Pulled Pork Sandwhich

43 Comments

  1. Would the same process work on Brisket, ie, 300° in lieu of 250°/225°. I’m doing one this weekend and would be interested in experimenting if you think it will work!!

    Thanx

  2. Would love to see this test done again but 225 vs 275. Many well known BBQ experts cook at 275 but 300 just seems just a bit too high as evidence shows here.

    1. I’ve been smoking for about 20 years now. On a homemade smoker that’ll fit about 12-14 butts or 6-8 slabs of spare ribs at one time. It has the fire box at one end with about a 8″ to 10″ opening into the smoke barrel and the 4ft smokestack at the other end. Anyway enough of that business. When I’m smoking butts I’ll put’em on say 8am with the temp right at or around 300°. Around noon I’ll wrap them each in foil, rearrange them when I put’em back on to cook for at least 4 more hours. I’ve never used a thermometer to check internal temp, and don’t intend on starting. I’ve never had a butt that wasn’t done, tender and delicious. I’ve gotten and atill get great compliments on the taste, texture, tenderness and moisture of my butts. I do have to keep a close watch on the fire and Temps of the smoker, to keep it regulated at right around 300° give or take a couple of degrees. I Love smoking for not only my family but for any and everyone who needs me too. I highly recommend the temp of 300° for at least 6-8 hour, (depending in the outside temp), to which my smoker is vulnerable to. The colder it is the longer it’ll take, the hotter it is the shorter time it’ll take. Also the wind has a factor with my smoker. The faster the wind is blowing the lower my damper has to be opened. The slower the wind is blowing, the more my damper has to be opened. Thank you for letting me share my experience with you.

  3. The pork butt experiment was interesting. I have found that smoking at a cabinet temp of 205 resulted in even better results than at 225 to 230. The beast will be ready to pull at a lower meat temp. Possibly around 170. Also the cook time will be about the same if taken out at the lower meat temp. I use the fork test rather than internal meat temp. Simply insert a fork and gently twist. If it is done it will not have much resistance.

    1. Rick,
      Yes! The lower you go, and the more time the connective tissue has to render, the more tender and silky the protein will be. When you get down to those low temps around 170-200, you start getting into the realm of the reasoning behind the method of sous vide cooking. If you haven’t read up on that subject, you might be interested in it! Check out this sous vide blog post.
      Thanks!
      -Kim

  4. I am a big fan of your products and have purchased many thermapens,thermoworks alarms, and many probes. I have been in the retail/ wholesale grocery industry for 47 years. I also compete in many bbq competitions.
    Many bbq teams cook with smokers that are on a rotisserie as do many home cooks that have a rotisserie on a gas grill or a weber kettle.
    Unfortunately you don’t have a wireless thermometer that will work in a rotisserie. In my opinion, you are missing a huge market!
    I am looking forward to the day when you will come out with something that will give the home cook or competitive smoker the internal temp of the meat they are smoking/ cooking while using a rotisserie!

    1. Bill,
      So glad you’re a fan of our products! You’re correct, there really is a need for a wireless thermometer. We have a great product development team that works on tackling ideas like these. Stay on our email list to see new products as they’re released.
      Thanks!
      -Kim

    2. An employee with Thermoworks told me she affixes a Dot to the handle of a gas grill rotisserie and allows it to rotate with the unit. Pretty cool idea!

  5. Great experiment with the Butts and great write up! One thing you don’t mention in your setup is was any water pan or drip pan used above the platesetter of the Egg? Thanks and love the Therms!

  6. I wonder how this would turn out if you reduced the smoker temp to 225F in the hot smoker when the pork temp had risen just a few degrees AFTER the stall (i.e., as soon as you can be sure you’re past the stall)? This would give this pork a little more time in the tenderizer zone as the pork finished cooking at a now-slower pace.

    You don’t give the times from start of cooking to end of stall for each smoker, but I would guess that the pork in the hotter smoker got to the end of the stall a lot sooner than the pork in the cooler smoker.

    1. Great question. The method of a dual temperature cook is worth another experiment!
      And yes, the high temp pork butt moved through the stall much faster. The pork at the lower temperature moved at a pace of only 1 degree per hour for a few hours during the stall.
      -Kim

    2. I did a two-temp cook on my New Years pork butt. I had a 12 lb bone-in, salted overnight, then rubbed down with Meathead’s Memphis Dust, from amazingribs.com.
      22″ Weber kettle with SnS, 1 quart water, going at 225. When the meat temp hit 145, I cranked it up to 275 F.
      To blow through the stall. It spiked a couple times to 280-290 F. At internal meat temp of 170, I brought it back down to 225 for the remainder of the cook. Pulled at 201F internal temp.

      The results: done in 10.5 hours. Excellent bark, and I hardly needed the bear paws to shred it. Devoured with high praise from all of my guests. In my estimation, it was not quite as good as a complete low and slow, but still very good. Most of the meat was very moist and silky, with some drier spots. In my case, getting a late start, and having dinner guests, it was worth the compromise. If time permits, I will still go for the complete low and slow.

