Pulled Pork done in 6 hours. That is not a typo
BBQ purists will scoff at pulled pork in less than 10-12 hours. In this post I will show you how to pull off pulled pork in less than 6 hours. Pulled pork is to be started at the crack of dawn in order to serve at 5:00 pm right? Wrong. Following this recipe will allow you to have that incredible pulled pork in 6 hours including the hour of resting. Click below to see how my Dad did it…
Pulled Pork can be purchased a couple of ways—Boston Butt Shoulder Roast or from the Callie (the true butt from the pig). The Boston Butt was chosen for this event because it can be obtained “boneless” (which was necessary for a process you’ll see later) and I just happened to have two 4 pound butts in the freezer recently caught on sale. The butts were placed into a deep foil pan and allowed to come to room temperature:
Then a “Sweet and Smoky Rub” was applied made of these ingredients:
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup paprika
¼ cup seasoned salt
¼ cup smoked salt or hickory-smoked salt
¼ cup onion salt
¼ cup celery salt
2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cayenne pepper
***Editor’s note ~ this is way more rub than you will need for a couple of butts. The GrillinFools are big on making extra to keep on hand for future cook outs. This rub will stay good in a sealed container for months***
In spite of what we constantly hear it does not take 10-12 hours to prepare this cut of meat. Cooking “low and slow” is great but when you’re preparing for a crowd it’s great to keep the time to a minimum. Cooking time for this version was scheduled for 5 hours plus an hour for resting.
The old Charbroil was prepped for indirect grilling:
The target temp here was 300-325 degrees.Even if it were to rise to 350 for a little while you will be fine.
Both Butts were placed in to the center of the grill at 11:00 AM for their journey to tastyville. Alongside the Butts you’ll notice a bowl of liquid which was prepared to use as basting juice:
Simple ingredients were for the basting sauce were:
2 cups apple juice
2 cups beer
1 tbsp of rub
Should you own an injector this would be appropriate to insert into the meat. In this instance the mixture was simply poured over the Butts once per hour. While basting the meat it’s a good idea to add wood chips and more charcoal as needed to minimize the number of times the grill has to be opened allowing the heat to escape. Hickory chips soaked in water (or beer if you wish) for an hour prior to grilling and throughout the cooking process.
Here are the two butts after a couple of hours:
The butts were removed at 4 PM and wrapped in foil to rest for an hour once they hit about 190-195 internal temp.
At 5 PM the fun began for the finished butts. A business associate, Monte N. recently explained to me a novel way to hasten the process of pulling the pork and we decided to try it out. Each butt was removed from the foil and placed into a gallon Ziploc bag but not sealed then placed onto a cutting board. A small cast iron skillet was brought forth to wreak havoc upon the tender pork as shown.
Here is a pic of the meat after we smacked it with a pan:
It still took a bit of forking, but this really hastened the pulling process and we are grateful to Monte for the suggestion and it will be employed in all future efforts regarding this cut of meat.
The rest of the forking was done by Terri:
Fully forked:
Pulled Pork with some Asian coleslaw draped over the top:
If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or shoot me an email.
If you would like to see other pork dishes on this site, click here.
Here is a link to a discussion of this recipe on the air on the Houston airwaves.
Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.
Filed under: Indirect Grilling, Pork
So I did the beef brisket last week and it turned out UNREAL!!! I had six people over plus myself and my wife and there was almost nothing left of a 7 lb slab. I am trying the pulled pork tomorrow, and my question is, if I buy one large butt that weighs roughly 8lbs do I cook it for the same amount of time as I would two 4lb butts?
Curious if you have the recipe for the asian slaw…don’t see it on the website. Thx!
Grillin in NJ,
It is not my recipe, but I know it is very similar to this:
DRESSING:
4 1/2 tbsp. vinegar
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. oil
Salt and pepper
Flavor packet from Top Ramen noodles (chicken flavor)
SALAD:
1 pkg. cole slaw mix
1/2 c. toasted almonds
1/2 c. green onions
3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 pkg. dry Top Ramen noodles, crushed
This salad needs to be put together at the last minute to make sure that everything is crunchy. Toss the salad ingredients first and then toss with the dressing. Serve immediately.
A few questions:
1) How long before cooking do you apply the rub? And, do you recommend a mustard slather (have read about this elsewhere)?
