Consolidated "Pulled Pork" thread
 

This is odd for a veteran outdoor cook to admit, but I've never smoked a pork shoulder (blade cut, or Boston Butt) before. Not much use for pig meat in this part of Texas, though the occasional rib is accepted. But the local grocer had a sale on Boston Butts ($0.99/lb), and the Mrs. gave me a new smoker for my birthday, so why not, says I. I even bought some applewood chunks to mix in with my usual hickory and post oak.

Last night I put a mustard coating on the meat, then a dry rub, wrapped it in plastic and put it in the fridge overnight. This morning I got up early (5AM), set the meat out to warm up, started my fire, and got my wood chunks to soaking. Just put the meat on with a few wood chunks for smoke.

About 10-11 hours from now, I'll have tender, moist, smoky pulled pork! :p:p Because I wasn't raised in the southeast, I need ideas for the right accompaniment. I know they like to use a thin, vinegary-sweet sauce that's foreign around here, and they put coleslaw on their sandwiches (but not the kind we have here).

Any good recipes for the slaw or sauce?

Should have probably asked sooner, but this is all spur of the moment. And I've got 10-11 hours till I need it.

vast majority use Sysco Formula

Ooo... ick, blah, icky.
Sorry, I grew up in the south & know exactly what you are describing. Personally, I can't stand it. I much prefer a thicker, tomato-based, smokey-sweet sauce (KC style?). I put the coleslaw on the side, but here is Mom's recipe (& she does put it on her sandwich):

1/2 head of cabbage
Carrots - 'til it looks right
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Shred or chop the cabbage & carrots. (too many carrots - or if they are too "juicy", drain them (blot w/ paper towel?) before mixing w/ the cabbage)
"drain" the relish (not dry, but w/o too much liquid) and mix-in
Sprinkle the sugar on.
Mix enough mayo. to make a nice "dressing". How much will vary, depending on how juicy your carrots and relish are.

You will also "need" some Brunswick Stew, baked beans, and a pickle to accompany your pulled pork!

You might also "need" some hush puppies :)

Here's what I use for my slaw. I often start with the shredded cabbage slaw mix from the store (I'm the only one who eats slaw, wife/GoFaresBoy turn their noses up at it, amongst many other good foods). For the dressing, I mix about 1/4 cup of Hendrickson's dressing (made in the STL area) with about the same amount of mayo. The Hendrickson's has a good blend of sweet and sour. The mayo makes it white. ;) That's it.

My mom in CAK turned me onto the Hendrickson's, and I used to only get it up in that area. Now, Krogers down here in WV carry it, and so did WM at one point, but not now. :(

For sauce, I've been using Bone Suckin' Sauce from down RDU way. Their hotter variety is not too hot, but has a nice kick.

Hot doesn't scare me, but somehow doesn't seem appropriate with pulled pork. I have found some decent ideas for a thin, pork-appropriate sauce on the internet. Usually we either go with the flavor of the smoke and meat (& a good dry rub) on beef, or we use thick sauces, like KC Masterpiece.

Alas, no Hendrickson's in west Texas. I think I'll experiment with a variation of Scoow's mom's, omitting the sugar, which my wife would definitely not allow.

Avoid at all costs sugar and sweet relish. Pork is plenty sweet without it, and besides you may want to have sweet taters....

Shredded cabbage, self or packaged, even the "tricolor" sort, but finely is best, as in "angel hair".
Very finely sliced red onion, almost paper thin, each slice quartered and "deconstructed".
Caraway or dill seed (your choice) and if using dill seed, some dill weed helps (while I prefer the flavor of caraway)
Tossed with a dressing based on a very little olive oil, "seasoned" rice vinegar, hot sauce to taste (simply to emphasize flavor, not to be "hot".

The result should be tart and not oily, designed to cut the natural fat/sweet tastes of the pork, just as the "mustard based" sauces in the Carolinas are "grease cutters".

For a nice alternative.....

Jicama, cut in matchstick strips.
Green Papaya (not sweet at all but crunchy)
Strips of red Bell pepper
Dressed with a mixture of lime juice, salt, hot sauce and mango nectar

Re:slaw recipe
 

I grew up in Memphis, so this is the standard BBQ(pulled pork)on a bun recipe.
No measurements, but you'll get the idea.
Fine shred 1 head cabbage and 3-5 carrots.
Mix in a coffee cup(when I was a kid, the cook used an old, heavy china diner cup) about 1/2 cup Hellman's or Best Foods(in Texas) mayo. Add 1/2 tsp sugar, salt to taste, and enough white vinegar to approximate the liquidity of heavy cream. Adjust to your taste, but it should be creamy with a definite tang. Dress the vegetables and refrigerate for a couple of hours, turning a couple of times to saturate everything.

