Pulled pork from pork shoulder/butt

[UTH]

I’m finally going to use my new big green egg for the first time on Sunday.
Planning on doing pork butt/shoulder for pulled pork.

My only concern is the varying opinions I’m reading on how long it’ll take. Varying from 4 hours to over 12!
12 hours makes it tricky to work out when I’ll start it off!
But don’t want to find myself starting at 10am and still not done by 9pm!

Anyone got any thoughts having done it?

[Djtemeka]

Pulled pork is around 5/6 hours. If your temp goes up then that decreases the time.
Cook to internal temp and not time.

Put the meat in metal foil after a few hours and add some juice . Apple juice is nice

[UTH]

Djtemeka said:

Pulled pork is around 5/6 hours. If your temp goes up then that decreases the time.
Cook to internal temp and not time.

Put the meat in metal foil after a few hours and add some juice . Apple juice is nice

Ok thank you. I reckon I’m going to start at 10am and then just see what happens.
I’ve got the egg genius bit of kit that manages the temp of the egg automatically so hopefully that side of things should be taken care of.

[oddman]

I've got a Kamado Joe which is essentially the same as a BGE.

If it's your first cook and you haven't lit and stabilised the temperature before then I'd be inclined to choose something a bit less time consuming like ribs and wings.

The BGE will do a fantastic job of pulled pork but you need to be aware that

1) There's a knack to getting to a low cooking temperature and keeping it stable. It takes longer to get to a low temperature than a high temperature. It may take an hour to get to 230F. It will take longer if you rush it and overshoot. It's probably worth being a little conservative with use of wood/smoke for your first cook. A rub involving at least salt, sugar and pepper is essential to get the smoke to stick to the meat. Even with no smoking wood pork would still have a good flavour from the interaction of the charcoal and the rub.

2) For 'pulled' meat you need to get through the 'stall' period when the meat stays at the same temp (roughly about 170F) for an indeterminate period of time. What this represents is the latent heat of the collagen melting stopping the temperature form rising, The melted collagen is important for moistening the meat and allowing the meat fibres to fall apart. For me this stage has taken up to about four hours even with small pieces of shoulder.

If I was planning to serve at 1800 I'd be lighting my Joe at 0800 and get the meat in at 0900.
I've even done overnight cooks of shoulder, figuring that even if it burns out then at least the majority of the cook is done.

If the meat has had plenty of smoke it's not a failure to use the 'Texas Crutch' ie wrap in foil with some apple juice to speed things up. Even move to the indoor oven if you want to use the Egg for something else

[UTH]

Thanks mate, very helpful.

I’m now in two minds. Perhaps I go with ribs instead.

That said, as mentioned above, I do have the EggGenius bit of kit which takes care of temperature regulation so I’m hoping that tricky side of things is taken out of my hands so all I need to do is light it, prep the meat, put it on the grill and job done in however many hours it takes.

[omniflow]

If you're doing a whole, bone-in pork shoulder (somewhere between 4kg and 6.5kg) then 5 - 6 hours is definitely not long enough. It needs somewhere closer to 12 - 14 hours. 6 hours will give you something that whilst cooked and edible, isn't fall apart tender and isn't really pulled pork.

As has been previously mentioned, don't panic regarding temps. It's very easy to overshoot. Load the basket with charcoal, shove in a couple of chunks of your chosen smoking wood and light it. Leave it with the lid up and the bottom vent wide open for about 15 mins, then close the lid. Leave the top vent wide open for about 5 - 10 mins, put the meat in, and close both vents right down so they're both open just a crack. Resist the temptation to open the vents wider, but do keep an eye, just in case your interpretation of "just a crack" is too wide. Do not open the lid to have a look. If you do, wait about 15 mins after closing it before you even think about adjusting the vents.

Don't use wood chips, use wood chunks.

[UTH]

omniflow said:

If you're doing a whole, bone-in pork shoulder (somewhere between 4kg and 6.5kg) then 5 - 6 hours is definitely not long enough. It needs somewhere closer to 12 - 14 hours. 6 hours will give you something that whilst cooked and edible, isn't fall apart tender and isn't really pulled pork.

