that flows into Lake Erie. I caught a nice one last week and smoked it. Turned out quite well although it was a bit salty. I used apple, maple and cherry wood. I hot smoked it as I don't have a smoker that will run on its own so I have to attend it. If you have any hints about this let me know.
    Thanksgiving is coming up and I am thinking of smoking a turkey on my setup. The rest of the crowd wants me to deep fry it. Maybe I will do an eight pounder on the half-assed smoker and deep fry a 15 pounder to quell any riots, you know we can't have a bunch of meatwavers out there terrorizing the neighborhood. Long live the meatwavers!
    Regards,
    Jacob

  4. peabody Oh yum, who doesn't love a good pulled pork sandwich...and that one looks good!

  5. Kathy - My Online Meals Hey Josh, great blog! There is nothing like a good, tender, juicy pork butt roasting nicely in the oven. I can smell it from here lol

    http://myonlinemeals.com

  6. Psychodad Josh,

    Love the site, have tried many of the recipes and look forward to more.

    Trick I learned on brine, I use pickling salt as it is designed to dissolve in cold water, so no time on the stove for the brine.

  7. Brad Jones Great site. Using a master holy electric to smoke 17 lbs as we speak!! 225 for say 16 hours. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

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