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

[paleoman]

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.

I think the intent of the process I read, was to get the sauce to render down some (I should have monitored it a bit more). The plan was to place it in the pan and tent it with the sauce.

I'm not sure if it is stalling much at all. Temps seem to be rising about 10 degrees per hour.

It's 12:00 (6.5 hours) and temps are 185. The surface is browning, not real dark, and definitely not hard at all. The sauce has reduced down by half. I stuck the Traeger probe in a totally different section and it reads 183, so I think the probes are OK.

I'm wondering if all the moisture from the sauce steaming, is keeping a firmer bark from forming. I pulled the sauce out for now (was in for 340 mins).

Not sure if I should continue, uncovered longer or not.

 

[chopsaw]

Not sure if I should continue, uncovered longer or not.

You keep looking and you won't eat until Monday .

 

[civilsmoker]

Yes the intent of the finish sauce in the smoker is to all moisture as well as reduce. Just make some up on the stove.

It appears to me that your bottom plate of the smoker is a hot spot so that is why the pan sauce evaporated just knowing your timing to dinner I would just let it go uncovered and pull and rest. It’s looking good though. Oh and you can wrap it any any time you want……. So if needed but yours is just doing its thing so I’d let it keep cooking the wrap and hold one it hits temp

Ps edit, I just saw how cold your out side temp is, the colder it gets the hotter the plate will be closer to the grate and therefore cook bottom hotter. This issue a bad thing it just means it’s seeing a bit higher temp so it pushed past the stall…..

 

[civilsmoker]

You keep looking and you won't eat until Monday .

Yup just let it cook it’s going to be done without wrapping….. it looks tasty though

 

[chopsaw]

Yes , it looks great . Just watch your therms and carry on .

 

[paleoman]

You keep looking and you won't eat until Monday .

Only opened at 4 hrs, 5 hrs, 5.5 hrs to switch sauce, and 6 to pull sauce. Rest is reading temps remotely.

 

[paleoman]

Yes the intent of the finish sauce in the smoker is to all moisture as well as reduce. Just make some up on the stove.

I have the remake of sauce, that I put in at 5.5 hours and pulled out at 6 hours. It reduced in half at least.

It appears to me that your bottom plate of the smoker is a hot spot so that is why the pan sauce evaporated just knowing your timing to dinner I would just let it go uncovered and pull and rest. It’s looking good though. Oh and you can wrap it any any time you want……. So if needed but yours is just doing its thing so I’d let it keep cooking the wrap and hold one it hits temp

I'm letting it go until it hits 203 degrees. Pan of sauce came out at 6 hours, so shouldn't be as much moisture. We're just past 7 hour mark, and temp reads 192.

Ps edit, I just saw how cold your out side temp is, the colder it gets the hotter the plate will be closer to the grate and therefore cook bottom hotter. This issue a bad thing it just means it’s seeing a bit higher temp so it pushed past the stall…..

That's interesting! I was expecting it to stall, and it seems to jsut be marching right along...

I'm going to work on the beans...

Thanks for all the guidance folks!

 

[fxsales1959]

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. :)

glad it workd out. did somewhat similar at the S Florida SMF gathering last weekend.

 

[paleoman]

Report #3...
At 13:30, 8 hours, temp is 198. Outside is a balmy 32 degrees finally.

Did a quick open/touch/close and It's getting darker, by no means dry at all or hard bark. It is slowing down in the temp increases (seemed to hang at 194 for a while). I've got the beans baking. Will wait on cooking the corn bread, until after I take the pork out to rest.

 

[paleoman]

Report #4
At 14:30 (9 hours), temps were 203/201 (traeger probe had 208). Pulled that puppy out...

Stuck a bit to the grates, so some of the scrapings are in the foreground.

Placed in the roasting pan with the sauce, placed into cooler, covered, and closed up. Temp was reading 199/197 at 14:40. Now, at 15:10 probes show 172/180. Plan to keep it in, until 15:45, and then will pull.

I made some of JJ's finishing sauce to have on hand for pulling (as the broth I have is pretty bland), and for dipping/table use. Pulled out the Jeff's BBQ sauce I made and backup sauce (Sweet Baby Rays that my wife likes - hoping she'll like this better, as it surely is much higher quality that that high fruitcose corn crap), so they are not cold.

Will be cooling the corn bread soon. Targeting 16:00 (4pm) for dining hour. Doing stomach exercises in hopes that this tastes good and I can consume mass quantities!

 

[civilsmoker]

Looks tasty enjoy dinner!

