Barbecues are bloody brilliant Part 3
Welcome to the BBQ thread!The question of 'Pulled Pork' often arises on this forum so I have tried to jot down a few pointers. I hope this guide helps someone out .
First of all, what is Pulled Pork?
Pulled Pork is Pork Shoulder that has been cooked for many hours to create a succulent piece of meat that is 'pulled' to create your juicy strands of pork.
Pork Shoulder comes from the upper part of the Pig's shoulder. It's a fairly tough piece of meat and has a lot of connective tissue.
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Why does the meat need to be cooked slowly?
The meat has an nice amount of fat marbling through it along with connective tissues. The meat isn't considered a nice piece of meat but when cooked low and slow, the meat is tenderised, the fat melts and you are left with a beautiful piece of succulent meat.
Preparing the meat
Pork shoulder doesn't need an awful lot of preparation. I tend to cut as much of the fat off as possible, leaving just a thin layer on the outside. A rub can also be added if desired, to create a crispy bark.It's not essential though. As a bare minimum, you will need a healthy amount of salt.
Cooking
Cooking Pulled Pork on your BBQis by means of indirect cooking. By this I mean that the meat must not be placed directly above the coals, the meat is positioned to one side of the coals, above a drip Pan and the lid is placed on the BBQ to create an oven.
Indirect Set Up.
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The best way to cook your meat is by using 'The Minion Method'
This means that you need to have a large amount of unlit coals in your BBQ that will burn slowly after you've added a small amount of lit coals on top of them. The method is perfect for long cooks because once set up, the BBQ can be left for long periods of time.
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It's also important to have a water vessel positioned on the cooking grate above the coals, this not only absorbs some of the heats from your coals but also adds moisture into the atmosphere if you BBQ 'Oven'
Adding wood to your cook is important for a nice flavour but beware, too much smoke can ruin a good piece of meat. It's best to add just a small handful of wood of to begin with and build up on subsequent cooks.
Your cooking temperature wants to be around 120 degrees C (Around 250 degrees F) but remember that the temperature at your thermometer (if on the top of your BBQ's lid) will always be a little higher than the temperature at your cooking area.
The temperature can fluctuate throughout the cook but don't worry, Pork Shoulder is a forgiving meat that can accommodate the fluctuations.
When your meat temperature reaches 90 Degrees C then it's time to check to see if it's ready. The meat can be checked by inserting a skewer to see how succulent it is in the centre. It wants to glide in effortlessly.
Once cooked, the meat should be wrapped in foil and left to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you want to keep the meat warm for several hours before eating then after you've foiled the meat, wrap it in tea towels and pop it in an insulated container, like a cool box.
When you're ready to eat, the meat should be 'Pulled' with a couple of forks.
Enjoy!
An excellent Tutorial, well worth a read:-
Perfect Pulled Pork From Pork Butt Recipe Where the two horizontal cross pieces stop on the charcoal grill are two small verticals. Hook the hooks over these and swivel the holders into the middle where they will be held in place by another bar.
Edit: beaten to it. I use them and they work really well. Just use another brain cell and you'll work out how they attach data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 right, beer-can chicken is back on, i am going to use my dads wood burner/smoker, so will see how that goes data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I'm going to guess from that you're wanting to go low and slow - please ignore the following comments if that's incorrect.
I'm not sure about beer can chicken done low and slow.
One of the benefits of the technique is that the steam helps it cook from the inside as well as the outside, thus decreasing the cooking time.
Another is that the evaporating liquid can help keep the chicken moist, and add flavour (though this is disputed).Cooking at a lower temperature will mean less evaporation and less cooking from the inside.
Other than that, the nature of the structure if a chicken means its very easy to add smoke right through the chicken in a very short time.I've smoked a chicken too heavily using the beer can method in an hour - slow cooking not necessary.
Finally you can cook chicken to 'falling to pieces/falls off the bone' standards relatively quickly - once again, slow (by barbecue standards) absolutely not necessary.
Steve W so how long do you think i need to cook it for then on a smoker?
some sites are saying cook until internal temp at the thickest part is 170-180c, some say cook for 1 1/4- 1 1/2 hours etc i was just going to chuck the lumpwood on, burn that until whiteish, then chuck the wood chips on top and put the chicken above it all at the same time as putting the chips on, then leave it for an hour or so and test it That's surely degree fahrenheit? If so i work to around 165F ?
If you get the grill to around 350F the chicken should take ~75mins.
I would just use the lumpwood and skip the chips, chicken soaks up smoke like a sponge and is very easy to over smoke. I'm guessing you mean an internal temperature of 170-180 F !
Normal chicken cooking is at 190c for 20 minutes per pound 20 minutes
Cooking a 2kg beer can style usually takes me about 1hr-1hr15 at 170-190c-ish.
BTW, I'll disclose a taste prejudice here, I'm not big on most smoked chicken (jerk is an exception).
Steve W sorry, yes, that was mean to be 170-180F not C