Team T-Bone - Pork Revisited

After honing my Kettle Smoking technique over the past weeks, I decided it was time to revisit the boston butt for some pulled pork yesterday. Interestingly, on Friday night Mrs. T and I caught the finals of BBQ All-Stars on the OLN network. The 3 lady amateur team of "Squeal of Approval" handed Dr. BBQ and other "professionals" their heads and walked off with 25k.

The finals dealt with the classics, baby back ribs and pork butt. I was surprised that the pork butt could be pulled as I have only read about pulling the pork shoulder cuts: Boston Butt and Picnic. Mrs. T and I aleady had a 4.5 lb boneless and tied boston butt in the fridge. We decided the next morning to add a pork butt for comparison. We also noticed on the show that every team was injecting a marinade into their meat. We decided to try that too.

Both cuts were rubbed with Szeged's rib rub and injected with a cider, worchestershire mixture Mrs. T made from a Dr. BBQ recipe. Each cut was about 4.5 lbs so I smoked them using hickory and apple wood for about 5 hours (to 158 degrees) with another 45 minute rest in a foil / towel wrap in my ice chest. Meanwhile, I wanted to try the yellow mustard BBQ sauce recipe posted on Moist Heat. As a mustard fan, I was curious how it would taste on a pulled pork sandwich. However, after heating all of the ingredients, I thought the tartness of the mustard and apple cider vinegar was a bit too overpowering. To tone it town a little, I added two tablespoons of bourban and another tablespoon of brown sugar. This did the trick. Even Mrs. T, not a true mustard fan, and my son liked the mustard sauce. My daughter decided to stick with Sweet Baby Ray's embellished with a little red wine and a dab of hot sauce.

I would like to see some video or a demo on the pulling technique. I have yet to be able to use a fork to do it (just fingers). Also, we didn't use much of the pork butt for pulling. It seemed way too fatty. We did get a few slices out of it, but the consensus was to stick with the boston butt.

















My next challenge will likely be a pork tenderloin.