question about making pulled pork

[bitsubeats]

I am making some pulled pork today according to the america's test kitchen recipe. I chose it, because it looks pretty easy and it doesn't require a lot of time - only 3 hours of smoking. The recipe calls for a 6-8 pork shoulder and it should be smoked for 3 hours, then put in the oven for an additional 2. Instead I bought a 4.25 lb picnic roast (the recipe said this was okay). Do I need to change the time the pork is smoking? Should I reduce the time?

btw I am a bbq novice, and this will be my first time smoking meat. thanks

[paulj]

When grilling and roasting meat, times and temperatures are critical, since you want internal temperatures like 140, while external ones may be 400. With slowing cooking like this, there is more flexibility. The key is to have the meat hot enough for enough time to break down the connective tissues, so the meat tears apart easily. I believe this requires a temperature of 180+ for 30 minutes or so. External temperatures are on the order of 200, so the meat temperature can't get much higher, no matter how long you cook it. Smoking longer will dry out the meat, but increase the flavor. If you finish the meat in a low oven with a tight foil wrapping, you could hold the meat almost indefinitely (think of a braise in a well sealed dutch oven or crock pot).

paulj

[johnd49455]

I have done several boston butt roasts for pulled pork on the smoker (Chargriller Pro with a side fire box) keeping the lid thermometer @ 200 degrees (between 180 & 220 degrees) using a combination of charcoal & cherry wood. I have found leaving it on the smoker the whole time is the best way to get great flavor but it usually takes close to 8 hours to reach an internal temp of 180 to 190 degrees. Again the recommendation to get an instant read thermometer.

[nyfoodjoe]

I do at least one pork shoulder a month and I could not more strongly agree with johnd49455
more...I do almost exactly what he does(I maintain 220 degrees in my smoker). DO NOT PUT IT IN THE OVEN!! Big mistake IMO

[woodburner]

I do a lot of low and slow BBQ... if you can stay with the smoker for the full time, do it. If you need to use the oven, it will be ok, but all smoking is better. You want an internal temp of 190-200. You need an instant read thermo or a remote thermo. The fork method is okay, as is grabbing and twisting the bone... basically, when the meat breaks apart easily, or the bone is ready to twist out, it is done (sounds obvious, but there you go). Could take 6 - 10 hours for that picnic, depending on many factors. 5 or 6 may not be enough. One thing: Remember the shoulder for BBQ consists of the picnic (lower leg) and butt (upper shoulder) from the front of the hog. The picnic from the rear will turn out like ham (it is "ham"). You want the front shoulder for this. The picnic will take a little longer than the butt to cook.

[sheiladeedee]

When I can, I do keep it in the smoker for the full time, but there are time when the timing just doesn't work or I'm doing many shoulders at once, and then being able to finish at least some of them off in the oven makes it possible to get that 50-60 lb of shoulder done in one day. I'll smoke the first load for 4 hours, wrap them in foil and move them to the oven, then put the remainder on the fire and cook them until done. I'll pull all the meat, and mix the two batches, one which has smoked for 4 hours and one for 8-10. It comes out pretty well.

[woodburner]

I hear ya! Do the same thing myself... keep on smokin, sheiladeedee!

[sheiladeedee]

I have to say, though, when I'm feeling lazy, the pork shoulder I put into a 200 degree oven with a whole bunch of chopped onions after supper and take out of the oven in the morning all nice and brown and falling apart is pretty good too. Especially with some sauerkraut and boiled potatoes, and a heavy dark beer.

[renov8r]

I think you have the right idea -- keep the time on the grill/in the smoke about the same and if need be dial down the time in the oven.

I strongly feel getting some kind of instant read thermometer is the only way to go -- without it you risk over cooking OR under cooking. Neither is something easily over looked!

I have seen the Polder (or knock off) thermometers with the digital readout in every kind of store -- hardware(local Ace as well as Lowes, & Home Depot), Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Costco, even the well stocked larger grocery stores. This single device increases the odds of successful smoking/roasting about 10x. For under $20 you will have a hugely valuable tool that will actually save you money -- many people have to throw out over or under cooked food.

