Pulled Pig experience

[wlively]

Now that I finally have a door, I am going to attempt to cook a pork butt with smoke, low and slow in the oven.

Anybody have any tips or experience they would like to share?

Thanks,

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

A few months ago, I stuck 4 butts in the WFO after a pizza night.
They turned out ...ok. Trouble was the temp was a little high going in. They came out pretty nice but of course, no smoke.
A smoker is made to infuse the meat as the smoke rolls over it and vents out. A WFO, absent the fire and with the door closed is really just another oven. You could leave a small fire going but the resulting smoke will Nastify your pork pronto.
So, unless someone can show me how to do it, I'm sticking with a smoker and use the WFO for pizza and roasting stuff.

[Jed]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

wlively,

I have cooked the slow pork a number of times in the Pompeii. Always at least 24 hours after the fire was out of the oven, get the temp's low, and leave the pot in for a good number of hours (I've left'm in for as little as 4 hours, and up to overnight - 9 hours).

Good food every time, but I don't think I would try to use the WFO to add a smoke flavor to this much of a slow cook.

JED

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

[QUOTE=PizzaPolice;53022] You could leave a small fire going but the resulting smoke will Nastify your pork pronto.
QUOTE]

Have you tried with a small fire? Have you seen them smoking pork butts and whole hogs at a BBQ festival...lots of smoke used there!!!

I do a lot of my cooking with a fire going, in fact most of the time there is a fire while I cook unless it's bread and even then I've done bread with a fire.

If you're concerned about too much smoke, just cover your dish with foil. I do a lot of chickens (about 2 hours) and they're smoked "just right" for me and also make a great soup.

Roast piglet, lamb legs/shoulders, beef roasts done with fire and smoke....all fine in my mind. Smoke adds a great flavor!

If you're worried about too much smoke, just reduce the time the fire is going....you could smoke for an hour, then let it go on for many hours by pulling the fire out. You could use a tray of coals and some green wood or soaked smokey chips to give the smoke flavor it needs...

So go for it Wade, give it a try....low and slow....

[Frances]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

....you could smoke for an hour, then let it go on for many hours by pulling the fire out.

I did something like this by accident on a try full of Macaroons the other day. All I'm saying is, it does work and gives whatever you're cooking a distinct smokey flavour... it should taste a bit better with pork though!

[Chef]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Wade:

Last October we did a fund rasier for a local school and made 69 pounds of pulled pork. This is how we did it.

Put a dry rub on the pork

Heated oven to 350 - 400

wet wood chips (made from Jack Daniles whiskey barrels purchased at Wal-Mart) were loosely wraped in a long log shaped piece of tin foil and placed on the hot coals. No FIRE! CLOSED THE DOOR and prayed!!

We placed all the pork in the oven overnight (10 hours) It was cooked with the door open for 2 hours then closed her up and went to bed!

We loaded the truck with the meat and our smoker and turkey fryer burner. Once on location we fired up the smoker and fryer. We started to pull some of the pork on location around 9 or 10 am placed the pork in a 9qt cast iron pot on the fryer burner and added our secret BBQ sauce. We brought the smoker with us to add to the experience and to keep the meat warm; as we needed more pulled pork we removed it from the smoker and put it in the pot and pulled it.

It was PERFECT! No nasty smoke taste. People went nuts and still stop us to tell us how great the pork was.

Good Luck!

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Jim & Chef:
I agree with you both that it can be done with fire and the resulting smoke.
Jim has his small fire going with the door OPEN and Chef did too for the first 2 hours.
I was just pointing out that with the door closed and the fire going, the smoke can be thick, yellow and impart an acrid taste to the meat.

Sorry if i upset you. Just didn't want Wade to have a bad experience.
I do understand "smoking". I have a NBBD tuned to 225F and will smoke anything that fits and has a face.

[wlively]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

A big thanks to everyone for the advice, I really appreciate the helpful inputs of this forum!

As it is formulated now, my Easter plan is to cook pizza the night before. Then, I was thinking of using wet wood chips in foil and laying it on freshly disturbed coals with the oven temp around 300 and closing the door. I have a remote meat thermometer so I can check temps without moving the door. I would highly recommend getting one for anyone doing a turkey, was a big help to me.

If I am missing something please feel free to point it out.

[rlf5]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

I've smoked pork a few times in my oven, and it has always come out perfect. Most recent try was for out Christmas party in Dec. I did two racks of ribs and two boston butts. First I created a rack int the oven using leftover firebricks and a couple stainless steel BBQ racks from the hardware store. Then I built a four inch tall 'wall' on the inside of the oven out of more bricks. On the other side of the "wall" is where my heat source will be.

