Sous-vide Pork Shoulder, e.g. Pulled Pork
Building on the technique I’ve used for ribs (posted previously) I did the same thing with a pork shoulder. Rub & rest overnight, smoke (2 hours, low temp, to get a smoke ring & flavor), sous-vide (48 hours at 146 degrees in this case) and then pull & shred.
Unlike a traditional pulled pork, it didn’t fall off the bone (expected since the final temp never got anywhere close to the 200 degrees or so of typical pulled pork) but the taste was amazing and the bite a little toothy.
Then I used the result as meat I could either shred & serve with sauce, fry up in a wok, or turn into a Carnitas or just about anything that tasty pork is good for.
So this technique is a keeper but I’ll keep experimenting with variations to see how to create the best “traditional” pulled pork using it.
Please experiment and let us know your results! Since my thermal bath is only 5 quarts I can only do one experiment at a time with pork shoulders, even though I can fit 6-8 in my smoker.
Jerry H. replied:
I am going to make pulled pork this weekend to be served Sunday for the NFL games @ 1:00 EDT, so I need to expedite the process.
Here’s my plan:
Friday night (tonight): brine the shoulder
Sat morning:dry rub & refrigerate for 2 hours
Hot smoke in a Bradley Smoker for 3 hours
Bag & cook sous vide until noon Sunday (approx 22 hours)
My question is what temp to cook sous vide? I want to be able to shred the meat.
Any suggestions on the temp? or if you see any flaws or a better method please
let me know…..thanks!
October 14, 2011 at 6:43 am. Permalink.
sousvide replied:
Jerry–Darn good question. My plan is to buy some more shoulders and conduct the experiment, but that won’t help for this weekend. As I mentioned my 48 hours at 146 was really tasty but it wasn’t as fall of the bone as when I do pulled pork the old-fashioned way, so I’d go higher than that.
I don’t think you’ll kill it at 160 or even 164, but again it’s a little bit of a guess. You could aim a little high and then pull it out part way through, see if you think it’s what you want and then FTC (Foil Towel Cooler) it the rest of the way? Have fun and have a great game feast. Let us know what you decide and how it works out!–David
October 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm. Permalink.
Jerry H. replied:
I bought about a 7# piece of pork butt. I brined it in a salt/sugar/vinegar brine overnight. I then dry rubbed it & let it rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Next, I hot smoked it in my Bradley Smoker for 3 1/2 hours @ around 200 degrees. I removed it, bagged it and cooked it @ 70 degrees C. for about 16 hours. When I checked the meat early Sunday morning it was already done & very “shreddable”. I then lowered the sous vide controller to 50 degrees C. to hold it until I was ready to serve. It very good but I thought a bit overcooked (dry). The next time I do it I will smoke it for a shorter period of time & lower the cooking temperature of the water bath. I have another question: The collagen obviously broke down @ lower temperatures than are generally indicated in barbecue information. I’m assuming this is due to the long sous vide cooking time?
Is there any information about this online?
October 17, 2011 at 7:09 am. Permalink.
sousvide replied:
Jerry–Yes, the collagen does break down differently and at lower temps with the long cook times (although I’d like to see some graphs on this if I can find them). Not realizing that is why my temp was too high the first time I went for it. That said, there is also a limit to how much fat gets rendered using sv so trimming a little more seems to be indicated. And I haven’t found a rock solid way to determine how to convert any given smoker recipe for big cuts of meat to s.v. (but of course even BBQ chefs disagree over times & temps so there’s room for some art here).
October 17, 2011 at 11:06 pm. Permalink.