Pulled Pork - Got two rolled loin roasts....Feasible?

[Monch]

All,

A friend asked my advice as to amount and cut of meat for his pulled pork.

I told him 1/2 pound per person, as sandwiches with sides....but that's not the problem.

I advised that he go to Sam's Club as then have two-packs of shoulder/boston-butt roasts.

Unfortunately, communication went sideways and his wife picked up two large rolled loin roasts.

So, which of these two would you do?

1) Freeze the loin roasts for future use and go get the shoulders
or
2) Forge ahead with the loin roasts and do your damndest to augment the flavor/moisture you're losing from lack of bone and connective tissue in the shoulder?

Thanks in advance,

[Hank Hanover]

I wanted to bring this up. My local grocery store had boston butts on sale for $1.87 per pound but that was 8 to 12 pounds of meat with a bone.

3 feet away I picked up some boneless pork carnitas (about 3.5 pounds) for $1.97 per pound. These were unseasoned and from the same cut of meat as the boston butt, the pork shoulder. Lots of connective tissue, some fat.

I'm going to make a reasonable amount of pulled pork instead of 10 pounds and have to freeze a lot of it.

I just wanted to point out to people you don't have to buy a whole boston butt to have pulled pork.

[hawkeyeui93]

The one beauty of living in a pork producing state is that you can find even this inexpensive cut in smaller portions at any grocery store/meat counter in Iowa ...

[wyogal]

Yep, option 1. One can make sandwiches from loin slices, but it won't be pulled pork, it will be different.

[Monch]

Thanks, all.

I've passed along my good-natured advice to my friend: "Freeze the loin roasts and go forth and purchase the cut I recommended!"

[hawkeyeui93]

Since you friend hasn''t opened them, I also suggest returning them to Sam's .... Was there ten minutes ago and I saw both large packages of shoulder and butt cuts in the low $1's per pound. With that said, we Iowans can turn whole hogs into pulled pork and I have done so with mere loin as well.

[Monch]

Yeah...not my call...I'm just the consultant!

:-)

[hawkeyeui93]

Fair enough ... :)

[hawkeyeui93]

Monch: If you decide that you do not want to use the loin as intended (and assuming the loins are several inches thick), get a large turkey cooking bag made by Reynolds (and follow the instructions on how to use, such as coating with flour and poking a few holes so that the bag steams), add a rub to the meat and your favorite red wine, sweet vermouth, and/or a can of regular Coca Cola or Root Beer and cook at about 225 degrees for at least eight hours ... I live in Pork Country [Iowa] and you can pull this off if you so desire to use a good cut of meat for pulled pork.

[hotoynoodle]

the other option is to use the loins as they should be used and forget about pulled pork for this event.

option 2 will be a losing battle.

[chileheadmike]

Option 1. Loin is too lean and lacks the connective tissue to make pulled pork.