What are the principles of preserving moisture in long pork smokes?

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fpagrpesc

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May 5, 2024
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I've read different recipes for pulled pork, smoked for long hours, and left wondering what's the principle for the initial rub or mop sauce to keep the meat moist, but absorbing smoke flavors, without drying out.

Not looking for a recipe but why the recipes are what they are.

For example, one I read recently based on pork shoulder starts with covering it with mustard and molasses. Which of those helps just add flavor and which helps more to keep juices from evaporating out as the long smoke takes place. Or both or neither and why.

Same for the mop sauce, normally added once per hour. Which ingredients are there to add flavor but don't help retain or add moisture, which help retain moisture, which replenish lost moisture, possibly by being quickly absorbed by the cooking meat?

Anyone studied this or observed and experimented over time with their recipes and can explain the principles, what works and why?
 
I don't slather, mop, or wrap and the only dry pork butt I've made was due to overcooking. Unless you're planning a long hold, target temperature for pulled pork should just be a starting point for testing for "probe tender". I don't shoot for the "standard" 200° + temperature and either slice, chop, or pull around 190°-195°, foil, and hold for at least a few hours. After the hold, it's pullable.

I used to do the cooler hold (foil immediately after removing from the cooker, stashing in the cooler, and filling the empty cooler space with towels) and will still do that if I'm transporting it, but now I use an electric smoker to do a hot hold at 145°-165° after foiling. I've done the hot hold for over 24 hours with excellent results.
 
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Pork butt is the most forgiving thing you can cook. You can do all those things like inject, spritz etc if you want but for me it's not necessary. I also do all my butts at 275F smoker temp. Have never had an issue with dry meat. Just a rub I let sit overnight and go. I don't even use a binder anymore. The meat is moist and th salt in the rub quickly draws more moisture to the surface so it adheres well.
 
Pork butt is the most forgiving thing you can cook. You can do all those things like inject, spritz etc if you want but for me it's not necessary. I also do all my butts at 275F smoker temp. Have never had an issue with dry meat. Just a rub I let sit overnight and go. I don't even use a binder anymore. The meat is moist and th salt in the rub quickly draws more moisture to the surface so it adheres well.
Same, rub it, smoke it, pull it, eat it. 275 all the way.
 
^ Good advice from both above posters. I'll do a light cross cuts on the fatty side to help render and also get get seasoning and smoke in the meat. I'll also make a large cut to "butterfly" the butt. Get more surface area for bark and seasoning. Around *175 I put in a foil pan and wrap. That saves a bit of rendered fat to be mix in when pulled. I'm not the guy for a scientific explanation, but the advice here will make a delicious sandwich.
 
One direction to consider: If you don't mind not having crispy bark, the best way to retain juice is to smoke it any of the ways mentioned above (I rub down with yellow mustard and coat with SPG and white sugar). Smoke until about 160°F internal (I smoke them in a aluminum pan). Then drop the whole butt and any collected juices in a plastic crock pot liner. Twist to seal, getting rid of air voids, and tie in a knot. Then wrap the whole thing with foil and finish cooking to 205°F internal. Remove from the cooker and wrap in a towel. Rest in a cooler for several hours. 2-4 hours is where I like that rest to land. It won't win you any KCBS trophies. But it will be the juiciest pork you have ever had. If you did it right, that blade bone should pop out clean by just giving it a dirty look.
 
I use mustard but get no flavor from it. I lay rub on butt very thick and it's more like spackle with the mustard. I've tried just making spackle out of rub and mustard and am happy doing it that way too. I make my own rub (never weighed a darn thing) but I guarantee it has less salt than anything commercial (that isn't labeled as low sodium) so I can get away with that much rub.
 
Most treatments multi-task, adding flavor while also changing the surface texture. Most dry cooking (including roasting, grilling, broiling, and smoking) will, technically, dry out the surface of the meat but, done right, should leave more than enough moisture within (unless you are making jerky). Therefore, these approaches should be entirely optional.

- Smoke particles stick to damp surfaces better than dry ones, so you *could* just lightly spritz the meat with water periodically (at least until the stall) but you might as well add some other flavor components while you're at it: your basic wet rub/mop. Depending on your mop components, it can also provide a bit of a physical barrier to moisture leaving the meat.
- You could, instead, just lightly salt the meat right before smoking - osmosis will draw some of the moisture within up to the surface - but, again, you might as well add some other flavor components while you're at it: your basic dry rub. The dry rub also helps form & flavor the bark as the meat surface dries and hardens in the heat and smoke.
- Unmentioned are injections and brining/dry-brining, which take longer but help promote tenderizing/flavoring chemical reactions to take place deeper in and throughout the meat. Brining is more of a thing for poultry, and requires more precise math, but dry-brining works for most all meats, including pork, without having to be as exact.

