Pulled Pork

Originally posted Tuesday, June 5, 2011:

Independence Day Pulled Pork

While camping and boating at the California Delta this past holiday weekend, I made smoked pork butt (which I used for pulled pork) for the second time, trying to get it more tender than my first attempt, which was a month or so ago.

The pork was great!!! I definitely still have room for improvement, as I didn't do a couple of the great things from my first go-round last month.

So let's break it down:

1. On the meat front I used two, 7 lb pork butts without the bone.
2. For heat I used a vertical propane smoker with Mesquite chips, and a bath of apple juice, apple cider vinegar, and some dry rub. I kept the smoker between 225 and 250 degrees, with the smoker finding its natural sweet spot at at around 240.
3. In the morning at around 7am I scored the top of the each butt, coated the them first in a mixture of Louisiana style hot sauce and yellow mustard, then in my dry rub (I'll cover that in another post with mop sauce).
4. After getting the smoker preheated, I put the butts in it, placing them directly on the rack.
5. I set it, kept a loose eye on the temperature gauge, and let it go all day with no attention!!!
6. In all, the pork sat in the smoker for 10 or so hours, however the last two hours the smoker was off.

My first smoked pork butt, before Sean MacRae and I pulled it.

Here's what I could have done better:

• I didn't make a mop sauce like I did the first time, and after having eaten both types, I definitely think the mop sauce adds a significant amount of moisture. Here's how I used it on Round 1:
• Let the butt smoke for 2 hours without opening the smoker door.
• After the first two hours, baste the butt with mop sauce every hour on the hour. That's it!
• If for some reason I couldn't use a mop sauce, I would definitely make sure I mixed in some with the pork once it had been pulled. Then I would cover it and let it stay warm in the smoker until ready to eat.