How Much Pulled Pork is Enough ....

Gizmo · July 06, 2007, 02:23:53 PM

Begolf, glad to hear the young 'un is coming along nicely. Got to be concerned that once the baby starts sleeping through the night, you will not have an automatic alarm clock for you to check on your latest smoke. :P

NorthernSmoke · July 07, 2007, 11:32:35 AM

Well, the butt went in last night at midnight and is now transfered to the oven, boated, juiced and foiled. I got up at 4am just to add some water and check to see if everything was cool. Quite the adventure. Oven is now set at 195F and the meat is sitting at 171F at 12:30pm. 5.5 hrs. to go and everything is looking good. I've made up a vinegar based sauce, a tomato based one, and will be putting together a mustard one, so hopefully there's something for everyone.

Gizmo · July 07, 2007, 06:11:02 PM

Anxious to find out how it turned out Northern. Can't wait for the follow-up.

NorthernSmoke · July 07, 2007, 10:20:59 PM

It was a massive success! Not a single scrap left over. The whole thing was a hit: the story of how it was started at midnight, how I had to get up in the middle of the night to check on it, the long and patient wait for it to hit the magic 195F (I made it sound very dramatic), and the final pulling of the pork, held the whole crowd in awe. It was, without even vaguely close competition, the best meat we have ever served in our house. We made creamy coleslaw and macaroni salad to go with it (both recipes from the Smoke and Spice cookbook), and I managed to get some really fresh, white, soft buns. We played the "O' Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack for some good southern background music :) . I believe I may have carved myself a place in supper history amongst our group of friends. And I'm not just tooting my own horn: many here deserve some of the credit. This couldn't have happened without the help on this forum - thanks to everyone for the great advice!

HCT · July 08, 2007, 02:29:06 AM

Great to hear everything was a big hit. ;D

NorthernSmoke · July 08, 2007, 07:49:09 AM

Heh, re-reading my post above from last night, I'm a little embarrassed. Some of that was the wine talking, especially the "carved in history" part :-[ :D But, still, things did go really well. I'm hoping that there's a picture or two that I can post. A couple people took photos, so I may be able to get them off of their cameras before they leave today.

Wildcat · July 08, 2007, 09:05:06 AM

Congrats on the great outcome! Do not concern yourself with the wine talking. The rest of us were not there (in body) and can tell by your excitement that it was great. Keep up the good work.

SKSmoker · July 08, 2007, 09:26:59 PM

Hey NS. Good job on the smoke. Just a question though, why did you finish it in the oven? Glad to hear you had a good smoke!

NorthernSmoke · July 08, 2007, 09:50:36 PM

Well, two reasons. One is that I can precisely control the temperature in the oven. We have a digital convection, so I just dial it in at 195F and it stays steady, rain or shine. The other reason is that I've been boating my pulled pork in a foil roasting tray with about 1/8 of an inch of apple juice in the bottom and sealed up with a foil tent over top. It worked so well for ribs (thanks Icerat) so I'd thought I'd try it will pulled pork, and it works great. The smoker's only needed for the first 4 hrs. of smoke and after that it's just easier to do the rest inside. This way I get the smoker all cleaned up and the meat finishes up indoors - I don't worry about rain, cold weather, etc.

begolf25 · July 09, 2007, 07:35:22 AM

Glad it was a success!

NorthernSmoke · July 09, 2007, 02:08:43 PM

Thanks, guys. BTW, I just realized that I've been saying that I adapted "Iceman's" rib boating method, when I meant to say "Icerat's". Sorry about that.

SKSmoker · July 09, 2007, 09:47:34 PM

Ahh ok. Neat to see everyone do the same thing so different. Whatever produces a full stomach, i am all in :) Glad it worked out so well. leftovers are good too if you ever get any!!