One of the favorites at my house is Pulled Pork. When the grocers put Pork Butts on sale I normally grab a couple smoking one and putting the other in the freezer. Pork Butts are versatile and an economical cut of meat that goes a long way. I like to smoke them on a Sunday so I have leftovers for the first half of the week. Pulled pork works great for sandwiches, tacos, burritos, baked potatos and even mixing into a big pot of Queso. On occasion I’ll even fold it into an omelette.
Some people will inject their pork to add some additional flavor and moisture content. So far I haven’t started to dabble with injections yet. I normally wrap the pork butt at 165 degrees in foil adding some liquid before wrapping tight. I try to save some juice from each cook and freeze it to use as my liquid on the next cook.
Pulled Pork Cook Method
I usually follow the same routine prepping a Pork Butt except I change up the dry rub often. I always rub my pork butt with olive oil before applying the dry rub. My target temperature for wrapping is 165 degrees. When the temp reaches 200 degrees I pull it to rest for at least an hour.
For this cook the only significant change was wrapping with Peach Butcher Paper instead of foil. My hope was I would get a little better bark than usual. Also, I got a bit distracted so I ended up letting the meat sweat on the cutting board all rubbed up for too long. Other than that this cook went pretty much as planned.
Pulled Pork Cook Stats
- 7.6 lb Pork Butt
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt
- The Shed Rack Attack Rub
- Hickory and Oak Chips
- Meat on at 1:55 PM
- Wrapped at 165 Degrees at 5:30 PM
- Pulled at 200 Degrees at 7:50 PM
- Total Cook Time 5 Hours 55 Minutes
Pulled Pork Results
Here lately I have been sleeping in a bit more which has put my cooks finishing up kind of late. I only let this one rest for 45 minutes since it was late and we were hungry. When I unwrapped the pork butt I was expecting a little more bark than usual without the foil wrap. I had bark but I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t more dominant. Maybe the extra sweating time before the meata went on affected the bark.
The paper did do its job in retaining moisture. I was able to pour plenty off to add to the bowl after shredding the meat. I use the juices this way more for the leftovers than for the initial serving while the meat is hot and fresh. The tenderness was okay but not quite as tender as the last few pork butts I have done. Was this because of the shorter rest time or not being wrapped in foil.
As I’m shredding the meat and putting it in the bowel I sprinkle on some additional dry rub from the Shed. I like to add this punch of flavor at the end. Tonight we made pulled pork sandwiches and tacos for a late night dinner. The BBQ Sauce tonight was from Head Country. We refrigerated the leftovers for lunches for the next week.
If you haven’t smoked a pork butt yet give it a try. It is a versatile meat that can be served several different ways. It’s also a great meat to cook up and serve a crowd for a party.