Ok first you fire the oven up a day or two in advance and let it get down to around 250F. Then I pile some hardwood charcoal (or composite briquettes) in a chimney starter and fire them up. While that is going, load your meat in the oven. Once all the coals are red and hot, transfer them to your oven and dump it on the opposite side of the 'wall'. Then take your soaked woodchips and toss them on top of the coals and close the oven. The 'wall' serves as a heat barrier from the hot coals, since you don't want your meat to overcook. My door isn't the tightest fitting, so there is enough give to let a little air in, and the smoke out. The butts were in there for around 6 hours...4 hours for the ribs. Everything came out perfectly.

[wlively]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Well I finally cooked my first "pulled pig", no longer a "virgin".

I made pizza for an early dinner and was planning on cooking the 10lb bone in picnic shoulder overnight, but one drawback to a well insulated oven is that it took until the next day for the oven to get down to a reasonable temp. When the oven IR temps were at a 300 deg avg I decided I couldn't wait any longer so decided to get started. The shoulder was rubbed and sitting on the counter for almost two hours. I threw in a small handfull of hickory chips, a can of water, slid the pork in, and shut the door. I checked at 2 hrs as I wanted to err on the side of not oversmoked. Didn't have to worry, smoke was just enough.

What suprised me was how long it took. I put it in uncovered at 300 deg and after 1 hour I checked my center of brick temps and they were at 315. At the 2 hr mark I had to go to a family gathering and was afraid I would overcook, so cracked the door. Made a trip back at 4 hrs and meat temp was only 126. At 8hr mark was 148. At the 11hr mark was 185 and we couldn't put dinner off anymore, so pulled it out. I can tell you it sure smelled good, but after 11 hrs I was a bit worried about it. Let it rest 10 min wrapped in foil and towels. Started shredding and boy was it good. Meat was cooked just right and juicy. I would like a bit more smoke next time so will be more aggressive with the chips and will not touch the door until done. I guess the indirect stored heat of our brick ovens really makes it "idiot proof".

Needless to say, I plan on doing this alot more! Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice and information. The pictures are a before and after shot.

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Looks good Wade, low and slow!

I'm still looking forward to trying the large chunks of pork I see at the butcher.

and PP, no hard feelings. I smoke a lot with the door but it has dampers on the intake and chimney so there's usually a fire in process there. Smokey bread anyone?

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Yeah... I was on the theme where the door was completely closed and the fire was suffocating.
So, with the door ajar the air gets sucked in at a desirable rate and is exhausted through the chimney. I get it now. I was way off on that one. Sorry, Jim. Happy Easter!

[Chef]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

This weekend we turned the oven into a "somewhat" smoker, we made our pulled pork. Chef Phil placed 2 pieces of thickcut bacon on top of the pork sholder made a paste with lots of spices and painted it on the meat. I soaked the jack daniels wood chips in water for 20 mins, then made with two layers of tin foil a "chip holder". We put the pork in a 9 qt dutch oven, and headed to the back yard placed the "Chip holder" on hot embers and placed the pork in the UNCOVERED dutch oven along with our 2 pots of baked beans and chicken stock pot. Then we walked away form the oven at 10pm. Checked in at 11am pullled the pork YUMO!

As you can see in one of the photos we do not completly shut the oven door it is left ajar so you can get the smoke effect...you can see the smoke coming from the chimney.

[Chef]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Here is the finished product....oh the last photo on the previous post to to show that the two layers of heavy duty tin foil do not burn up in the oven to cause any nasty fumes or taste!!

[Wiley]

Re: Pulled Pig experience

Thought I'd add this to the thread "Pulled Pork Experience"...

Started yesterday with mixing the dough about 3:00 and at 8:00 doing a stretch and fold and placed into the frig overnight. Then removed from the frig this am and onto my work surface (photo: the blob). Another stretch and fold and divide and shape and set to do final rise. The result: two dozen rolls. Then the pork shoulder into the WFO and return enough of the coals to smoke for an hour (photo of the shoulder in roaster) and a photo of a reject roll cut in half roll, cut horizontally. This roll was deformed when I replaced the frypan and munched the roll..thus the flat area on edge. When I am firing for a bake I preheat a large cast iron fry pan. This pan is where I spray water to get the steam. I pull it momentarily to remove the coals and snuffle and then return to the hot WFO when normalizing the heat. Then out momentarily while loading and back in and spray into it. Massive steam, close up and thirty seconds later repeat and then again at one minute.

Don't know if this is an orthodox process just what I have figured out that works for me.

Pork will be out tomorrow and consumed on the rolls. YUM!

Bests,
Wiley