  7. I have tried cooking butts both ways, “low and slow”, and “turbo”. we still prefer the low and slow method for taste and texture.

  8. This was an excellent article– love the experimental “science” articles. The explanation of the plateau made so much sense. I Think I’ll split the difference and keep on cookin.

    As an aside you used the term “..Fire craft”. That is the reason I bought a pellet grill and I’m so happy I’m short on fire craft!!!

    1. I agree. I purchased a pellet smoker a few years ago, and have been very happy with it! I have digital readouts for smoker temp, and meat temp. I am still learning so, I am happy to not have to perfect my “firecraft”. Cook temp varies +- 7-10 degrees, making it easier to get it right!

  9. You may find that the bone in butts cook faster, likely due to the bone bringing heat into he center of the butt. New blog subject???

  10. You can cook it at 800 degrees but it want be the same as low and slow. The moral to the story– low and slow always delivers the best product. Buy a BGE and for precision temperature control, a Stoker. Set it up and come back 16 hours. Buy the BB with the blade bone which helps the internal temp come up, and when bone is loose and comes out easily, it’s done.

  11. I’ve smoked several pork butts & read many recipes, but I’ve Never read one that instructed the butt to be cooked ‘fat side down’. Every one that I’ve read, except yours, says to place the butt ‘fat side up’, so the fat melts through the butt. Did you really cook it fat side down or was that a typo ??

    1. No, because it can’t melt through the butt at all for any reason. Melts around maybe but through?? Nope, science says that’s bs

  12. Excellent article.
    I did not know about “the stall” or using paper to wrap at rest before shredding.

    Thanks very much,
    Mike

  13. Steve,
    Thank you for the excellent question, and no, it wasn’t a typo. We placed the meat on grate surface fat side down. There are two schools of thought with this: fat side up and fat side down. The thought with fat side up is that the rendered fat will absorb as it travels down from the top. With fat side down the thought it that the fat will insulate the meat from the direct heat, and avoid drip loss from the rendered fat during the cook. Both methods are for similar reasons-to maximize juiciness in the meat. Give fat side down a try and see what you think!
    -Kim

    1. I belive the issue is how you are cooking the meat. if completely indirect ie gas grill then fat side up makes sense. if cooking on wood charcoal then fat side down. just my opinion!

  14. Travis,
    Definitely a new blog possibility! That’s one aspect of these projects that’s so great–we always end up with more questions to explore.
    -Kim

  15. I did a two-temp cook on my New Years pork butt. I had a 12 lb bone-in, salted overnight, then rubbed down with Meathead’s Memphis Dust, from amazingribs.com.
    22″ Weber kettle with SnS, 1 quart water, going at 225. When the meat temp hit 145, I cranked it up to 275 F.
    To blow through the stall. It spiked a couple times to 280-290 F. At internal meat temp of 170, I brought it back down to 225 for the remainder of the cook. Pulled at 201F internal temp.

    The results: done in 10.5 hours. Excellent bark, and I hardly needed the bear paws to shred it. Devoured with high praise from all of my guests. In my estimation, it was not quite as good as a complete low and slow, but still very good. Most of the meat was very moist and silky, with some drier spots. In my case, getting a late start, and having dinner guests, it was worth the compromise. If time permits, I will still go for the complete low and slow.

    1. Joseph,

      Thank you for the detailed information–it’s so interesting to hear how a cook like this goes for others. No wrapping through the stall, just increased temperature? And we felt the same way, that the faster cook was good, but the lower temperature cook had a more tender, silky texture. Stay subscribed to emails, we have some fun projects coming up this year. Happy cooking!

      -Kim

  16. The most important step to ensuring the meat stays moist, is to WRAP WITH FOIL and LET REST for an hour!
    If you jump the gun, and shred it while still hot, you will let all that moisture evaporate =(
    Another great moistness tip, is to periodically spritz with a sprayer filled with Apple juice. A beautiful ‘bark’ can be attained by spraying/hitting with rub/let the heat and smoke melt it in…repeat as necessary

  17. I’ve been cooking a 4.25 lb Boston butt for over 20 hours now at 225°, and the temp does NOT want to get past 186°. It’s been fluctuating between 185 and 186 for over 2 hours now. Ever heard of anything like this? I already experienced “the stall” between 145ish and 160 or so, so a 2nd stall?? And over 20 hours for this small of one??

    1. Mike,
      I was out of office yesterday, so I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment. I’ve never heard of a butt taking that long, no matter the size! I can’t think of what might be going on, unles sit was very nearly (or literally) frozen in the center. But, if this (somehow?!?) ever happens again, you can pull it anyhow. Collagen melt is a function of temperature AND time, so even though it didn’t get up to, say, 203°F, after an hour or two at 185°F it should be quite tender and delicious.

  18. In Alabama, mostly in the Birmingham area, cooking butts over hot coals that was open the meat was done in 6-7 hours if I remember right. These high temperatures created an outstanding flavor.
    In those days, when you ordered your meat, you ordered outside, inside, or both. The sign of an outstanding BBQ resturant.

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