As has been previously mentioned, don't panic regarding temps. It's very easy to overshoot. Load the basket with charcoal, shove in a couple of chunks of your chosen smoking wood and light it. Leave it with the lid up and the bottom vent wide open for about 15 mins, then close the lid. Leave the top vent wide open for about 5 - 10 mins, put the meat in, and close both vents right down so they're both open just a crack. Resist the temptation to open the vents wider, but do keep an eye, just in case your interpretation of "just a crack" is too wide. Do not open the lid to have a look. If you do, wait about 15 mins after closing it before you even think about adjusting the vents.

Don't use wood chips, use wood chunks.

Dumb question, but pork butt is different from pork shoulder (I mean it must be! haha). Is butt a smaller/better option? I really don't need anything massive, so the smallest piece of meat I can use here is fine......

And as for temps, as above, the EggGenius should take care of it for me: https://biggreenegg.co.uk/p/egg-genius

[oddman]

UTH said:

Thanks mate, very helpful.

I’m now in two minds. Perhaps I go with ribs instead.

That said, as mentioned above, I do have the EggGenius bit of kit which takes care of temperature regulation so I’m hoping that tricky side of things is taken out of my hands so all I need to do is light it, prep the meat, put it on the grill and job done in however many hours it takes.

The egg genius is only doing automatically what you do manually. It is unlikely to get the egg to temperature more quickly because once they overshoot (the ceramic egg holding heat really well) they're almost impossible to cool down without opening the lid. Opening the lid is a bit of a gamble as it draws in a lot of oxygen and can actually get the fire roaring more strongly. I suspect the algorithm in the device will be fairly conservative and bring it up quite slowly.

There is an argument for doing it manually at first so you understand the process and then when you have some experience let the device do the work

The quality of the charcoal makes a huge difference. Big high quality chunks have loads of air space between them and burn hot. These are easier to regulate. Smaller chunks have less airspace and can trap ash as they burn restricting the airflow and choking the fire. It's a good idea to soak your chunks of smoking wood in water as it slows down the release of smoke. Chips will be burnt away in a flash probably before you get the BBQ up to temp. You can place these strategically so they get lit as the charcoal burns concentrically from where it was lit.

I'd avoid going north of 250F. The reason the meat is so amazingly tender is that the usual smoking temperature 230F is only a hair above boiling point and the lid retains the moist smoke from soaked chunks.

3:2:1 method for ribs is still 6 hours once the BBQ is up to temp. You can do wings in an hour of smoking and then grill. For wings and ribs you could have the ribs on for 2 or 3 hours. Stack them and wrap them in foil with some apple juice. Then you can put them back in for a bit. Then do the wings alongside the wrapped ribs for an hour or so. Then you can take them all off. Anoint the wings and ribs with your chosen sauces, rearrange the Egg for grilling and finish by just letting them catch a bit of charring.

Another option if you've got shoulder or belly is char sui. It's a piece of piss and genuinely impressive. This only needs to get to slicing temperature ie about 180F so takes a fraction fo the time of pulled pork. A basic rub of salt sugar and black pepper but with the addition of five spice powder. Slice the shoulder into 4-5cm 'steaks'. Coat with rub and smoke over apple until 180F. Then remove, coat with whatever chinese sticky sauce you want to make or buy (hoi sin is the basis of most char sui sauces) rearrange the egg for grilling and let it catch some char. Then you can slice thinly and top a stir fry or salad, roll into wraps. You can keep slices to use later in egg fried rice. I like to do goose (I shoot) and duck this way.

If you haven't got some good quality gloves then get some. Rearranging the internal components with tongs is a PIA.

Another safety issue is when the lid is closed and the vents nearly shut, you will be burning charcoal anaerobically producing significant amounts of carbon monoxide in the dome. If you let oxygen rush in by lifting the lid too quickly you'll lose your eyelashes and eyebrows (at best). Burping it by opening a crack before opening fully is a must. It's quite an education when cooking in the dark. When you burp the egg in the dark you see a ring of blue flame briefly encircling the BBQ as the hot CO and O2 mix.

Kamados really are brilliant devices for cooking. You won't regret it and hopefully have a lot of enjoyment out of using it. It's an amazing and versatile way of cooking which I use year round. Fish is a real treat. BGE Youtube and recipe books have good ideas - Salmon needs about an hour at 250F and amazingly moist. Once you get the hang of heat control and timing then pork shoulder is your reference point and a really pretty simple and impressive centrepiece. The only area where I think caution is required is slow cooking of beef - our cuts of brisket simply don't have enough fat. I've found cuts with lots of connective tissue like Ox cheek and featherblade to be more successful as smoking meats. For really low fat stuff like haunch of venison, I just give it a lick of smoke (say an hour) and then sear over the coals.

