Homemade pulled pork BBQ

I have a pork shoulder in the freezer. Can't I make pulled pork BBQ out of it, and can anyone tell me how?

quote:

Originally posted by brightcopperkettles

I have a pork shoulder in the freezer. Can't I make pulled pork BBQ out of it, and can anyone tell me how?

To make real BBQ, slow ccoked pulled pork you'll need about 12 hours and 2 years of experience, at least. It takes 9 - 12 hours of slow cooking, 225 degrees, with wood.

You can make a reasonable similarity using your oven.

Do you have a way to lightly smoke the meat for even a couple hours?

If it absolutely comes down to it, put the shoulder into a roasting pan, leave the fat and skin on, and cook at 225 in your oven until you can pull the bone out. This may take as much as 12 hours.

Good luck.

MikeS.

Just google "pulled pork recipe". I did it for you and here's one of many options that you'll get:

quote:

Pulled Pork Barbecue
From Diana Rattray,Your Guide to Southern U.S. Cuisine.
There are several versions of "pulled pork" in the crockpot and many you can make in the oven. This recipe is a simple one, but very good.
Prep Time :
Cook Time :
Type of Prep : Barbecue, Crock Pot
Cuisine :
Occasion :

INGREDIENTS:

1 Boston butt or pork shoulder roast
1 large onion, quartered and sliced
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder
1 cup barbecue sauce, your favorite
1/2 cup vinegar
a teaspoon or two of liquid smoke, if desired
PREPARATION:

Place pork roast in the crockpot; add chopped onion, salt and pepper and a generous sprinkling of garlic powder. Cover and cook on low for about 9 to 11 hours, or until very tender and shreddable. Drain all juices off and shred or chop pork; add vinegar and bbq sauce (and liquid smoke, if using). Continue cooking on high for about 1 hour. Serve with buns and tangy coleslaw for topping.
About 8 to 10 generous servings.

YEA what MikeSh said! Of course theres no way to get experience except to start Q'n.. The rewards go far beyond finger lickin ribs and mounds of pulled pork. Ive HEARD of the oven method but never tried it, I would imagine a lil liquid smoke would help the final results.

The freezer end of the statement isn't a problem. I buy 6 or 8 Butts and keep them frozen til I am ready to do a Smoker day...
Given a 7-8 lb Pork Butt, let it thaw in the refrigerator for a few days, much like you would a large turkey. When totally thawed do a rub of whatever you consider a good BBQ rub...Some like the Liquid Smoke too and others aim for the Cajun style spices to heat up the flavor. Whatever works for you is fine. Apply your rub while you get the smoker/cooker going. Keep the temp of the cooker (be it the oven in the house or a BBQ device outdoors) at 225 or lower for as long as it takes to soften the pork to the "bone moving stage". (about 9 plus hours or more) You then need to let it sit for 20-30 minutes before breaking it up into serving size piece. I don't care for the pork that is chopped or minced etc. It is more like hash to me. I prefer chunky pieces of meat that are recognizable as roasted pork when I look at it.
The key to the whole operation as pointed out in several posts above is to have the time to let the pork cook slowly !
Here is the result of about 10 hours of beer-drinking, lawn-mowing,checking now and then cooking time, with my little cooker, using 2 Butts and a bunch of charcoal and Hickory chunks.

THANKS AL!!....wiping off drool..

I've been doin' pork sholders for years and don't feel I've mastered them yet. Somehow, there is a magic moment, after the pork starts to pull apart easily, when it is at its peak moisture-wise.

Practice, practice, practice ...

Good advice, everybody. Thank you! I asked here first because I KNEW y'all would know the best way to do it; with a google'd recipe, you're never quite sure which one is best. Sounds like I need to invest in a small smoker to get the best results. That's do-able. My birthday is July 3; think I'll ask my hubby to make a trip to Home Depot for a smoker as my BD present, and then he and I can give this a try on the fourth.

BTW, what is your favorite rub (assume most of you make it yourselves). Would appreciate your favorite recipe if you're willing to share!