When using the thermometer you have a target temp and can easily take the food out of the oven / turn off the heat when it is 5-10 degrees below that target. If you keep your eye on the temp and it does not rise you can turn the oven back on/pop the food back in before the temperature falls. From a food safety standpoint this prevent the food from spending time in the "danger zone". It is also the KEY to having a smoker fire that is neither too hot nor too small -- as other have pointed out when cooking outdoors the weather can sap heat from your cooker. This could result in a cooking temp that leave the food in the danger zone too long, or compensating with too large a fire that will hot roast your food instead of smoking it. You'll have a stringy dried out hunk of pork that no will want to eat...

GO GET A THERMOMETER NOW!

[bitsubeats]

I saw a thermometer on sale at the grocery store for a whopping $3.99. It wasn't your average kind though...It had only a few temps on it. One for pork, chicken, beef, seafood, and so on. I didn't think it was the right one, but maybe I should've bought it?

I know I know I need a thermometer. Good thing I am not cooking for people other than myself and my boyfriend or I just might get screwed

[sheiladeedee]

A thermometer is really a great thing to have and makes a lot of these jobs much simpler. You can get an instant read thermometer for less than $10, and you should ask for one of the more expensive thermometers with a probe for your birthday or other gift-giving occasion.

[Will Owen]

Target has WIRELESS remote probe thermometers, specifically made for long-term grilling and barbecuing, for just $20! Haven't gone and gotten one yet but it's on my list for sure. I think there is a braided wire from the probe to a sending unit, but then there's a receiver you can carry around on your belt, or set next to you.

Note to bitubeats: DO NOT buy any thermometers that are marked in any way other than degrees, no matter how cheap they are. This is one holdover from the '50s that we need to kill off once and for all - you're forced to accept blindly someone else's notions of what's the right temperature for this or that kind of meat, and they usually err 'way over on the high side.

[bitsubeats]

do you know the name of this thermometer? I went on target.com and couldn't find it

[hannaone]

I was also interested in this and found this page:
http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/...

[woodburner]

The Redi Check works well... it is remote, with the receiver.

Here's a tip for new probe users: When you wash the probe, be careful not to let water into the joint between probe and cable... it will make the readout go crazy. If that does happen, you can put half an inch of veg oil in a pot, put the probe flat in the bottom of the pot (joint submerged), and bring the oil to a boil... the water will be forced out of the joint. It should work again after that.

[lisa13]

It should take less time to cook a 4.25 lb roast than a larger roast, but given they only have you cooking for 5 hours total, I have to wonder.

If you are just beginning, it is easiest to work with recipes that offer internal temps for cooking the meat. We call our pulled pork done at around 190 degrees, and this takes about 6 hours for a 4 lb (or so) roast over a low fire (not over 225). In lieu of an internal temperature test, you can check for level of doneness by sticking a fork in and giving a little twist to see if the meat is tender and just starting to fall apart.

We have not used the technique of starting the meat on the grill then moving it to an oven so off the top of my head, I would consider cooking on the grill for the whole three hours, then reduce the time in the oven as needed (depending on doneness tests). Make sure you don't skip the resting period at the end - I would not alter the time on that.

good luck!

[bitsubeats]

thank you so much. I totally agree with your advice and I'm going to let my pork rest in a paper bag for an hour.

[gperls]

There are so many variables that influence the amount of time it takes (outdoor temp, temp of smoker, starting temp of roast, fluctuations in smoker temp), that the suggested number of hours are a very broad guesstimate. For example, I smoked a 4 lb. butt yesterday for 10 hours, and it only reached 188F internal temperature.

Your best bet is to use internal temperature to determine doneness, rather than time. If you don't have some kind of thermometer, today would be a good day to get one.

[bitsubeats]

yeah, I don't have a thermometer and I think that is going to be a huge problem. I have been researching for the past 2 hours on how long to smoke my pork (sounds so dirty!!) and I have seen times from 3 hours to over night. I'm just going to smoke it for 3 hours and then throw it in the oven, checking every hour. I think smoking 3 hours won't hurt it, but the oven might dry it out- since I bought a smaller size than the recipe suggested.

do you have any suggestions on how much wood I should use? I am thinking of 2 handfuls - one handful each placed in a foil pouch

[sheiladeedee]

As I recall the ATK recipe has you wrapping the shoulder in foil when it goes in the oven. This will help keep it moist. You can test it after the first hour or so and see if the bone is loose and the meat can be shredded easily. At about 190 degrees the bone should be very loose and be easy to separate from the meat, and you should be able to pull some of the meat next to the bone right out..