ETA butt and shoulder are the same cut (confusing - you'd expect butt to be from the other end)

ETA x 2 In my experience, the size of the shoulder should affect the cooking time but in reality it's not always the case. I've had smallish joint take ages - it's just the nature of the method. The other thing in relation to pulled pork is that the ratio of the smoky salty 'bark' and the soft juicy inner is quite important. If you have too small a piece, there's a risk that the smoke and salt will dominate. Incidentally a reason to make your own Barbecue sauce - you can keep it low in salt and other seasoning and adjust as you mix with the pulled meat.

Edited by oddman on Wednesday 8th January 09:24

[UTH]

Thank you again, very kind to take the time here.

I have been thinking I'll have a stab at manually starting things off to get an idea of how it works, then I'll let the Genius take over to see if it's as good as people are saying on the reviews, and after all, as I have it, might as well use it.

I've got chunks rather than chips arriving today - lots of debate online around soaking vs not soaking though, so not sure where I stand on that.....

Burping: yep, read about that so fully aware I need to do that.

Gloves, my BGE gloves arrived yesterday, so hopefully they do the job.

Charcoal: a nice big bag of BGE stuff arrived yesterday, so I assume that's the good stuff.

Thanks for clarifying on butt vs shoulder, so it sounds like I really do need to factor in a lot longer than I was originally thinking.....this might be a 6am start then see how it goes.....I guess it's my first time so I can use it to learn, even if it doesn't end up perfect.

[oddman]

UTH said:

Charcoal: a nice big bag of BGE stuff arrived yesterday, so I assume that's the good stuff.

I started with BGE charcoal and wood and it's 'no excuses' good

You can find cheaper and better with a bit of research. There's also some ethical considerations to do with sourcing charcoal. I'm uneasy about it being shipped around the world when there are charcoal burners in the UK.

That being said, I find the cheap stuff in a blue bag from B&Q as good as any I've found from specialists.

[witten]

oddman said:

3:2:1 method for ribs is still 6 hours once the BBQ is up to temp.

Edited by oddman on Wednesday 8th January 09:24

I've never managed to get the 321 method to give me anything but dry and overcooked mush. I would highly recommend not doing it. I do more of a 3-0.1-1minutes approach and find it much better. I use a temp controlled Masterbuilt 1050 so the temp is always spot on. I also prefer a dryer rib without much (or any) sauce on it

[eyebeebe]

I‘ve never had a shoulder, even 2kg, done in 5-6 hours at 107C. Normally around 10 hours. I‘ve even had to crank up the heat towards the end to get it to temperature before the crowd got too restless. Fortunately, it‘s a forgiving piece of meat for extra temperature.

I‘d rather start as early as possible and give a bit of a reheat if needed, but the meat will keep it‘s temperature for a long time as a lump anyway.

[oddman]

witten said:

oddman said:

3:2:1 method for ribs is still 6 hours once the BBQ is up to temp.

Edited by oddman on Wednesday 8th January 09:24

I've never managed to get the 321 method to give me anything but dry and overcooked mush. I would highly recommend not doing it. I do more of a 3-0.1-1minutes approach and find it much better. I use a temp controlled Masterbuilt 1050 so the temp is always spot on. I also prefer a dryer rib without much (or any) sauce on it

Yup it's a memorable name for the method but more of a vague guide. Probably works OK on massive racks of ribs in a wood fired smoker. Timings probably need trimming for UK supermarket ribs but still important not to underestimate time it can take for smoke stage.

TBH I smoke for 3 hours maybe foil and apple juice or sauce for one and then use the grill to add a bit of char. Mine turn out so the meat is at the point where it sticks to the ribs when you pick them up but falls off really easily. Can eat the cartilage as well if you like that sort of thing.

Any method where the smoking is done in advance and a bit of charring at the last moment is really helpful for timing as the meat can sit around in foil until the time for a bit of fire.

On balance I prefer them dry too - less messy.