I enjoy slaws in many ways

My top ideas all measurements to taste:

Mayo
Balsamic vinegar
touch of salt
couple packages of splenda (or you can put some tablespoon(s) of sugar if you like)

Other methods I like Classic:
Mayo
Celery Seed
Sugar
Lemon Juice
hint of Salt

Non mayo:
Apple Cider Vinegar, Rice Vinegar for a milder touch, or best Dill(yes Dill) pickle juice(mostly white vinegar)
Hint of some pepper, of the spicy variety whatever dried type you have around
Touch of sugar or splenda/xylitol/zsweet
1 baby dill cut up(please don't use relish the crunch of the fresh cut is much better)
very fine diced onion(almost a puree)
mix this all together and put black pepper and salt to taste, some people like a hint of garlic, and while most things I do this is not a dish I like garlic with

pour it any of these over classic slaw cabbage/carrots/onions whatever you consider classic :)

I'm getting in a little late. No Mayo. No Mayo. No Mayo. Not in slaw for pork.

(and don't listen to anyone from Memphis--worst pork BBQ in the entire world. I'd take Texas beef over Memphis pork any day. Horrible, horrible, horrible tasteless pork can't figure out how they can make pork taste like cardboard but in Memphis they can and then pour this awful tomato stuff over it.)

OK so you're gonna use a SC mustard rub. Then your coleslaw needs to have a bit of mustard in it. You basically want an oil and vinegar sauce on the coleslaw as one of the previous posters mentioned. Vinegar accents the wonderful sweet taste of the pork. I'd leave out the dill seed, but that's just my preference.

Visit Lexington BBQ in Lexington NC to see what real pork BBQ is like

deleted

I'm getting some great ideas for next time, and want to see more contributions. For tonight, the time has run out and the choices have been made. Here's what I wound up with: about 1/2 a head of shredded cabbage, 3 small carrots shredded, 1/2 a cup of miracle whip (not mayo), 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, a liberal amount of fresh ground pepper. It's not half bad.

The pork just came off the smoker. The instant read thermometer said it was 195 degrees. It was completely black, but still soft. Before foil tenting to cool, the Mrs. & I peeled some of the outer parts off and tossed them in our mouth. After 10 minutes of nibbling, we decided we'd better stop or we'd have no appetite left for supper. Mighty good pig! Very moist. :p

BTW, what I put on the roast was a thin coat of mustard just to hold the rub on. The rub was a Tbsp Cayenne, a Tbsp Paprika (Spanish), 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar, a tsp each of salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and freshly ground pepper.

Should be cool enough in another half hour to start pulling.

Here's an idea for next time... invite us over! :)
Mmmm... BBQ. Guess I better put the next MCI BBQ Do on my calendar.

Enjoy your pulled pork and slaw (even though you went with the vinegar recipe :p).

This is a good one, and just for the correction that is cut up some dill pickle :) not put up(we aren't talking about canning here)
Some people also put some oil in the pickle juice recipe, but I am not too fond of oil in my slaw.

I live in SC. So here goes:

1) Use a homemade BBQ sauce. Avoid store-bought pre-made BBQ sauces like it's cancerous.
2) Slaw. If you use mayo, you MUST use DUKE'S. Otherwise it won't taste right. If you use a hint of mustard, use French's.
3) Do not EVER put the slaw on the sandwich, or on top of the meat.
4) If you're making BBQ sandwiches, the only thing that goes in the sandwich is: Meat (pulled pork) AND sauce. Nothing else. Anything else comes as a side.
5) NEVER chop the meat. It has to be hand pulled. Trust me, your guests will definitely know if you chopped it.

[On that note, they like to put peppers and onions on BBQ in Delaware... Too much Italian influence I'd say!]

Edit:

While cooking and eating, Natty Light, Busch Light are acceptable. Additionally, the music de-rigueur is Skynnyrd. Just pop a Skynnyrd CD (or in the 8-track if you're old school) in there and let'er rip. Forget about Bob Seger or any other Yankah'.

JP

Cooks/Chef's tip to shredding pork:

While the pork is still warm, use two forks turned over and dig/scrape by pulling the forks in opposite directions the meat should shred with ease. Beats using your hands and trying to tear it up in pieces. Works well for brisket, Kalua pig/pork etc. as well.

Another Memphis boy here. Unfortunately, my family moved when I was a baby, but we took our love for BBQ and slaw. I concur with WW's recipe but my mother also added mustard to the mix and celery seeds. The key, of course, it to let it rest for a couple of hours. Don't make it too wet or when you come back later it will be soup.

And it is wonderful on top of the sandwich.

PS - Yea, I know, with a name like this I'm talking Memphis BBQ and pulled porK?

Here in SoFla, not that rare :D

Outside of a factory, I have never seen anybody can anything. They may put things in jars but never in a sealed can :D

If it's in a jar... Anything after that will taste GREAT!

:D

JP

ok you got me, I don't know why they call 'jarring' canning. there are some INCREDIBLE things that can be done with home JARRED foods.

