A sad story gentle readers. Apparently my Foodie Karma Account is seriously in the negative. I was forced to withdraw from Guys Can Cook Too competition that took place over the weekend due to my paycheck NOT being delivered on schedule, leaving me unable to purchase the necessary product to prepare 600 servings of my pulled pork appetizer. Sucktastic doesn't begin to describe it. My final dry run held the over the weekend of the 15th and 16th produced fantastic results - the best pulled pork I've ever had, no doubt about it. The combination of applewood and hickory produced a rich, smoky flavor that permeated the meat but did overpower it. My dry rub caramelized into a succulent bark. I had moved well beyond any concern about embarrassing failures and was suddenly enthusiastic about my chances in capturing the appetizer division. NOT. TO. BE.
Once my rage had subsided, I was able to give myself over to some quiet reflection/beer consumption and concluded that the real goal wasn't the competition but the pork itself.. of acquiring the hard won knowledge of what it takes to produce truly good BBQ. In that regards, I kicked @$$ and intend to so again very soon. Memorial Day is right around the corner, and I've got several pints of my competition BBQ sauce on deck and ready to go. I can assure you, there will be no taking of prisoners.
4 comments:
How long did you smoke it? How long did you have it in the hickory and apple? They say (who are "they?") that the hardwood smoke should hit the meat early in the cooking, which makes sense, and might even be true!
Good questions, and you're right about the smoke hitting the meat "early", ehich I take as meaning the cooking process needs to be slooooow so that the cooking actually takes place after exposure to the smoke. This is why it's important to start smoking with cold meat, not room temperature. This was my finding. The muscle fibers of the meat begin to tighten up as it cooks which inhibits smoke penetration.
The real hurdle I faced was how to effectively smoke 60 lbs of pork shoulder which I'm not really set up for. The process I came up with was to give the meat 6 to 6 hours of quality smoking and then finish off in slow cookers to ensure even cooking and allow me to get some sleep before what was gonna be a busy event. I did my final dry run exactly accordming to schedule, starting my fire @ 10:00 pm and smoking until about 4:30 a.m. I finished em low n slow on a bed of sliced onions to maintain moisture. I also had to keep em warm for a period of several hours to allow for transportation, setup and 3 hours service. The shoulder held up very well as long as you pulled pork only as you needed it.
I have smoked about 30 pounds of pork butt without much problem. I simply smoked them until the temperature in the smoker dropped below about 180 (I hate refueling the smoker), and then put them in a 275 oven, covered with foil for another three of four hours. Total cooking time was probably 13 hours. My goal was an internal temperature of about 205. The difference in pulling ease and tenderness between 175 and 205 is significant.
As for starting with cold meat? I'll believe it when I can taste side by -- room temp versus cold.
By the way, pulled pork freezes fantastically. I have several zip-loc bags full of the stuff, just waiting for a bottle of good Zinfandel and a potato bun.
Heck yes it freezes well - I've got well over a pound in the freeze fight now. One of my favorite uses for left over pulled pork is to reheat it hot oil, carnitas style, and put that into enchiladas.
That's interesting on the internal temps of 175 to 205. I've always aimed for dead center in that range - 190 but erring on the higher side if anything.
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