Thanks again! Cheryl

My rub recipe varies some with each try. But it is centered on Luzianne Cajun Spice, Brown Sugar, Season salt, Garlic Powder, and some red chili powder. I will use Soy Sauce to dampen the mixture a little...and now and then give in to the liquid smoke in the rub also. (Not all the time).
The key to this whole process is the time and temperature. If you get your cooker up in the 250 or more range you will have tough dry pork, no matter what you do to it. LOW AND SLOW is more than just a catch phrase in this situation.
ALSO, What size is your Butt? No, I am not getting personal. Some butchers will sell only the pieces of Butt (3-4 lb) not the whole thing. Try to use a 7 lb or larger if possible. They do much better over the long period of time needed. Also, I always cook them Fat Side Up in the smoker to allow 'self-basting'. (see the photos above.)
I have messed up more than my share of these by trying to hurry them, or going overboard with too much spice in the rub. But, in general, Pork Butts are fairly easy to do, if you take the time to do them right.

quote:

Originally posted by brightcopperkettles

with a google'd recipe, you're never quite sure which one is best.

No, but you can pick the one that sounds best to YOU. For example, somebody above talked about adding liquid smoke. I HATE the stuff and would immediately reject any recipe that contains it. Frankly, nobody's taste buds are quite the same as anybody else's so I never just take somebody else word that something will be good unless the ingedients and preparation methods look like they will be good to me.

I thought you wanted to be able to whip that hunk of pork out of the freezer and be able to make a respectable pork sandwich with the equipment most people already have in their kitchen. Clearly, if you are willing to spend a bunch of money on new equipment and a bunch of time preparing it, then the results from a smoker will be superior. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by brightcopperkettles

I have a pork shoulder in the freezer. Can't I make pulled pork BBQ out of it, and can anyone tell me how?

NO, it can't be done. Impossible. I suggest you FedEx that sucker to me, and I'll dispose of it properly...

I have cooked the pork with BBQ sauce in the over many times but I have never done it with a slow roast at 225. I will do that the next time and thanks for the coaching.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Bushie!! LOL!!!

Thanks, Al. And BT, I will google for a recipe with Al's ingredients and just pick the one that sounds like it will suit us. Sounds like this is a trial and error, practice makes perfect thing, so that's what I'll do. This is something my college-age son and I can do together, hence my willingness to shell out for a smoker to do it right. Want to start a new family tradition. My son and I both like to cook, and he would enjoy this (you know, something he can teach his kids). He has been helping make hash (Southern hash) at an old-time church reunion for years, so he will like this.

Thanks All!!

BT, I suggested liquid smoke for possible use in the oven.. personally Ive never used the stuff

quote:

Originally posted by dreamzpainter

YEA what MikeSh said! Of course theres no way to get experience except to start Q'n.. The rewards go far beyond finger lickin ribs and mounds of pulled pork. Ive HEARD of the oven method but never tried it, I would imagine a lil liquid smoke would help the final results.

I've been stuck using an Alto Sham in the past (slow upright cooker oven).. Doused the meat with Mesquite powder, black pepper and a little garlic powder. I think it was run at 250 degrees for something like 10 hours. Not your traditional method of cooking, but did come out finger lickin good!

Allow me to add my radical opinion here. If you want real pulled pork, MikeSh speaks true; you'll need a good long time. And while I agree with him that experience will make you better, there's no reason you can't have a very good product the first time out. You will want to smoke the shoulder for at least part of the total cooking time.

Even though I get up very early in the morning when I'm going to do some smoking; what with prepping the meat, getting a good fire going and, of course, cleaning the smoker from the last outing, I can never seem to get the meat into the smoker before noon. That means if I want to smoke the shoulder for 18 hours I would need to stay up until 6 o'clock the next morning tending to the fire. That dedicated I am not! The solution is simple and relatively labor free. I will smoke the shoulder till it starts to get dark, about 7 to 9 hours, depending on the time of the year. At that point I will bring the meat into the house and stick it in a roasting pan with a rack. Set the oven to (and here's the radical part) 180 degrees and leave the pork in there overnight as you rest your weary bones (if you're nervous about the meat drying out, cover it with some aluminum foil). You will wake the next morning to the most fragrant, enticing aroma you will ever smell in your own home. The pork will have slid off whatever small amount of bone might be in there and the meat will be moist and rich with just the right amount of smoke flavor.