There is a *lot* more chemistry/physics at play if you want to dive into it, but, again, you are mostly talking marginal versus superfluous. Personally, I just dry-brine/dry rub and call it a day.
 
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While I agree there's enough fat in a butt that it's basically no fail, brining/injecting/adding back liquid gold/finish sauce have serious merit if you are looking for results beyond typical. For some reason I took to injecting. That being said, I would say wood choice (oak) made the biggest overall impact on my finished product.
 
While I agree there's enough fat in a butt that it's basically no fail, brining/injecting/adding back liquid gold/finish sauce have serious merit if you are looking for results beyond typical. For some reason I took to injecting. That being said, I would say wood choice (oak) made the biggest overall impact on my finished product.
I always have a pan of broth under my butts for liquid gold. Mixing it in makes pulled so good. I can also see injecting for flavor. I've injected for flavor when going Mexican flavor profile for pork butt. My buddy injects with root beer or Dr pepper sometime.
 
Lots of good answers above. To me as long as you're cookin in smoke there is no wrong answer. Play with any thing you read/see.
Slather. If I feel like I want to open the pores of what I'm cooking I use a vinegar base. If I want to seal it I use a oil base. Either can make seasoning stick but one can help carry flavor in. The other hold it on the outside.
Spritz/mop. To me is kinda the same but I can to add flavors and color/bark.
Wood. Try all of them and mix.
Just cook any reason to start a fire is a good one!
 
Age-old back and forth on how to do pulled pork butts. Don't let the varying methods people use confuse you as to why. A properly cooked pork butt doesn't really need any help retaining moisture. However, using a finishing sauce, a sauce you mix with the pulled pork before storing or serving is what I like to do. It sets in layers of flavor and adds some moisture. This is not the sauce you might apply at the table like squirting over your sandwich.

Basically "what HE said". Sandyut and others here know what they are talking about. Don't complicate what can be a very simple thing. Rub it, smoke it, bring to the temp you like best (Some people have their own preferences), pull it, finish sauce, serve or freeze. I actually think freezing is beneficial and makes the meat even more tender. Also the vac seal really pulls that finishing sauce in to the meat fibers...in my opinion...but with warm or room temp meat, not refrigerated meat.

I make my own rub and three different sauces. A cider vinegar based finishing sauce, a thicker sauce for ribs, etc. and one right smack in between those two that I use at serving with pulled pork.
 
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You have to really work at it to end up with dry pulled pork. Pork shoulder is the simplest and most forgiving meat to smoke due to all the internal fat and connective tissue that renders during smoking.

On the pellet grill, I run the grill low where it makes the most smoke for an hour or two, then kick it up to 275°F until probe tender.
I concur. I always use it on pulled pork.
 
To add to what the others have stated. Here is my suggestions and opinions based on my experiences.

For the best smoked infusion flavor its created when the meat surface is still cold-cool. Once it starts to actually cook and change the structure smoke infusion decreases greatly. Think why cold smoke is able to get such a heavy flavor if desired even within typical hot smoking cook times (3-8hr). Its because the meat is not cooking for that time. So focus on the smoke concentration early. Heavier smoke is ok just not dirty creosote filled smoke good air flow.

IMO, incorporation of pan dripping and a use of a finishing sauce is the key to pulled pork flavor enhancement. And of course a salt dry brine prep 4-24hr prior. Never forget to salt. It resting after dry brine applixation also allows for the forming of a pellicle which will help further help with smoke flavor infusion.

A good basic foundation to a finishing sauce which you add and mix in to all the pulled pork immediately after or during shredding is:

1-1.5 cup of Apple cider vinegar
2-3 TBS Brown Sugar

Add a bit of heat spice (it will not make it too spicey) 1 tsp- 1 tbs of red pepper flakes, chipotle pepper powder, or hot sauce or combination there in. You can then talior it to your taste a bit of garlic, mustard powder, paprika etc.or not.

The finishing sauce indaswamp indaswamp linked to above is excellent!! I'd recommend starrting with it.

Most average people will not even notice it's an added sauce and just think it was the seasoning on the shoulder while it cooked. They will just notice its moist and flavorful with a good pork flavor. The cider vinegar increases the moisture of the pork and works complementary with the modest amount of sugar(7.5-8:1 ratio vinegar:sugar)
 
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