2) Do you flip the pork at any time during the cooking process?
3) Do you add wood each time you add charcoal? My understanding is a couple of hours smoke maxes out the smoking affect on the pork
4) After wrapping, do you recommend using a cooler for the setting process? If so, does it need to be airtight?
5) Guessing with the rub, no sauce is needed, but, if you wanted to, what would you recommend?
Thanks for the site and info!
1) How long before cooking do you apply the rub? And, do you recommend a mustard slather (have read about this elsewhere)?
– The night before at least. You can do the mustard as it increases the tasty bark but it is not required. It’s much better on brisket as it tenderizes a great deal.
2) Do you flip the pork at any time during the cooking process?
– I generally don’t touch the pork once it hits the grill.
3) Do you add wood each time you add charcoal? My understanding is a couple of hours smoke maxes out the smoking affect on the pork
– You want to minimize the number of times you open the grill, so if you see the smoke diminish then add a couple chunks of wood and maybe some charcoal if the fire looks to be dying out a bit. And vice versa. if the temp is dropping and you need to add more coals, check to see if you might need more smoke wood in the next 30 minutes or so and add it if need be. The deal with smoke maxing out has to do with temperature more than time. Once the outside of the meat hits a certain temp it will not take on any more smoke flavor. So depending on how fast you are cooking the meat you could take on smoke for 4 hours or only 2.
4) After wrapping, do you recommend using a cooler for the setting process? If so, does it need to be airtight?
– You can use a cooler, or a microwave or a cold oven. And it doesn’t need to be air tight.
5) Guessing with the rub, no sauce is needed, but, if you wanted to, what would you recommend?
– That’s entirely up to you. You’ve got vinegar based sauces, tomato based and mustard bases. Or you can try Richee’s BBQ sauce which is a tweener between tomato and mustard. You can go store bought, make your own or doctor a store bought brand which is what I do usually. Sweet Baby Rays or Maul’s with some brown sugar, garlic, chili powder, and a punch of mustard powder…
Thanks for the site and info!
– Thank you….
…….Scott
Thanks for the quick replies. Thought of a couple of additional questions:
1) I have a 10 lb. shoulder…how much additional cook time should I plan for using this method?
2) Using your rub, how much do you typically apply and/or what would you recommend for this size shoulder?
Thanks again!!
Just a bump for my last couple of questions…doing this over the weekend, so your insight is appreciated.
TIA!
Thanks for the quick replies. Thought of a couple of additional questions:
1) I have a 10 lb. shoulder…how much additional cook time should I plan for using this method?
*** An hour to an hour and 15 per pound. I would highly recommend slicing that bad boy in two and doing two 5 pounders.
2) Using your rub, how much do you typically apply and/or what would you recommend for this size shoulder?
**** Coat liberally. As much rub as will stick on the shoulder and then add some more. After the moisture permeates the rub add some more on top of that.
Thanks again!!
***Thank you and keep us posted…
…….Scott
Just a quick update…the pork was a big hit at the event I attended, so thanks again for the input. I look forward to trying some of the other recommendations on the site!
Glad to hear. Keep the great grilling going!!!
…….Scott
Thanks for the thorough directions. I have a boston butt on our little charcoal grill right now. It is not as big as yours, so I put a small loaf pan filled with water under the food rack on the side that I have the meat grilling on. I can’t wait for my husband to come home and see what I have planned for his 4th of July supper!
We will be having it with roasted corn, squash casserole and tomato pie.
Thanks for taking the trouble to keep this site going. I am going to use some of these ideas with venison this fall.
Keep those great ideas coming!
Since I’m just making it for a few people, the size of the butt is about 2.5lbs. Can I assume the process is the same just less cooking time?
Dennis,
Exactly Dennis. Just look for an internal temp of 190-195 internal temp before you pull it from the grill…
…….Scott
Sharon,
Sounds like you are really takin care of business on the grill this weekend. Keep up the good work!!
…….Scott
Thanks Scott! Love the blog!!! Keep up the good work.
Oh my goodness! That pork was amazing! My husband came home from fishing and was confused as to why he smelled a smoker, since we do not have one. He absolutely loved the pulled pork, and was quite surprised that I handled it all by myself. Success!
Thanks again, and I will let you know how the venison turns out.
Sharon,
Glad to hear it came out so well. Keep up the great grillin’!!!
…….Scott