First Pulled Pork on the Traeger Pro 575

[ExclusiveBBQ]

Hi all,

I'll preface this by saying that I had a huge amount of help from the SMF community when I posted about my plan on how to cook pulled pork. Thanks to the great feedback, my plan changed slightly and I was able to nail this cook.

Prep
I did my pre the night before. I removed almost all of the surface fat and silverskin and the applied rub. Once trimmed, I injected it with a mix of apple juice and water, mixed with a little of my own all purpose rub. I then rubbed with my all purpose rub (recipe on my site) followed by a generous layer of Traeger's 'Pork & Poultry' rub. It then sat in the fridge overnight.

Cook
I'll try not to go into detail too much but essentially the cook followed these steps:

1. Place on Traeger (Hickory and Cherry) @ 250°F for 3 hours then spray
2. Check colour after 6 hours (I left it for longer to get a bit darker)
3. Once the colour is good (dark brown), wrap tightly in foil and put into oven @ 275°F with temperature probes in.
4. Once internal temperature reaches 207°F, take out and check tenderness. If bone is easy to remove, and it feels soft, wrap and rest in cool bag (I actually let it rest in the warm oven).

Start of the cook

3 hours in

7 hours in

Result

Ultimately, I wouldn't actually do anything differently next time... I may have gotten different results by using different seasonings or cooking for longer but it was an incredible cut of pork (from a wonderful farm) and was very easy to cook.

 

[kruizer]

Good looking pulled pork.

 

[creek bottom]

That's some FINE lookin' pork!!! Well done!!!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

PP looks great man! Is this your first butt or just your first on the new rig? Either way I wouldn't turn down a plate

 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

PP looks great man! Is this your first butt or just your first on the new rig? Either way I wouldn't turn down a plate

Yeah, first ever! People were right though - pork shoulder can really take a 'beating' when it comes to BBQ. It's a good beginner dish to do, but now I've done it I'm gonna move onto bigger and better things!

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Great looking PP Christopher! I'm going to have to take offense to the bigger and better remark! There may be things that are bigger, but nothing is better than properly done PP. I was born in Memphis so I could be a little biased on that one!

 

[2008RN]

Great looking pork! Congrats. Well it's about dinner time... Mamas fixed pull pork. @5GILLZNTN, You make me want to swing by Tennessee to see what real PP should taste like. Cheers!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

I might be a little biased as well but TN pulled pork might be the best IMO haha. Anyways good job Chris...PP is great don’t always have to turn to the next best thing. Try a spatched chicken or maybe some ABT’s. The selection is endless

 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

Great looking PP Christopher! I'm going to have to take offense to the bigger and better remark! There may be things that are bigger, but nothing is better than properly done PP. I was born in Memphis so I could be a little biased on that one!

Man I'm sorry! I'm still chasing great American barbecue and I guess I struggle more with other things than I did with pulled pork so want to 'conquer' those mountains next! I can't say I've ever been lucky enough to try proper pulled pork before, but I will visit the States one day and I will stop by Memphis as I've heard that's where I'm likely to get the best pork.

I might be a little biased as well but TN pulled pork might be the best IMO haha. Anyways good job Chris...PP is great don’t always have to turn to the next best thing. Try a spatched chicken or maybe some ABT’s. The selection is endless

Thank you! I want to nail brisket next - this pork was definitely good enough to serve to family and friends but my previous attempts at brisket haven't been. I'd also like to nail some ribs and get a proper recipe that I can do everyone without thinking about it!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Thank you! I want to nail brisket next - this pork was definitely good enough to serve to family and friends but my previous attempts at brisket haven't been. I'd also like to nail some ribs and get a proper recipe that I can do everyone without thinking about it!

Brisket is a whole other story haha. What type of ribs do you get over in the UK more baby backs or spare's? I can probably shoot you a couple threads to look at depending on what you are wanting to do.

 

[ExclusiveBBQ]

Brisket is a whole other story haha. What type of ribs do you get over in the UK more baby backs or spare's? I can probably shoot you a couple threads to look at depending on what you are wanting to do.

We get good ribs, but you have to look for them. I had some baby back ribs from Costco recently and they were lacking meat, so it's likely that I'll get good cuts from local butchers instead. Baby backs are more popular, for sure as whole racks of spare ribs tend to get cut up into individual ribs (not what I want). I'd love to be able to cook competition-style ribs that are super saucy and have that incredible 'glaze' to them!