I know the 180 degrees sounds ridiculously low, but think about it, you want the meat to reach an internal temperature of 160-170 degrees. And to achieve maximum tenderness and moistness you want to hold it at that temperature for as long as possible. The 180 will let you achieve that goal. I mean, why cook it at 200 degrees when you don't need to get anywhere close to that in terms of the internal temperature? And yeah, I do think the extra 20 degrees makes a difference in regard to texture and tenderness. As for the amount of time you need to actually smoke the meat, I suspect that is debatable. As I said, I try and give it a good eight hours. I'll bet you could get plenty of good smoke flavor in there with as little as four hours over an actual wood fire.

Let the discussion begin.

Buddy, great suggestion. I have heard about leaving meat on low temp in the oven overnight. One source I read said to cook your Thanksgiving bird you turn the oven on 500 degrees for an hour, then turn the oven off and don't open the door and leave it in overnight, and the turkey would be really good. I have never tried that but I wonder if this isn't a similar idea (you know the really low temp for many hours).

I think we will try this on the fourth of July and see how we do.

BTW, have any of you ever watched (or participated in) those BBQ cookoffs the Food Channel and the Travel Channel show sometimes? Those look like a heck of a good time to me, but I did notice that all the participants were pretty stingy about sharing their "secrets," which I guess stands to reason if it's a competition, but I really want to learn those. I guess just jump in and give it a try.

I really appreciate all the tips.

Yep,we participate in them.

160º-170ºwill get you pork that is edible by thinly slicing,or chopping with a cleaver-however you will not have rendered the fat.

If you have to finish in an oven, 200º-225ºoven temp will work.

You'll find that most cook teams pull their pork off the cooker about 195º internal,or whenever the bone is loose enough to wiggle out.

Like Al says, a 7-9 lb bone in butt will about handle itself.

Tom

You couldn't pay me enough to eat any pork that has gone from 40 degrees to 160-170 degress in ONLY 18 hours. Way too much time spent brewing bacteria...

It is my understanding that for pulled pork you cook at 225 as the boiling point of water is 212. You want the water in the fat to reach the boiling point in order to render off. I could be wrong it’s just what I read somewhere; I do have good results though. If I put an 8 pound pork shoulder in at say 9:00 at night I can come home and have pulled pork for lunch the next day.

Willy, for some reason the meat warms up really fast at first. It seems that the last 20-30 degrees to get up to 190 which I like takes the longest amount of time.

Theedge, between your pictures and Al's pictures, my mouth is watering and my stomach is grumbling. I sent your picture to my husband and a good friend of mine, and they are ready to hop in the car and drive like mad to find a BBQ festival!

I am an avid bbqer and have done more than my share of butts and ribs in my WSM. I make sure that I get my smoker back up to 225-250 as soon as I can after I put the meat in. I want to get the meat to 140+ quickly, once up there I'm not worried -- I might even ratchet down the heat to 215 or so. I do worry about the meat hanging out at 90-120 (internal) for any period of time. In my mind, I would never risk cooking in a 180 degree environment as BuddyRoadhouse suggests -- I just think the meat will basically remain in the danger zone for the majority of the cook.

If you want to do it in a semi-hurry & don't want to be out in the heat & bugs, just plop that sucker in a crockpot with some chopped onion , salt & pepper . NO WATER.Cook til falling off the bone tender, remove, drain off the liquid that cooks out& reserve. Chop to the consistency you like , add some of your favorite sauce & some of the juice that cooks out & cook another hour or so in the crockpot. Pretty good substitute for the real deal! Skim most of the fat off that juice you saved , measure it and cook some rice in it . Mouth watering!

quote:

Originally posted by Willly

You couldn't pay me enough to eat any pork that has gone from 40 degrees to 160-170 degress in ONLY 18 hours. Way too much time spent brewing bacteria...