As an fyi that’s why I have a thermapen one to independently check the cooker probes. The bbq probes aren’t the best and often are off.

 

[paleoman]

Thanks! Will follow up with some pictures. I have a Thermopop for instant readings, and we have a 6 thermometer set by Cloud BBQ that seem to work pretty well.

 

[paleoman]

The pork came off the bone pretty cleanly, and was moist. I think there was about 4 1/3 pounds of pork. I pulled it and added some of the sauce/juice from the pan, and some of JJ's Finishing sauce...

I tried it plain, with Jeff's BBQ sauce recipe, and with JJ's finishing sauce. I really liked it with either of the sauces. My wife preferred it with JJ's finishing sauce, but liked it with the BBQ sauce, and didn't touch the bottle of Ray's (that's a good sign :) ).

Plate with baked beans I made, and a piece of mangled corn bread.

I roughly split the remains (one bag with about 1 lb and one with 1 lb 9 oz), added some juice, and vac sealed.

Next time I try this approach, I think I'll place the pork on a rack in the pan, versus right on the grate. I'll mostly like do the finishing sauce on the stove.

I'd like to try a few other recipes that I found, one with brining, and one with injecting, to see which way I like it the best.

Thanks for all the tips and pointers everyone!

 

[DougE]

The pork came off the bone pretty cleanly, and was moist. I think there was about 4 1/3 pounds of pork. I pulled it and added some of the sauce/juice from the pan, and some of JJ's Finishing sauce...

View attachment 709233

I tried it plain, with Jeff's BBQ sauce recipe, and with JJ's finishing sauce. I really liked it with either of the sauces. My wife preferred it with JJ's finishing sauce, but liked it with the BBQ sauce, and didn't touch the bottle of Ray's (that's a good sign :) ).

View attachment 709234
Plate with baked beans I made, and a piece of mangled corn bread.

I roughly split the remains (one bag with about 1 lb and one with 1 lb 9 oz), added some juice, and vac sealed.

Next time I try this approach, I think I'll place the pork on a rack in the pan, versus right on the grate. I'll mostly like do the finishing sauce on the stove.

I'd like to try a few other recipes that I found, one with brining, and one with injecting, to see which way I like it the best.

Thanks for all the tips and pointers everyone!

Fantastic cook!

I'm with the wife on just a finishing sauce vs BBQ sauce on my pulled pork.

I use this one, though.

FINISHING SAUCE (for Pulled Pork)

The Finishing Sauce I use is as follows: 1 Cup Cider Vinegar 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar 1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning 1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper 1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes Warm the Vinegar up enough so that it disolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[babydocsmoke]

Report #4
At 14:30 (9 hours), temps were 203/201 (traeger probe had 208). Pulled that puppy out...
View attachment 709229
Stuck a bit to the grates, so some of the scrapings are in the foreground.

Placed in the roasting pan with the sauce, placed into cooler, covered, and closed up. Temp was reading 199/197 at 14:40. Now, at 15:10 probes show 172/180. Plan to keep it in, until 15:45, and then will pull.

I made some of JJ's finishing sauce to have on hand for pulling (as the broth I have is pretty bland), and for dipping/table use. Pulled out the Jeff's BBQ sauce I made and backup sauce (Sweet Baby Rays that my wife likes - hoping she'll like this better, as it surely is much higher quality that that high fruitcose corn crap), so they are not cold.

Will be cooling the corn bread soon. Targeting 16:00 (4pm) for dining hour. Doing stomach exercises in hopes that this tastes good and I can consume mass quantities!

That looks fantastic!

 

[paleoman]

Fantastic cook!

I'm with the wife on just a finishing sauce vs BBQ sauce on my pulled pork.

I use this one, though.

FINISHING SAUCE (for Pulled Pork)

The Finishing Sauce I use is as follows: 1 Cup Cider Vinegar 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar 1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning 1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper 1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes Warm the Vinegar up enough so that it disolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Thanks! I'm extremely pleased with the results. Much better than doing it via the crock pot!

I've saved the recipe for finishing sauce from soflaquer for future reference trials.

 

[paleoman]

That looks fantastic!

Thanks! I guess the Traeger pellet smoker is a keeper :)

 

[bigfurmn]

Dang, those folks are going to love that meal. Very nicely done.

 

[paleoman]

Dang, those folks are going to love that meal. Very nicely done.

Thanks! Both my wife and my mom enjoyed the meal. I'm looking forward to making it again for a larger group, next time.

 

[jcam222]

Looks like it turned out great, nice work