The First Pulled Pork on the GMG

Yesterday was pulled pork day on the new smoker.  I'm gonna be honest, pulled pork is probably my least favorite traditional BBQ food.  I really like pulled pork, but when I go to BBQ restaurants, I rarely order pulled pork because I'd rather have brisket, ribs, chicken, sausage or turkey.  But, making pulled pork at home is great because we can feed a lot of people and we usually have leftovers to enjoy for the next several days.

I started out this pulled pork on Friday night with a Pork Butt (or Shoulder, but it's more fun to say Pork Butt).  This particular piece of meat was about 8 lbs and looked pretty good.  I decided to trim off quite a bit of the exterior fat so that I could get more bark with the rub.  What I was left with is pictured to the right.

The next step was to rub it down.  I used my homemade rub, which I will share at some point.  First off I applied a thin coat of olive oil so the rub would have something to adhere to, and then I liberally applied my rub to all the surfaces of the meat.  This is critical because the rub is going to create the bark, which is the best part of pulled pork, in my opinion.  I put the rubbed pork butt into the fridge to rest over night.

Bright and early the next morning (it was still dark), I preheated the smoker to 225 degrees using my Green Mountain Gold Blend pellets (oak, hickory and maple).  Before I put the pork butt on the smoker, I snapped a quick pic.  The rub had become part of the meat, which is what I was looking for with resting over night.  

I decided to try putting the fat cap, or what was left of it, down on the smoker rather than up.  This worked so well for brisket I thought I'd experiment.  Also, because of activities yesterday morning, I was forced to experiment with leaving the meat alone for a long time (7 hours).  Usually after 3 or 4 hours on a pork butt, I start mopping with a cider vinegar/water mix to keep it moist.  But from what I'd read online, leaving it alone for 7 hours really shouldn't affect things too much.

After 7 hours, I started mopping.  The picture to the right is what it looked like when I opened the smoker for the first time.  I love the color that developed.  I then started mopping every hour.

This is where I really deviated from my normal approach.  Normally I foil when the pork reaches about 160 degrees internal temperature to preserve moisture and speed up the cooking process. Since I had the time and I really wanted a good bark, I didn't foil, I just stuck the pork butt in a foil pan to capture it's juices.  I like to have the juices so I can pull the pork in them for more flavor.

After 10 and a half hours, the internal temperature was 187.  The pork butt had achieved the color I wanted, so I covered the foil pan and let it finish on the smoker.  The picture to the left is what it looked like when it was time to foil.

At the twelve hour mark, the internal temperature had risen to 197 degrees, which is in that sweet spot of 195-205 degrees, so I took the meat off the smoker and let it rest for 45 minutes before pulling.  I was pretty happy with the look of the meat, but I was concerned that I hadn't captured much of the juices.

When I started pulling, I was happy with how easy the meat pulled and how tender it was.  There was a great smoke ring and the bark was amazingly crisp and tasty.  I was also surprised by how little fat was left. Usually when I pull the pork, there is quite a bit of fat to still remove.  I'm left to think that by letting it go longer before pulling, more of the fat melted into the meat.  I'm not sure if that's right or not, but it's the best I got.

I thought this pork butt turned out pretty good.  As I said above, I was thrilled with the bark and the overall tenderness of the meat.  But the lack of juices to pull the pork in was a bit of a downer.  I don't think the internal meat was as flavorful as I've managed to get on past pork butts with the old smoker.  Don't get me wrong, I got rave reviews, but I'm thinking next time I may have to try injecting or brining just to see if I can kick it up a notch (to quote Emeril).

So, overall it was a great cook.  I turned out a really good meal, and I learned some new things that I liked and have some things I want to try next time.  That's what I love about BBQ, you can always tweak things and play around to make it taste just how you want.  There are hundreds of ways to turn out great food, it's just a matter of finding the method you like best.