I made the mistake of making pulled pork for the Woman of My Dreams (WOMD) early in our relationship. Now, I have been advised there will always be pulled pork available. Sigh.
We were able to get to a big city and hit a Costco. Full pork butts or shoulders are rarer in our small city in the Canadian Rockies than a good microwave rib recipe. So I picked up a couple. One for pulled pork and one to make breakfast sausage and Italian sausage.
However, Costco in Canada just doesn't have full pork butts with the bone in. They always have it with most of the fat cap trimmed and the bone removed. I don't know about you, but I find a bone equals flavour. The lack of fat cap is less problematic as I usually trim my pork butts pretty tight to get a better bark. I would like more fat for the sausage but will add other pork trimmings to get the fat level up.
I started making my Mountain Pulled pork by injecting a 4 kg (9 lb) pork butt with a mixture of:
125 ml (1/2 cup) apple juice
50 ml (1/4 cup) water
50 ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup
10 ml (2 tsp) salt
15 ml (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce
I continued by giving the pork a generous rub with my basic rub:
50 ml (1/4 cup) paprika
50 ml (1/4 cup) brown sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) kosher salt
3 ml (1/2 tsp) cayenne
I put it in the fridge on a rack for a couple of hours to dry the surface.
I set my Bradley up with hickory pucks at 110 C (230 F) and put the pork in.
I let it smoke for 4 hours to get a good start on the bark.
Here, my technique varies from smoke to smoke. I like the texture of foil wrapped pulled pork but the bark is only good. I prefer the bark of paper wrapped pork but the texture is not quite as good. I like the bark on unwrapped pulled pork the most but the texture the least. I decided to split the difference and use butcher paper this time.
As it is winter in the Canadian Rockies and the boys start looking for a new home when I go outside, I finished the cook in a 110 C (230 F) oven. This makes no difference to the taste as the pork is wrapped.
Cooked the pork to 92 C (198 F) keeping track on my Thermoworks remote thermometer. I started probing the pork until a probe went in very easily. This took place at 93 C (200 F). I put the wrapped pork in a towel lined camp cooler and let it rest for 2 hours.
Here is the opening. Great bark!
The pork pulled easily and I did the best I could to not eat all the bark.
I added a finishing sauce of:
50 ml (1/4 cup) cider vinegar,
15 ml (1 tbsp) maple syrup
1 ml (1/4 tsp) black pepper
1/2 ml (1/8 tsp) cayenne
The verdict:
This was delicious and made great sandwiches. It would have been better with a bone. The texture was great. It would have been better with a bone. The taste was rich and the finishing sauce complimented the rich pork. It would have been better with a bone. The bark was dark and tasty. It would have been better with a bone. It got the approval of WOMD.
Did I mention it would have been better with a bone?
I have several packages in the freezer and have ordered a tortilla press. Look for Pulled Pork Tacos in my future.
Disco
We were able to get to a big city and hit a Costco. Full pork butts or shoulders are rarer in our small city in the Canadian Rockies than a good microwave rib recipe. So I picked up a couple. One for pulled pork and one to make breakfast sausage and Italian sausage.
However, Costco in Canada just doesn't have full pork butts with the bone in. They always have it with most of the fat cap trimmed and the bone removed. I don't know about you, but I find a bone equals flavour. The lack of fat cap is less problematic as I usually trim my pork butts pretty tight to get a better bark. I would like more fat for the sausage but will add other pork trimmings to get the fat level up.
I started making my Mountain Pulled pork by injecting a 4 kg (9 lb) pork butt with a mixture of:
125 ml (1/2 cup) apple juice
50 ml (1/4 cup) water
50 ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup
10 ml (2 tsp) salt
15 ml (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce
I continued by giving the pork a generous rub with my basic rub:
50 ml (1/4 cup) paprika
50 ml (1/4 cup) brown sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) kosher salt
3 ml (1/2 tsp) cayenne
I put it in the fridge on a rack for a couple of hours to dry the surface.
I set my Bradley up with hickory pucks at 110 C (230 F) and put the pork in.
I let it smoke for 4 hours to get a good start on the bark.
Here, my technique varies from smoke to smoke. I like the texture of foil wrapped pulled pork but the bark is only good. I prefer the bark of paper wrapped pork but the texture is not quite as good. I like the bark on unwrapped pulled pork the most but the texture the least. I decided to split the difference and use butcher paper this time.
As it is winter in the Canadian Rockies and the boys start looking for a new home when I go outside, I finished the cook in a 110 C (230 F) oven. This makes no difference to the taste as the pork is wrapped.
Cooked the pork to 92 C (198 F) keeping track on my Thermoworks remote thermometer. I started probing the pork until a probe went in very easily. This took place at 93 C (200 F). I put the wrapped pork in a towel lined camp cooler and let it rest for 2 hours.
Here is the opening. Great bark!
The pork pulled easily and I did the best I could to not eat all the bark.
I added a finishing sauce of:
50 ml (1/4 cup) cider vinegar,
15 ml (1 tbsp) maple syrup
1 ml (1/4 tsp) black pepper
1/2 ml (1/8 tsp) cayenne
The verdict:
This was delicious and made great sandwiches. It would have been better with a bone. The texture was great. It would have been better with a bone. The taste was rich and the finishing sauce complimented the rich pork. It would have been better with a bone. The bark was dark and tasty. It would have been better with a bone. It got the approval of WOMD.
Did I mention it would have been better with a bone?
I have several packages in the freezer and have ordered a tortilla press. Look for Pulled Pork Tacos in my future.
Disco
