Hot Dog cart for pulled pork?

[paulh1982]

Hi Guys

Pulled pork isn't very popular here in Ireland and i am trying to introduce it to the general public on a shoe string budget to test the water,selling at farmers markets at the weekends. I have the opportunity to use a smoker in a local food hub,i was wonder would a hot Dog cart be suitable for selling at the markets and would the pork still taste good while in the bain Marie?

 

[hambone1950]

Hey paul. I think a hot dog cart would work great. And pulled pork will keep nicely in a Bain Marie . You have to make sure it stays nice and hot for food safety reasons (which I'm sure you know) , but PP is something that's easy to keep for long periods. Even more so if you moisten it with a good finishing sauce. Is there propane or something in the hot dog cart to keep that water hot ? It sounds ideal . Good luck with your experiment.

 

[dward51]

Hambone is right about a good finishing sauce.  At several office gatherings which required more pork than my WSM can crank out in a single load, I have actually made the PP ahead of time and reheated it the day of the event.   With a good finishing sauce, you will get some people who say it's better than fresh off the smoker!

There are several examples of finishing sauces in this forum.  I've used both Chef Jimmy J's and SoFlaQer's sauce with success.

 

[raastros2]

There is a guy in downtown Baton rouge that sells boudin and PP out a hot dog cart on the weekends outside the bars and also or lunch on weekdays and does pretty good with it

 

[paulh1982]

Thank you for the replies guys i really appreciate it. I will start experimenting with finishing sauces.Although i just intend trying pulled pork for now,how would brisket keep in a bain Marie?

 

[dirtsailor2003]

I actually prefer my pulled pork a day or two after. It gives the pork time to absorb the finishing sauce a and mellow out a bit. I think a good selling feature would be to incorporate a small smoker into your cart. One that could hold one or two butts/shoulders at a time. The aroma from the pork butt smoking would attract patrons. Then you could use that pork for the next day, etc. A cheap little smoker that would work great and that is super portable would be a mini-wsm (as long as the health authorities would allow you to use it).

Good luck with your adventure and if you get something up and running post some photos of your set up and let us know how it goes.

 

[jax13]

Anything pulled / confit will hot hold well. The problems with hot holding foods come in when you are trying to keep dry things hot (sliced roast meats, whole chickens etc.) with pulled pork / brisket you can just add a splash of sauce / stock if the pans start drying out a little too much with no detriment to quality or taste. If you can, try and get pre-shredded meat vac - packed and reheat in your water bath or a pan of simmering water. Being sealed will stop it drying out during the reheating process and you can also keep a few different size packets warm and decant them to your serving dishes as you need them to preserve quality as much as possible.