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[Bar-B-Lew]

My brother just bought a Southern Pride a month or so ago.

[glitchy]

I rub mine and throw them on and cook to 202-205. Lately I've been on Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon, but sometimes my own rubs or trying others. I don't mess with injecting, wrapping, etc. I cook anywhere from 180-300, but usually around 225 for an hour then 275 anymore. Should has so much fat in it, that I haven't felt the need for extra moisture and my family likes the bark mixed in. In fact, I really don't inject much of anything. I just haven't found the benefit worth the work personally. However, I'm approaching it as cooking dinner not trying to win a contest. I'm just trying to make reasonably good food. If something ends up dryer than I want, I find a little broth usually does the trick.

[glitchy]

My brother just bought a Southern Pride a month or so ago.

It's a shame that it doesn't hold much, looks pretty nice otherwise 

[Bar-B-Lew]

Yeah, there are only 12 18" deep racks in it that are 3.5ft wide.  Should hold about 72 pork shoulders.

[yorkdude]

That is taking it awfully serious.
I bet people pay attention when you pull up with that rascal and fire it up.
Gets more attention than the "My pillow guy".

[Bar-B-Lew]

That is in addition to the smoker he has on the back of his food trailer.  He needed more capacity to keep up with demand.

[yorkdude]

Wow, that is something.
Does he set in different spots based on like a published schedule, we have a few (not that big) around here and they will advertise that they will be at So & So on Monday, So & So on Tuesday etc.
They seem to do fairly well, a lot of people I deal with eat at them, I have a few times but I can do better so I tend not to. They use stick burners though, I do know that.

[Bar-B-Lew]

He sets at the same spot Thursday thru Sunday from Easter to Thanksgiving generally, but may do a festival or private event at times and caters all year long.  His location is at the lot of a local sweet corn farmer who gets lots of traffic from July 4th to Labor Day.  It's his 7th year in the business this season.  Both the smokers are stick burners except the Southern Pride will use a lot less wood and has a programmable thermostat that uses a fan and propane to maintain set temp and increase or decrease as programmed.  It supposedly can run for 6 hours on only a few small sticks of wood.  This will allow him to cook overnight to keep up with demand and get much more sleep than he has been getting the last few years.

[yorkdude]

Probably awful nosy but then what for the rest of the year?
Just gets to enjoy himself and catch up on sleep?

[Bar-B-Lew]

He does catering during the rest of that time when he gets calls.  Otherwise, he gets rest, works on creating new menu items, researches product costs to see where he can save money, etc.

[yorkdude]

That is a sweet deal, good for him.

[pmillen]

My new approach is throw on the smoker at 250°-275° without any rub or injecting and smoke until the shoulder hits about 160° IT.  (I have even put them right on the smoker out of the freezer).  Throw in a pan, pour in a few beers, and cover.  Cook until the meat falls apart.  Pull it immediately after you pull it off the grill right in the juices in the pan.  Pour off extra juice.  Mix your favorite rub in with the meat and eat.  If you are reheating later in mass, save the juices in a container in the fridge and pour back in with meat while reheating.  I don't think I will cook it another way again.  The rest of the stuff I have done in the past and others are doing like injecting, putting on glue, rub, yadda yadda just aren't worth the effort anymore IMO.  One thing I may do, is trim off the fat cap next time so I don't have to deal with it while pulling the meat.

When it comes to cooking, I’m neither creative nor inventive, but I’m great at following a recipe.  Any fool can follow this recipe and it’s worth it.

Neither Marcia nor I care for bark.  It just seems like dried, burned meat.  I visualize the Marketing Department trying to spin it—

“When we smoke it like this the rub makes that awful crust of burned meat.  How can we sell this?”

“Let’s call it ‘bark’ and tell people it’s good and it should be their goal.”

Anyway, this is the best pulled pork I’ve ever made.  It’s certain to be a hit at tomorrow’s Father’s Day shindig.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Looking forward to hearing how others like your pulled pork tomorrow.

What did you like about this approach versus how you used to previously make pulled pork?

[pmillen]

What did you like about this approach versus how you used to previously make pulled pork?

It's effortless; no injecting, no rubbing, no spritzing, no complicated wrapping and no bark.  Just trim it and put it in the pit.

I attended to other tasks and didn't even open the pit until it was time for the beer bath.

[Chris__M]

For a long time, I have cooked my pork on a rack over a pan from the get-go. I don't see the point on letting any meat juices go down the grease bucket.

I do use a rub, but only one one side, as I leave the skin on, cooking it skin up. I start off at a low temp for an hour or so, before increasing it to 240°-250°. Then at 160° internal, I wrap the meat, and put it directly on the grate, which lets me take the pan inside to deglaze and start preparing the sauce. More juices usually come out of the wrapping, which also gets added to the sauce. I rest the meat for 30-60 minutes, then pull and sauce.

I almost always cook at least a day before I intend to serve. I find the whole thing improves from a night in the fridge.

Yesterday I was visiting friends who had recently received some pulled pork, and they commented how although the pork was pulled, it was still in nice big strips and chunks. Much supermarket pulled pork here (which is all they had tried before) seems to be cooked until it is almost separate fibres - I think this is because they mechanically pull the meat. I find that tastes like mush, and far prefer to have a bit of bite to my pulled pork. This is especially important, as I know it is going to be reheated.