Pulled pork experiment

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Brainbeer

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 3, 2024
17
33
Experimented today with pulled pork. Been watching Mad Scientist BBQ videos on YouTube. Did everything as instructed but didn't turn out as good as expected. It was still good, just not what I was hoping for. I used salt and pepper only for the rub. Cooked 9 hours at 250 (5lbs) until 200 degrees. Used pecan wood. Wrapped at 170.

Turned out really tender and juicy. Pecan seems to be a much milder wood. Would have liked a stronger smoke taste. Will stick with an apple/cherry mix in the future. Used a boneless Boston Butt, next time I'll use the bone in. Bark was not as good as I wanted. I know it's hard to get a good one with an electric smoker. Had I used my normal rub, it would have been better due to the sugar. Taking the netting off pulled some off so that was what I taste tested. Currently resting so it may not be lost yet. At least it does not need sauce. Sauce might help, but it's for sure not needed. I should have taken the pic before removing the netting, but here's how it turned out.
 

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Experimented today with pulled pork. Been watching Mad Scientist BBQ videos on YouTube. Did everything as instructed but didn't turn out as good as expected. It was still good, just not what I was hoping for. I used salt and pepper only for the rub. Cooked 9 hours at 250 (5lbs) until 200 degrees. Used pecan wood. Wrapped at 170.

Turned out really tender and juicy. Pecan seems to be a much milder wood. Would have liked a stronger smoke taste. Will stick with an apple/cherry mix in the future. Used a boneless Boston Butt, next time I'll use the bone in. Bark was not as good as I wanted. I know it's hard to get a good one with an electric smoker. Had I used my normal rub, it would have been better due to the sugar. Taking the netting off pulled some off so that was what I taste tested. Currently resting so it may not be lost yet. At least it does not need sauce. Sauce might help, but it's for sure not needed. I should have taken the pic before removing the netting, but here's how it turned out.
Hi there and welcome!

Yeah the videos and blog posts with all the pics for this stuff always seems to be a lot of myth vs reality. They just manage to take good video/photos of it all and that's the point. If it looks good it gets eyes/clicks which = money :D

If i might suggest a more surefire approach. Go simple. Yes simple.

1. You are using an electric smoker so chances are it retains moisture super well.
This means do not use water in a pan. Do not spritz. Do not mop. Do not net. Do not wrap. Do not open the smoker until it is time to check for tenderness (a pork butt is only done when it is tender, never by time or temp; the internal temp of the meat will tell you when to check for tenderness).
If you do all of this I guarantee you will get amazing bark!

2. Don't bother scoring it. If anything there is a simple single cut you can make that will be a GAME CHANGER! You lay the bone in pork butt fat side down. Then at the halfway point of the pork but cut downwards until you hit the bone. This cut should be good and big and be done so that it allows you to kind of spread/butterfly out the meat some while it is smoking. Not drastic but just allowing you to easily get more surface area exposed.
Why do this?
More surface area = more bark. You can get more seasoning in there on that surface area. Finally, when spread you get more surface area for the smoke to hit AND deeper smoke penetration and flavor into the center of the pork butt.
This is a game changer because once you shred this pork butt, you will have so much more flavor that you will NOT have a bland bite no matter what. I did a whole write up on it here, and look what I mean with the last pics where it is pulled apart. Not a single bite sill lack in bark or flavor! This took my pretty good pork butts into the best I've eaten anywhere AND without needing to add any additional seasonings or finishing sauce or anything. Just cook, shred, eat! :D

3. Season simply. You were already doing this with salt and pepper. If you want more flavor you can expand just a little bit on that. Going Salt, Pepper, Onion, Garlic, and Paprika will give you out of this world seasoning flavor. You can put quite a bit of all of these seasonings without worry because it's a pork butt which is a big chunk of meat that is thick. If anything you can go normal to moderate on the salt but you could go all the way up to heavy seasoning on the other non-salt seasonings and be perfectly fine.

4. Wood. As you have seen Pecan is kind of mild. I would suggest you toss some hickory in there. In my electric smoker I find that if i go over about 65% hickory then everything tastes too much like bacon to me. So you might be able to go 50/50 Hickory and Pecan (which is like a mild hickory) and nail a better and stronger smoke flavor.

5. I'm here in Texas. We don't have a real history of adding sugar to our BBQ seasoning/rubs. Because of this we also have been known to smoke BBQ hot and fast. If you have sugar in your rubs you basically don't want to go over 250F or the sugar will burn and get bitter (so I've been told). Without sugar you can go over 300F smoker temp on cuts like a pork butt.
Cuts like pork butts, pork ribs, briskets, beef ribs, and other "tenderness" buts of meat don't care what temp you cook them at, as long as you aren't burning them!!!
So feel free to avoid adding sugar and crank up that smoker temp!
Here in Texas we have a solution if you still want sweet/sugar.... you just add BBQ sauce to the meat when it's on your plate at the table hahahaha. OR, you can add some BBQ sauce to the meat and leave on the smoker to finish off.

6. A pork butt is only done when it is tender, never by time or temp. I noticed you removed it at 200F Internal Temp (IT) of the meat. A pork butt is forgiving and you were ok. A brisket (another tenderness cut that follows the same rules) is unforgiving and will break your spirits if you pull solely based on 200F versus checking for tenderness and pulling when tender lol.
A surefire way to ensure your pork butts will always be tender is to wait until the temp probe tells you 200F IT. Then get a wooden kabob skewer and stab all over the pork butt to check for tenderness. If it the skewer goes in ALL OVER without ANY resistance, then it is tender and one. If you find a spot of resistance, move your temp probe there (it will tell you it's lower temp there, I'm sure) and then let the temp rise until it's time to check for tenderness again. Repeat and let temp rise a few degrees, etc. until the pork butt probes tender all over and tells you it is done!
If you do this you will guarantee it is done. Also you will NOT need to ever open the door to check the meat until it is time to check for tenderness.
If you are looking you're not cooking! haahhaa
So just sit back and let the temp probe alert you to when you need to get involved :D

This is not sexy information that videos and blog posts can easily get pictures of or explain so they don't bother doing so. They just want to show you good visuals.
Though it's not sexy, it is 110% spot on for giving you the steps for making the most amazing pork butt you can ever have! As with all BBQ and cooking, you will still have to work these steps, tweak to your liking or situation, but it gets you like 95% of the way there. The last 5% is your own magical touch :D

I hope all this info helps.
 
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I recently did two half butts for a lady I work with. Took forever to get them to a shredable point.

Jim
 
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