Last night, I was expecting to visit with my son and his family and have hot dogs and hamburgers for the 4th of July and enjoy the kids. At 7:00 PM last night, my wife gets a call from our daughter in law asking if it was too late to make pulled pork for 30 people. My wife cordially agreed and I was off to Walmart to see if I could purchase some pork butts. When I got to Walmart, they had no pork butts. So I drove up the street to the HEB. They had pork butts and they were expensive at $1.98 per lb. They were small except for one that was over 9 lbs. So I picked that one and two that were 7 pounds. I figured that the 23 lbs would shrink to 12 lbs. after the cook especially since they were all bone in.
When I came back home, I prepared my home made rub, because I had not anticipated this request. My wife unpacked each pork butt, retrieved platters and put a light coat of mustard on them. When I finished the rub, I put it on the meat and let it sit for 30 minutes while the pellet grill was warming up. In this time, I also retrieved my remote thermometer and another unit that I had in reserve. This is the first time that I have ever cooked more than one pork butt. I set the grill for 240 degrees because this was going to go all night and I wanted to see if I could avoid the stall. At approximately 9:00 PM, the pork butts were placed into the pellet smoker, two on the top shelf and one on the bottom. Between 2 and 3 PM, the temperature in all three arrived at 160 degrees, at which time I placed the butts into a aluminum foil baking pan for each one, poured in some apple juice, and then foiled over the top. At 6:00 AM, two of three butts reported 205 degrees at which time I removed them from the smoker. The third one for some reason was 175 degrees. I put that one back into the pellet smoker. While I waited for the pellet grill to come back to temperature as I reset it to 250 degrees, I pulled the pork and put it into fresh trays. It appeared that the 3rd pork butt stalled for about a half hour and I went to sleep. At 6:20 AM, the beeper in the Maverick goes off and the 3rd pulled pork was now at 205 degree. The pellet smoker was shut down and I removed the pulled pork to the kitchen.
After the pork was pulled, it was daylight and I proceeded to do clean up on the pellet smoker and for everything that we used in this endeavor. Tomorrow the pellet smoker will get it's official cleaning including new tin foil for the smoker and a vacuum job. Just for your information, I also use a citrus based cleaner called Citra Solv that works really good to degrease and clean the unit inside and out. Use a sponge or a rough surface on tough spots and this will make your pellet grill look like new. And, it is food safe.
No point in showing pictures of pulled pork. You see one, you see them all. All I can say is that I am tired. I just hope that I do not become cranky.
The funny thing is: I asked them on Sunday if they wanted me to smoke something for the 4th of July for them. Then we get a call at the 11th hour to do this and pay through the nose for something that I could have gotten for $1.29 per lb. at Sam's Club. And, I could have smoked these during the day without turning myself into a Zombie. Such is life.
Have a great 4th of July.
Ed
