Triathlon Pulled Pork for 21

[Smokerjunky]

My wife, her sisters, and several of their friends are competing in an all female sprint triathlon this weekend.  This is a tradition that has been going for around seven years.  They are awesome and we all have a blast this weekend every year.

My Brother-In-Law and I are each making pulled pork for the Saturday evening meal.  I decided to try two different methods to see which I prefer.  I only need to take 10 pounds of pulled pork so this is a great opportunity to try a couple of different methods.

1)  New Trial:  I trimmed the fat cap and injected the butt with the following mixture which I also use as sauce for the final product (recipe courtesy of Steven Raichlin "How to Grill")  2 cups apple cider vinegar, 3 Tbs ketchup, 3 Tsp coarse Kosher salt, 1 - 2 Tsp ground black pepper, 2 Tbs hot sauce, 2 Tbs brown sugar, (I left out the red pepper flakes because the hot sauce I used had red pepper flakes in it).  After injecting I rubbed it with McCormicks Pork Rub.
Wrapped it in saran to sit for tonight.

2)  Usual Method:  I trimmed the fat cap and rubbed with FSB and M3 wrapped in saran for tonight.

My intention, since I have to work all week, is to put them on to smoke tomorrow night for 2 hours at 200 degrees and crank up to 325 before bed.  I think I will get up a couple times in the night to check on them since I have not yet decided on which wireless thermo to buy.  Hopefully they will be at 170 - 180 IT by morning so I can wrap them in foil and finish them off to 205 before work.

I hope it works!!!  If anyone has any other suggestions on timing and temps for the overnight cook please chime in here and let me know.  (I am basing this on the "Turbo Method" - Thanks SMOKER PETE)

Butt #1 (and Home Brew Hoppy Bastard Beer #1)


Fat Cap Trimmed


Injection time - ingredients listed above and pictured here (not including the Hoppy Bastard of course - that was for me  )


Butt #2 (and Hoppy Bastard #2 for me  )
Fat cap trimmed (not shown in pic) Rubbed with FSB and M3 an wrapped


Off to rest in the fridge until tomorrow night


More to come - Hopefully at least one of them turns out and is suitable for athlete consumption

[sliding_billy]

Off to a great start.

[TMB]

Hurry up I want some!

[muebe]

Should be real good!

[drholly]

Watching this one - have a new smoker and a butt in the fridge...

Now that just sounds "wrong"... 

[CDN Smoker]

Watching with great interest, good luck

[Big Dawg]

And the winner is ? ? ? ? ?





BD

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Off to a good start with that Hoppy Basard. 

[TentHunteR]

I like your two hours on smoke mode, but I think 325° is way too hot for an overnight cook.  I'd keep it down around 225° - 250°. When you get up in the morning and wrap it in foil, then I'd bump it to 300° for an hour or so, and I bet it'll be nice and tender. Just my 2¢.

As for the injection - I too will be very interested in your results with injecting vinegar in a pork butt. I injected a brisket once with a mix that contained cider vinegar & beer. The vinegar made it mushy in the spots where it was injected.

Keep us posted!

[Smokerjunky]

I like your two hours on smoke mode, but I think 325° is way too hot for an overnight cook.  I'd keep it down around 225° - 250°. When you get up in the morning and wrap it in foil, then I'd bump it to 300° for an hour or so, and I bet it'll be nice and tender. Just my 2¢.

As for the injection - I too will be very interested in your results with injecting vinegar in a pork butt. I injected a brisket once with a mix that contained cider vinegar & beer. The vinegar made it mushy in the spots where it was injected.

Keep us posted!

THANKS TH. I just finished the 2 hr smoke (decided on 180). Just set it up to 250 as well. I think you are right that the 325 might be a bit hot. Going to check it in four hours and see where we are on IT. I have to have these things done by 6:30 AM so I can get off to work.

I hope it is not mushy from the cider vinegar but time will tell.

THANKS for the input

[Smokerjunky]

OK the cook is complete.  Here is how things went and what I learned.  Disclaimer is - THIS IS ALL IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

The Cook:
Butts went on the pellet smoker (hickory) at 6:30 PM.  I put them at 180 for two hours to get some smoke rolling.  At 8:30 PM I turned the grill up to 210.  I got up every two hours through the night to keep an eye on things because I have never done an overnight cook before.  By 3:30 AM the IT had reached around 178 degrees.  I had to have these done and in the fridge by the time I left for work at 6:30.  As much as I did not want to, I wrapped in foil and got them back on the smoker by 3:45 AM.  I cranked the heat up to 275 and went back to bed.  When I got up at 5:45 the IT was at 200.  I left them on and by the time I left for work at 6:30 they were at 206 (right where I wanted it).  Cook was complete in time.  Total cook time 12 hours on the nose!  I left the butts in the foil and had to put them right in the fridge and head out the door.  I really wanted to let them sit and rest for a couple hours but it did not work out that way.

Of course I had to sample each to decide if I liked the injected or the plain rubbed.
Conclusion on injecting = I really liked the flavor achieved by injecting with the cider vinegar mixture.  I could not tell a difference in moisture between the injected and non-injected but there was a flavor difference.  I did not notice any difference in texture (the meat did not seem to be mushy due to the vinegar).  Would I inject with it again - YUP!!

Learnings (in order of importance according to me - my opinion of course  )
1)  I need a wireless thermometer with at least two probes so I don't have to get out of bed, go downstairs and outside every two hours to check on it (any suggestions on thermometers is greatly appreciated - tons of options)
2)  I would go higher than 210 after the initial smoke - probably head to 250 0r 275 (suggestions welcomed)
3)  The foil hinders the bark production and I would not foil again unless pressed for time.  I have made better butts without foiling.
4)  This was a blast and a great learning experience for me.

This picture is after the first two hours at 180 degrees


This is at 6:30 AM final product prior to going into the fridge


I don't think these are as good as my first try at pulled pork but I think they turned out good enough to serve.  I hope everyone enjoys them.  Picnic tomorrow night.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

[Smokin Don]

Looks good, hope all has a great party!!! I have one in the oven right now for overnight, I used your injection on it. Don

[HighOnSmoke]

Pork butt look real good SJ! I use the Maverick dual probe thermometers. My suggestion would be do your initial
smoke at 180 - 200 for the 2 hours then bump it up to 235 and let it ride. If you are pressed for time then I wouldn't go over 275.

[TentHunteR]

Great report, especially about the injection!



About your bark:  What you can do to get a darer bark when foiling is to crank the heat up to about 300° for 20 - 30 minutes before foiling. Then leave the heat up around 300° while braising in the foil, and the bark will continue to develop. It won't be as crispy as not foiling, but the results I've gotten have been very good (to me at least).




I'm with Mike on his recommendation for a Maverick wireless digital thermometer. We have the Maverick ET-732 and love it. It's worked flawlessly now for a good three years. You can use 1 food probe and 1 pit probe, or you can buy a second food probe and use 2 food probes. It has alarms that can be set to alert/wake you when your desired internal temp is reached.


Again, great report!

[Smokerjunky]

Looks good, hope all has a great party!!! I have one in the oven right now for overnight, I used your injection on it. Don

Thanks Don I am sure yours will be absolutely awesome. I am ALWAYS impressed with your cooks. Please let me know what your thoughts are on the injection. I am anxious to hear what you think