Today's Journey...First time pulled pork, first time with pellet smoker

[paleoman]

Hi!

As I mentioned under my intro thread in Roll Call forum, I just bought a Traeger 575 pellet smoker (have been using an electric smoker), and wanted to try smoking pulled pork (we always used a crock pot in the past) as the first run. I'm just cooking for my mom, wife, and myself, so no pressure...

I did some planning and posted questions under that thread, and had decided to do roughly what civilsmoker laid out in the Pulled Pork Tacos thread. I made sure I had all the ingredients needed (a few extra trips to the store, to get a few items, as I altered the plan. I started thawing the 8 lb pork shoulder on Monday.

Wednesday, I create a batch of Jeffs' Original rub recipe, and his BBQ sauce. Yesterday, I brought up a cooler, got beach towels, a rectangular roasting pan we have for turkeys, gathered my temp probes, collected together some ingredients, and loaded the smoker with apple blend.

Items for the pork...

• 8 lb pork
• apple blend pellets
• yellow mustard
• Jeff's original rub (unaltered recipe, as opposed to civilsmoker's mods)
• Jeff's BBQ sauce
• rectangular roasting pan
• civilsmoker's finishing sauce (2C chicken broth, 2C apple cider, 2 tbl apple cider vinegar, 1 tbl chicken base, 3 tbl light brown sugar)
• cooler and beach towels
• temp probes (using two)

The "plan"...

05:00 Preheat grill to 265 degrees
05:05 Open pork package, place on pan, trim excess fat, score fat cap, add mustard and apply rub.
05:30 Start cooking in smoker, target temp 150-165 (5-7 hours?). Make finishing sauce and place in pan, next to pork.
10:30 - 12:30 Place port in pan, cover with foil with small vent. Target temp 203 degrees.
+01:00 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baked beans recipe and corn bread (mix - I'll be lazy here).
+01:30 Bake beans and corn bread.
+02:00 Place pork in pan, into cooler, cover with towels, and rest for an hour. Use probes to ensure over 150 degrees.
+02:30 Take out beans and bread, when ready
+03:00 Remove pork from cooler, pour off liquids, pull meat, removing undesireable parts, add liquids for flavor.
+03:30 Separate into pork for this meal, and place remaining into bags and vac sealed with some juices.
+04:00 Consume mass quantities.

Today is where the rubber hits the road, and I'm giving it a shot. In this thread, I'll post the journey I'm taking today for your amusement. :)

 

[WaterRat]

Looks like a solid plan. Make sure the bark on the pork is well set before moving to the pan or it will turn to mush. Good luck!

 

[paleoman]

Report #1
It's 14 degrees outside. Turned on smoker at 05:07, it was up to 265 by 05:23 (16mins). I'm surprised at how quick.
At 05:12 Pulled out the pork, opened package, cut off some dangling fat, little chunks on non-cap side, and some in the fold area. Probably about 1/8 C of fat. Scored the cap and applied rub on all sides. Done by 05:18.

Placed into smoker at 05:30. Took roasting pan, mixed together all the ingredients for civilsmoker's finishing sauce, and placed pan into smoker at 05:37. Inserted two probes into pork (from each end, into thick section, away from bone) at 05:40.

Temp had dropped to 224 degrees from the two openings of smoker, but withing 7 mins was back up to temp (actually went up to 276, and then is cooling down slowly).

At 08:50 (3 hours 20 mins), the probes signaled 140 degrees and 144 degrees. Reset probe alarms to 165 degrees. Seems a little ahead of schedule.

The smoker seems to be reporting between 253 degrees and 274 degrees. Taking 10-15 mins to go from one point to the other. It's still 18 degrees outside, as of 9am.

 

[paleoman]

Looks like a solid plan. Make sure the bark on the pork is well set before moving to the pan or it will turn to mush. Good luck!

Good to know. This is a first for me with pulled pork, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

 

[912smoker]

Sounds like a plan. Might also try smoked baked beans, if you have the room.

Keith

 

[Brokenhandle]

Think you're on your way to delicious goodness! Good thing you're not where I am... would have to wear ice skates to get to your smoker!

Ryan

 

[JLinza]

Sounds like a plan, excited to see the finish...

 

[paleoman]

09:20 view of pork so far...

