O/T: Shredded Pork

[Lew Hodgett]

I love shredded pork and think I have found a way to make the shredding easier.

Start with a 5-7 pound butt and apply the dry rub of your choice.

If you don't have one, do a Google.

They all will have kosher salt, brown sugar, garlic powder, fresh cracked pepper, cumin and some cayenne.

After that your on your own.

Place meat with rub applied on a rack in an oven pan, fat side up, then use aluminum foil to construct a lid over the oven pan and seal things.

Place sealed pan in refrigerator over night.

The following day, remove from refrigerator and let stand at room temp for about an hour, then place in a 400F oven for 20 minutes to get things started.

Reduce oven to 250F for 6 hours.

Remove to a kitchen counter and let rest for 20-30 minutes, then carefully lift foil allowing any remaining steam to escape.

Allow to continue to rest until you can touch the meat with a bare hand then place on cutting board.

Using a couple of forks, remove fat, bone, etc, leaving lean meat.

Using forks shred meat into a bowl.

Time for an executive decision.

Serve as is over bun or add barbecue sauce, mix well, cover, then return to oven for 20-30 minutes, before serving as shredded barbecued pork.

The trick is the foil.

Keeps the meat soft and easy to shred.

Enjoy.

Lew

[Dave Balderstone]

[rivahrebel]

Could do in the oven for a while till the smoker's ready that way that 6 hour sandwich is only 5- 5 1/2 hours away

Just my $.02

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/5/2009 5:41 PM Lew Hodgett spake thus:

[snip]

OK, I'm calling your ass on this one.

It's one thing with the off-topic political screeds here (hey, I've even posted some of them, or at least "contributed" to those threads). Those tend to get longer than any of the on-topic threads.

Then there are the "humor" threads, also off-topic. Not so long, but there are lots of them (hmm, I seem to remember this one person who starts most of them: who is that again?)

But *food* threads? Can't shut up any more. Now you've gone waaaaay too far!

My god, man, don't you know how long these suckers get? I mean, they approach the theoretical limit of the length of a Usenet thread. Enough to make a body's newsreader choke. Food threads are the worst.

I now return you to the r.woodworking kitchen ...

[Lew Hodgett]

Different technology.

Foil would defeat the purpose of a smoker.

BTW I don't cook, smoke, grill, whatever, outside when the temps go below 50F, and none of the above are acceptable inside.

So, you do what ya gotta do.

Lew

[Han]

David Nebenzahl wrote in news:4aa30b41$0$11399$ [e-mail]:

Come on, David, food is good, and good food even better, and there is a tradition of recipes like this around holidays.

I was about to ask for a repeat of the ribs recipe, but my dear son is taking care of the ribs for Monday. We'll also have some steak, chicken, burgers and Opa's Spicy Dutch Meatballs (well, spicy, packets of Verstegen gehakt kruiden mix, but yummy nevertheless). Plus the best bagels Fair Lawn has to offer, and more ...

[Lew Hodgett]

Add some water soaked wood chips.

Lew

[notbob]

Total nonsense.

Rub with fave spice mix, put in 350F oven, roast till bone turns (if bone-in) or 185-190F, about 3 to 3-1/2 hrs.. Yank, pull, eat.

nb

[Lew Hodgett]

When does the shredding take place?

Lew

[Ed Pawlowski]

The meat is going to absorb the smoke flavor more when it is less than 140 degrees. Ovens are for roasting, smokers are for pulled pork.

[Ed Pawlowski]

It literally falls apart when properly smoked. I'm doing two butts tomorrow in fact. I put them on early, let them go at 300 degrees or so until the meat is so tender the bone pulls out and the meat has to be handled with a pair of gloves. I put it in a big SS bowl and pull apart the meat and put a North Carolina vinegar sauce on it.

I've been doing it that way since I made a trip to NC about 25 years ago. No foil is ever used. I want my meat smoked, not steamed. I want barbecue, not crock pot soup.

Eastern NC sauce is: cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, red pepper.

Take your time, heat is properly and see what real barbecue is like. Please, don't post your method on alt.barbecue.

[Puckdropper]

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:28qdnQGoK9M6vD7XnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Would you care to invite your friends from the wRECk? ;-)

Puckdropper

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'm in northeast CT Come on over.

[Luigi Zanasi]

I agree. I don't either below -50F.

Luigi

[Dave Balderstone]

Amen.

[Lew Hodgett]

"Dave Balderst> Amen.

As I posted earlier, ya do what ya gotta do.

Much as I would like, installing and maintaining a viable smoker is not an option at this time.

As long as the unwashed masses don't catch on, I'm good to go.

Lew

[nailshooter41]

No kidding, he would get called every name in the book and they would trace his ISP address back to him so they could shoot him a virus. If they didn't think he was a shit disturber, the nicest thing would be a troll.

I was OK with this kitchen built version, thinking that Lew had mixed up "stewed pork" or maybe "braised pork" or "stewed meat" until I read this:

*GASP*

I would never serve oven stewed pork with store bought barbecue sauce on it as barbecued pork.

"Barbecued" pork is indeed cooked in a pit smoker. I take a butt and put the dry rub on the night before I cook it. I put it in the smoker after I get a steady 250 - 275 degrees (the sweet spot of the day for myWSM) and allow about an hour to hour 15 minutes a pound. You cannot hurry it. Wood and fuel are added as needed. Depending on the butt size (my preference for the pulled pork) I usually have the butt(s) out in about 8 - 10 hours. Butts are pretty forgiving though, and you can cut your cooking times down by raising the temps.

I pull them when the internal temp is about 185 or a little over. OR I use the time honored way of knowing the meat is done when you can slide the bone around easily withing the piece of meat.

No smoke ring - it isn't barbecue. No bark - it isn't barbecue. Cooked in foil - it is stewed or braised, regardless of the heat source. Again, not barbecue.

Cook that butt (or picnic) the right way and pull out that heavily barked piece of smoky heaven. Let it sit for about 1/2 hours. Put it in a large bowl, remove the bone and pull it apart with a couple of forks. Check out Ed's description; it's the classic method for traditional pulled pork. Shredding is just a finer pull.

Folks that eat my pulled pork rarely want any sauce, although I might sneak a variant of Ed's on while I am pulling to add just a lit bit more of spicy flavor.

That as they say, is that. For me personally, no wood smoke, no barbecue. If I can't cook my pig in the smoker, I will wait until I can. Same way with packer brisket. Same way with a chuck roll. Same way with a brisket flat.

But if YOU like it... that's all that counts.

Rober

[Ed Pawlowski]

The problem for most people is that they have never experienced real barbecue. I was born and raised in the city and barbecue meant putting chicken on the grill with store bought sauce until it burns. Back in the

80's, I had to go to our Durham NC pant for a few days to help a new salesman. The first day he said we'd go to lunch and get some barbecue. I was served a sandwich with this shredded meat with a clear sauce on it. WOW, what a treat. That put me on a quest to find how to make it properly. Some reading, the internet and a lot of practice later I make some good stuff. Amazing stuff and once you've had the real deal, nothing else works.

[Leon]

Out in Kalefornia they are a bit gun shy about lighting up a fire for cooking.

[Leon]

Actually we leave out meat uncovered in an aluminum foil pan for the first hour on the smoker then for the remainder of the cooking we cover with foil. An hour tends to be plenty of time to get the smoked taste and flavor.