Pork Shoulder Pulled Pork Questions

[shriv]

Rivet,
Do you ever foil it, wrap in towels and put it in a cooler or does that braise it also?
Thanks,
shriv

 

[deltadude]

I have a lot of respect for Rivet, and his quest of attempting to Q as it was done in days gone by are noble and worthy.

However "lifterpuller", is using an electric MES as I am, so attempting to get methods down like my grandfather used when they covered that pig in wet gunny sacks and dug a pit, built a fire and then threw the pig in on top and buried it. That will not be the reason to either use or not use alum foil. At least for a MES owner, its all about taste and methods we like best. Some don't foil, that is ok, others foil that is great, some inject, some cook half in the smoker and half in the oven, all of that is fine, if the product tastes great!
You want to be more traditional, then I doubt you bought an electric smoker.

One reason foiling doesn't matter in an MES, is at 140 deg smoke no longer is penetrating the meat, the chemical reaction ceases, so foiling at 160 in an electric smoker is no different than cooking your pork/butt in the oven, since the MES is now acting like a plain oven.

There are other reasons to foil, if your meat is stuck at 160 for a couple of hours, foil it and watch how fast the meat temp will rise. Foil is simply another tool in the cook's tool pouch, you do whatever is necessary to get the desired results.

BTW, since we are hunting for a new house, I'm hoping that I can get a place with enough backyard and space between houses, so I can eventually move up to a nice wood/charcoal smoker and do things a little more traditional. Until then the ol MES will keep turning out great Q although not traditionally cooked great Q.

 

[tasunkawitko]

eric - that does sound like a good way to get the bark back to the good stage!

rivet's #1 and #3 points probably hit closest to home for me; his #2 is the technical reason, but the wother two are the inner drive that keep us engaged in this hobby we lovingly call barbecue.

deltadue - you make a very good point that this is with an MES, and since i have no experience with one, i take your words seriously.

>>>at 140 deg smoke no longer is penetrating the meat, the chemical reaction ceases<<<

this is true of smoke ring penetration, but as far as i know, the smoke flavor itself still imparts in the meat and my reading and experience bear this out. the smoke ring and smoke flavor are two different things.

 

[pignit]

Foiling / braising your PP will give it a different texture and flavor due to the fact your smoking it differently. I've never had a PP get to temp faster by foiling it. I had two butts in the MES last night I foiled before I went to bed. This morning one was at 200 and the other at 160. Side by side... foiled. The cut of meat has more to do with smoking time than whether you foil or not. Foil simply holds moisture in the immediate cooking environment. I pulled the one that was sitting on 160 out of the foil and I'm finishing it sittin nekkid on the rack. I personally like unfoiled PP but most of the time my smoking time and situation warrant foiling. Dang... gonna just have to do it both ways a few times to see which way you like it best. There is a very different flavor / texture factor in unfoiled and foiled. You just have to decide which you like the best.

 

[rivet]

Hey all, this a real good thread and it is this kind of discussion that keeps me coming back to the SMF and believing in it.

I'm sure lots of folks read these posts and never reply, but they take away a little bit of something that will help them out or spark some interest later.

All of you all who contribute deserve a bit of congratulations for keeping the forum alive.

Well, congratulations on that! Nothing wrong with tinfoil at all...it's just a preference-thing and will definitely admit right off the bat it makes BBQ life a heck of a lot easier!

Absolutely! Once it's done, wrap that puppy in a couple turns of heavy duty foil and do the cooler-boogie! A couple of weeks ago when my kids did their first brisket, when it was done, we foiled it, wrapped it in 2 beach towels and put it in a cold oven since the big cooler was full of ice, beer and sodas.

It all came out good and was an excellent brisket.

I don't think that foiling it, wrapping it at the end is "braising" it since you are just trying to maintain heat at this point and let the juices redistribute. Braising is cooking with steam, which is what foiling is when your meat is under fire and wrapped in foil and trying to achieve proper temp.

You have got that dead on, and correctly so! That's why there are so many different smokers, grills, cookers etcetera around. Each one fits a niche that serves the owner.

No worries on that; that's the way it is and the way we like it. I say this often....It is YOUR food, YOUR cooking and you are cooking it the way YOU like it. Nothing better than that!

Amen, brother! Smoke on!

 

[deltadude]

Thanks TasunkaWitko, I stand corrected, you are right. Sometimes late at night after a few beers, I get my cooking science and common sense mixed up.

So to make sure that all points get covered, I will post here a copy of something called "Smoking the Art and Science of Barbecue", most of this text was taken from the book "Harold McGee’s, Food and Cooking The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. I picked this text from some guys web site, but didn't record where... specific to Pork/shoulder/butt

Due to 10,000 Character max I will post the remainder in followup post

 

[deltadude]

"Smoking the Art and Science of Barbecue"

Continued...

 

[tasunkawitko]

excellent article, delta!