[UTH]

eyebeebe said:

I‘ve never had a shoulder, even 2kg, done in 5-6 hours at 107C. Normally around 10 hours. I‘ve even had to crank up the heat towards the end to get it to temperature before the crowd got too restless. Fortunately, it‘s a forgiving piece of meat for extra temperature.

I‘d rather start as early as possible and give a bit of a reheat if needed, but the meat will keep it‘s temperature for a long time as a lump anyway.

Hmmmmmmm, ok, my aim will be to start as early as I can on Sunday (I'm not very good at early mornings!) and then see how it goes, and if it takes all day and we're starving, we'll order food and when the pork is finally done it can be for Monday/freezing etc!

[UTH]

In my seeming now never-ending reading up to become a super geek, it seems that pork butt and pork shoulder are slightly different......

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/1214-...

[jonathan_roberts]

Count 8 hours for the cook and 1 hour min for resting. Use 225-250f. Don’t go colder than that as it will be dry and take forever.

Wrap at 160f internal temp and go to 203f. Leave it to rest in a cool box for at least an hour in the paper you’ve wrapped it in.

Do not pull it when it’s steaming hot because it will dry out.

Use the juice from the wrapper to cover the meat when you’ve pulled it. If you get it right the meat will not need pulling, you’ll be able to just scrunch it in your hands. If you’re pulling it it’s gonna be tough.

Pork butt is top shoulder joint with the blade in it.

[UTH]

jonathan_roberts said:

Count 8 hours for the cook and 1 hour min for resting. Use 225-250f. Don’t go colder than that as it will be dry and take forever.

Wrap at 160f internal temp and go to 203f. Leave it to rest in a cool box for at least an hour in the paper you’ve wrapped it in.

Do not pull it when it’s steaming hot because it will dry out.

Use the juice from the wrapper to cover the meat when you’ve pulled it. If you get it right the meat will not need pulling, you’ll be able to just scrunch it in your hands. If you’re pulling it it’s gonna be tough.

Pork butt is top shoulder joint with the blade in it.

Great thank you, this hopefully works with my theory of starting at around 8am and going from there.

[ATG]

When there is a fairly wide range of opinions on how a thing should be done, you can often safely conclude that whatever you're trying to do does not require much precision at all. Slow-cooking a chunk of meat falls squarely in that category, in my not very humble opinion. Of course it's possible to muck it up completely and either produce charcoal or liver flukes, but it's also pretty easy to get good results. Given that precise timing of the meat is not important, this makes getting the timing right for the rest of the food a fair bit easier. Get the barbeque clutter organised nice and early, including a plan for how and where you're going to rest the meat. Light it early. Stick the meat on hours before the meal and use the meat's resting time as an additional buffer for coordinating everything else. (Slow cookers, pot roasts, etc. are an even easier way of getting the benefits of doing a lot of the prep way in advance followed by really flexible timing, but you aren't going to get away with sitting in a chair drinking beer "because I need to keep a careful eye on the slow cooker.")

[UTH]

Great thank you

Luckily as this is my first go, it's just me and Mrs UTH who are going to eat it, and keeping it simple by shoving it in a bun, with some chips! So no pressure to be hosting people or timing it with other bits etc.

[jonathan_roberts]

ATG said:

When there is a fairly wide range of opinions on how a thing should be done, you can often safely conclude that whatever you're trying to do does not require much precision at all. Slow-cooking a chunk of meat falls squarely in that category, in my not very humble opinion. Of course it's possible to muck it up completely and either produce charcoal or liver flukes, but it's also pretty easy to get good results. Given that precise timing of the meat is not important, this makes getting the timing right for the rest of the food a fair bit easier. Get the barbeque clutter organised nice and early, including a plan for how and where you're going to rest the meat. Light it early. Stick the meat on hours before the meal and use the meat's resting time as an additional buffer for coordinating everything else. (Slow cookers, pot roasts, etc. are an even easier way of getting the benefits of doing a lot of the prep way in advance followed by really flexible timing, but you aren't going to get away with sitting in a chair drinking beer "because I need to keep a careful eye on the slow cooker.")

The problem is that whilst “anyone can cook it”, the precision element is the difference between it being memorable and worth eating, and not.

Most people’s pulled pork I’ve had has been awful and it’s because they haven’t really understood the assignment. The timing is neither here nor there because if you’re doing it right it should be to temperature and not time anyway. Equally, the grill temperature is important.

The resting time, as you say, is a useful buffer.