Mushy pulled pork

stabone · Nov 4, 2012

I cooked up two 8 pound butts yesterday that turned out pretty mushy. The flavor was pretty good but the consistency of the meat after I pulled it was similar to canned tuna. I'm thinking that I may have overcooked them and that is what caused them to be mushy. I cooked at about 235 degrees spraying with apple juice every hour until they were 165. Then I wrapped them tightly in foil and cooked until they reached 200. I pulled them off, wrapped in towels and set in a cooler to rest for 2 hours. Also, I did not cut the fat cap off so I'm wondering if that added to the problem?

I think I need to check my thermometer to see if it is off. My guess is that the butts were really around the 210+ degree mark when I took them off. Next time I'm not going to wrap the butts and see if that makes a difference...

davidhef88 · Nov 4, 2012

I would check your therms like you stated. Sounds like they may be a little off.

austinl · Nov 5, 2012

I agree, sounds like they were in the foil too long.

arnie · Nov 5, 2012

I don't foil untill the rest and have never had mushy pulled pork

kcphilaflyer · Nov 5, 2012

if you keep wrapped and rested for 2+ hours even once the IT hits 200+, they're going to continue to cook for that time correct? I foil at 160, pull at 200ish, open the foil and let sit for 30 mins to an hour then pull and have great results so far.

smokinhusker · Nov 5, 2012

I foil when they rest but don't cover the bark!

davidhef88 · Nov 5, 2012

SmokinHusker said:
I foil when they rest but don't cover the bark!

I don't think I understand how you would do that.

David

jarjarchef · Nov 5, 2012

Sounds like over cooked and/or sat in the foiling juice too long.

If meat is in a liquid and simmers too long it will break completely down and the texture will get mushy.

I don't really foil mine. I will cook to 190 then pull out of the smoker and place in a pan with some apple cider vinegar, apple juice concentrate and beer. Let rest in oven set at 170 or wrap with towels and let sit for about 30-45 min then pull. I save the skimmed liquid to add to the pork or some BBQ sauce to be served with the pork on the side.

s2k9k · Nov 5, 2012

Check out Eric's "wet to dry smoke chamber" method, Great juicy pork that is not mushy with an Awesome bark!!!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...t-dry-smoke-chamber-q-view-method#post_830635

The only way I smoke butts now!

sqwib · Nov 5, 2012

The only time i had mushy pork was when i injected. The marinate had cider vinegar.
You can try doing a coarser pull (finger pulled) sometimes shredding the pork too fine can result in a less than satisfactory product

boykjo · Nov 6, 2012

Did it taste good?.... I'll have a mushy BBQ sandwich please............

How about some pics....

chef jimmyj · Nov 6, 2012

If the true temp was 210*F then Carryover combined with the time in the cooler took them closer to 220*F...Way Overcooked. Remember every large hunk of meat will have an IT of say 200* but the surface temp is whatever the smoker is set at, in this case 235*F. Wrapped in towels this heat has no where to go but IN so the meat IT will continue to rise, typically 5-10*F. After you check the Therm start pulling the meat out of the smoker, toweling and cooler storing the meat 5-10*F short of what you want the final temp to be...JJ

grimm5577 · Nov 7, 2012

I recently did a shoulder, Injected, and rubbed, I only basted it once or twice with apple juice. Smoker temp was around 220 - 250 (higher temp when more charcoal was added) I don't know the IT temp when i foiled with apple juice but it was about 6 hours in on an 8 hour cook. I pulled the shoulder at IT 200* rested in a towel at room temp (no cooler). I pulled it about 1.5 hours later. After the pull I added some home made BBQ sauce and used a slow cooker to keep the meat warm. Not mushy at all. Probably the best shoulder I made so far.

Sorry yours didn't turn out as expected.

stabone · Nov 29, 2012

Sorry for the long delay in my reply...was in Mexico for a while on vacation. I appreciate all of the responses. I think that I did cook them too long and then I also wrapped them and left them wrapped in the cooler too long as well (2+ hours). My specialty is baby backs and I have just recently started to try and perfect my pork butts. I know that I am over cautious about drying out the meat...just because I'm used to smoking ribs and they are easy to dry out. I really need to evaluate whether or not I need to foil the butts. I am not a big fan of wrapping my ribs when I smoke them because it causes the slab to fall apart. I have no idea how people wrap ribs for 2 hours and get good results, but that's another topic. I think I may just try smoking the butt to about 195 or 200 with NO foil to see how it turns out. Not sure why I'm so paranoid about drying out the meat, especially when I spray it down with apple juice every hour. I think I just got caught up in the "foiling your meat" craze. Either way, I'll find out this weekend when I smoke up a few butts. Thanks again for the replies.

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Mushy pulled pork

stabone

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davidhef88

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austinl

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arnie

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kcphilaflyer

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smokinhusker

Legendary Pitmaster

davidhef88

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jarjarchef

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s2k9k

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sqwib

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boykjo

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chef jimmyj

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

grimm5577

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stabone

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