It's the same basic principle. Pasteurize the food in the container.

JP

You can buy this Carolina-style sauce at HEB now.

Personally, I wouldn't go anywhere near it, but if you're looking to go that direction anyway... ;)

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I like a creamy(mayo thinned with sour cream)mustardy(good hot dijon)sweet(sugar)slaw dressed with celery seed and fresh ground black pepper on my BBQ sandwich.
No carotts/pickles in the slaw-you can ad pickle slices to the sandwich if you like.

You are a heretic, but I can forgive you. Please don't come anywhere near my pulled pork BBQ, though. That type of sauce is OK for ribs. (In Middle TN, we lean toward North Carolina-style and don't generally do ribs; "Barbecue" and "ribs" are two different things.)

Does anyone in Memphis keep Kosher, anyway? :p

The way I was raised, nothing but meat and sauce went on the sandwich. Slaw was for eating on the side. I wasn't a slaw fan so I generally went with (baked) beans. Putting all that stuff on the sandwich itself is an invention of Yankees who start BBQ restaurants without knowing anything about how it's done in the South and call their places things like "Tennessee's". (This exists in Boston. It's like nothing I ever had in TN. That said, one of my favorite BBQ places outside the South is or was in East Boston--Uncle Pete's. Pete is Italian, from MA originally, and Mrs. Pete is Vietnamese; they make pretty good BBQ and some great slaw. But I digress.)

Generally pulled pork is just that, pulled, but there are some good places around Nashville that also do chopped--Center Point BBQ in Hendersonville is one; they do either and are well-respected around town.

Just eat some good Texas Brisket!

Next week. Trust me, I'm serious about my brisket. Great Texas brisket: Smitty's, Black's, & Kreuz's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling, Cooper's in Llano, Louie Mueller's in Taylor, and deubster's in Lubbock! Being 350 miles away from Lockhart matters not, because I have a large pile of Central Texas post oak in the back yard. :D

I'm rather pleased with our first smoked pork butt. I fork shredded it all last night. The roast had one bone that didn't look all that large after cooking. All fat and connective tissues were completely gone - distributed through the meat and into the water pan. The 6.5 lb roast filled a two quart tub, after our dinner (four piled-on sandwiches). We pulled the tub out of the fridge today and just nibbled on the cold bits. Very, very tasty! :p Interior pieces (no crusty bits) have the consistency of good, moist Turkey thigh meat.

Actually, there were a lot of old orthodox congregations in Memphis. Most have moved out to Germantown.

At least we agree on this. Growing up, BBQ was pulled pork. Ribs are ribs.

Then I moved to STL where BBQ refers not only to smoked meat, but anything cooked on a grill. :rolleyes: "To BBQ" means to grill... burgers, brats, ribs and often something referred to as a pork steak (which is then liberally doused with BBQ sauce).

BBQ is NOT just pork, there is brisket as well :)

And in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and south Texas, there is GOAT! :)

oh yea good stuff!

And when you grill a burger, it doesn't have to be beef. :)

:D I offered Mom a goat for Mother's Day. She turned to Dad & commented that it would save him mowing the yard all summer... "and then we could barbecue him".

I've heard a lot about Kreuz's--worth a trip (worth a mileage run :D)?
Nothing like smoking a pork butt on the grill and then shredding and eating it right there in your kitchen--gives you a real sense of accomplishment (and maybe delusions of grandeur--it's always tempting to quit your job and go into the BBQ business, right when it comes off the grill and before you do the cleanup).

or before you go to the grocery store and look at how wild the costs are on a regular basis(not when you pick it up on sale)

Will get STICKER SHOCK even buying from distributor(oh and they don't have sales as often!)

Pulled Pork
 

I'm about to embark on my first ever effort to attempt pulled pork (I'm not much of a cook).

I'll be sticking it in my crockpot overnight.
Anything that I should absolutely do or not do?

Had some great homemade pulled pork last Saturday night at a Christmas party with a Southern theme. The cook said he saved about half of the drippings in his crock pot and mixed them in with the BBQ sauce he added after "pulling" the pork.

Our holiday menu included collard greens, sweet potato casserole, cheese grits casserole and cole slaw with some chopped apples. My wife prefers pulled pork "Memphis style" and loved the slaw.

get ready for the smell....

My wife will make this three or four times a year with a boston butt..... great taste, the process is something that I am greatful for.

She throws a halved onion in the crock pot and away we go.

Barky, what's Memphis style?

I'm planning on putting it in the pot right before I go to bed tonight so it'll be ready for lunch.

The crockpot is a good start for pulled meats. After a bit of cooling we cut the meat into large chunks, then use two large dinner forks to 'pull' it.

Generally works best to stab the meat with the forks towards the center with the forks facing out and then pull outwards.

Sauce it up, reheat, and you should be good to go. Enjoy!