I was typing my reply fairly late last night, so I guess I left out a key bit of information: During the smoking process you'll want to be cooking at about 225-250 degrees to get things started. I've been using this method for at least 3-4 years without any health concerns other than those associated with eating a whole lot of pork over a short period of time. Say, when you're having a heart attack, do you feel it in your right arm or the left? A timely answer would be appreciated.

I just got this recipe from Campbell's today and thought I'd reprint it for you. If I did this (like say during a blizzard in winter), I can see quite a bit of doctoring:

Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches
from Campbell's Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 min. - Cook Time: About 9 hr. - Stand Time: 10 min.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) Campbell's® French Onion Soup
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tbsp. packed brown sugar
12 sandwich rolls

Directions:
HEAT oil in medium skillet. Add pork and cook until browned. Place pork in 5-qt. slow cooker. Mix soup, ketchup, vinegar and brown sugar. Pour over pork. Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hr.* or until done.
REMOVE pork from cooker and let stand 10 min. Shred pork, using 2 forks. Return pork to cooker. Divide pork and sauce among rolls. Makes 12 sandwiches.
*Or on HIGH 4 to 5 hr.

Pork shoulder roast is also called pork "butt". If you don't find pork butt roast in the meat case, substitute pork blade steak (remove the bones).

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyRoadhouse

quote:

Originally posted by Willly

You couldn't pay me enough to eat any pork that has gone from 40 degrees to 160-170 degress in ONLY 18 hours. Way too much time spent brewing bacteria...

I was typing my reply fairly late last night, so I guess I left out a key bit of information: During the smoking process you'll want to be cooking at about 225-250 degrees to get things started. I've been using this method for at least 3-4 years without any health concerns other than those associated with eating a whole lot of pork over a short period of time. Say, when you're having a heart attack, do you feel it in your right arm or the left? A timely answer would be appreciated.

BuddyRoadHouse,
Buddy, a heart attack can actually radiate to either arm, though commonly held belief is the left arm. It can also radiate to the jaw and is sometimes accompanied by sweating and/or nausea and/or chest pain, tightness, pressure, or just a heaviness. Sometimes a heart attack mimicks the feeling you get when you have heartburn. For women, the symptoms can be even more vague, sometimes just a feeling of extreme fatigue or weakness. Any of these symptoms can occur in either men or women, and any one of these symptoms should have you calling your doctor--at the very least--and if I was having any of these symptoms, I would not hesitate to have my husband either call 911 or drive me to the emergency room of my local hospital.

I am a medical transcriptionist and retired x-ray tech, and if you are at all unsure, please take my advice and seek medical attention immediately.

Um...thanks.

Hey, this may be a liitle off base to some, but I use a pressure cooker to make pulled pork. Three pounds of pork loin roast (though I've also made it with pork shoulder) 1 1/2T sugar, 1/2t salt, 1/2t black pepper, and 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar. Pork in the bottom of the pressure cooker, sprinkle on the dry ingredients, and pour the cider vinegar on top. Seal the pressure cooker, get it up to high pressure, reduce heat to stabilize the pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release the pressure, pull out the pork, and when cool enough to work with, shred with a couple of forks. (the hotter you can tolerate, the better) Add 2-3T of the cooking juices, after skimming the fat, and enough barbeque sauce to moisten and flavor (usually about 1/3 to 1/2 cup, it all depends) Enjoy!! JAMESB

quote:

Originally posted by jamesb

Hey, this may be a liitle off base to some, but I use a pressure cooker to make pulled pork. Three pounds of pork loin roast (though I've also made it with pork shoulder) 1 1/2T sugar, 1/2t salt, 1/2t black pepper, and 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar. Pork in the bottom of the pressure cooker, sprinkle on the dry ingredients, and pour the cider vinegar on top. Seal the pressure cooker, get it up to high pressure, reduce heat to stabilize the pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release the pressure, pull out the pork, and when cool enough to work with, shred with a couple of forks. (the hotter you can tolerate, the better) Add 2-3T of the cooking juices, after skimming the fat, and enough barbeque sauce to moisten and flavor (usually about 1/3 to 1/2 cup, it all depends) Enjoy!! JAMESB

With all due respect, I do not consider that to be "Homemade Pulled Pork BBQ."

John