Bone is on left side, going back (exposed) to front. Probes are parallel to bone at 45 degree angle front from front and back side.

At 09:35 (just over 4 hours) probes read 153 and 158.

 

[paleoman]

Think you're on your way to delicious goodness! Good thing you're not where I am... would have to wear ice skates to get to your smoker!

Ryan

Fortunately no precipitation, but at 14-18 degrees, it is COLD! A good test of the smoker holding temp!

 

[mr_whipple]

Looks to be coming along nicely!

 

[paleoman]

Sounds like a plan. Might also try smoked baked beans, if you have the room.

Keith

Not sure I'd have room, but plan for this dinner will be to do the baked beans in the oven, along with corn bread.

 

[WaterRat]

Good to know. This is a first for me with pulled pork, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned: don’t just go by temp to determine when it’s finished. You need to probe the pork in multiple locations to test for tenderness. Do a test probe around 190 so you can feel the difference.

Looking good so far

 

[JLeonard]

Looks like a great start! And excellent advice above,

Jim

 

[jcam222]

Looking good. I'm curious how you arrived at the temp of 265? I usually run 275 but just curious. A couple suggestions, one for now one for next time. For today when you move the pork to the roasting pan of liquid if remove all but one or two cups of the liquid. That's assuming there is a lot more than that as it appears in the pic. For next time just a suggestion , I like to trim and rub my butt the night before allowing the rub to have time to dry brine the meat. Looks and sounds like you are going to have a great meal today

 

[paleoman]

Report # 2

It's 10:30 (five hours). I re-adjusted the probe in the back, that was reading higher, and now it is 2 degrees higher than the front probe, which is at 163 degrees.

From civilsmoker's post, he saw 140-145 at 4 hours, 150-155 at 5 hours, and 160-165 at 7 hours with pork shoulders (he had one that was 7 lbs).

Mine was 153 (lower probe) at 4 hours, 163 at 5 hours. So, somewhat quicker, with an 8 lb pork shoulder.

One issue, the finishing sauce in the pan has pretty much rendered away (I didn't check it), and is the consistency of almost a paste. I pulled the pan out (fortunately, it is teflon coated). I probably should have added it later, or pulled it sooner.

Need to decide, if I make another batch, or just make JJ's finishing sauce and add when pulling.

Here's what the meat looks like....

Slightly darker (granted it is much brighter outside), and the finishing sauce is toast. I set the probe alarms to 203 degrees, but still uncovered.

 

[paleoman]

Looking good. I'm curious how you arrived at the temp of 265? I usually run 275 but just curious. A couple suggestions, one for now one for next time. For today when you move the pork to the roasting pan of liquid if remove all but one or two cups of the liquid. That's assuming there is a lot more than that as it appears in the pic. For next time just a suggestion , I like to trim and rub my butt the night before allowing the rub to have time to dry brine the meat. Looks and sounds like you are going to have a great meal today

I've read that several people have their smokers at 250, some lower, some higher. In civilsmoker's post (see my first), which I'm using as a guide, he uses 265 degrees. Mine seems to be going faster than his did.

 

[paleoman]

Definitely tossing the sauce. It's burnt. Meat is browning, but is firming up a bit, but not a "bark" by any sense. I'll check it at the 6 hour mark (in an hour).

For now, will make new set of finishing sauce and put the pan in, to see if it reduces in an hour or so.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Keep in mind... this butt is gonna finish in it's own time... next butt of exact same size and same weather conditions might act different. No two will be exactly the same.

Ryan

 

[paleoman]

Yeah, figuring that from other things I've smoked with the electric smoker. I'm "assuming" that the tenting purpose is mostly to prevent the bark from getting burned, so I'm holding off, until the meat is darker.

I'm a little concerned with the finishing sauce and whether I should be prepared to make the JJ's finishing sauce that many people seem to like (It is more of a vinegar sauce, vs this broth/cider sauce).

Time table so far, is roughly...

4 hours ~155 degrees
5 hours ~165 degrees
6 hours ~175 degrees

Will check at 7 hours (12:30).

 

[jcam222]

I would not put the sugar based sauce in the smoker for any length of time. Really don't need to at all. I'd just mix it up and then mix in the pork once pulled. For the pork I would run it to the stall around 165F and then wrap in that pan with only a cup to two of chicken broth.