Go to the Recipe: Wicked Good Pulled Pork Shoulder
Last time I made the smokerless brisket, I popped a chunk of pork shoulder in the sous vide with the same rub, finished the same way in the oven to build a crust. Turned out great! I think that's all that's missing in this recipe, the option to crisp it up to add some maillard flavors.
Could you specify how much salt per kilo you recommend? Rubs run from none too 1/2 salt by weight to none. I did some experiments with sous vide pork shoulder last fall, and the salt level was critical. Anything more than 15 gms per kilo and the juices were too salty to stir back in. None, though, was just lousy.
I'd like to make this with a Caribbean-style rub. How will a garlic rub fare under a 24-hour cooking time?
Yeah, I second this. Do we still want to approximate 1% salt by weight?
Is it ok to finish this on the grill ? And if your water does evaporate can you add more water to the bath and adjust the time ?
It's not missing, they just left it out to simplify the recipe. If you know enough to ask the question you probably know enough to drain off the juices, crank your oven to max, and pay close attention while it is in there. It is one of those things that some people find trivial, and some people find overwhelming. It is also enormously dependent on the particulars of your oven.
It'll probably be hard to manage on a grill. So tender, it will be difficult to grasp with tongs. If I see the sousvide pot is running low, I will heat some water in the microwave/kettle and add it to the bath. Makes it so the water comes back up to temp in no time.
I tratidionally do it on my smoker for 18-24hrs, until it hits 195*F. I was thinking of Joule at 165*F for 18 hrs. That will melt away all the gooey stuff and the longest part of the smoker time. Then pop it on the smoker for 4 hours to get that nice smoke ring, flavor and bark that real BBQ needs. I realize that for you city folk this is a lot harder to do.
I'll report back if it works like I hope.
Thank you
You are correct, it will be unmanageable, too soft to grill. Best to grill/smoke for a few hours, chill, then sous vide it for however. That's if you have the time:)
This worked great! I went 24 hours with a whole shoulder. I think 18 would have been better but I wasn't home to take it out in time for that. Then on the smoker at around 250*F for about 4 hours. Got a great bark and smoke ring added to it. Much easier than trying to smoke it overnight and dealing with temp control and charcoal refills.
Can you provide more detail on this? Also, I am using 154, can I go hotter and drop cooking time? Suggestions?
can i use pork loin instead? also what setting should i use on my slow cooker, high or low and for how long? I need to know by 3:30 or ASAP.
thanx
@Armaan Gupta
first, we have no idea what time it is where you are.
Second: pork loin is not a good substitute for pork shoulder, if you follow the directions above using pork loin, you will not get good results.
Third: you won't get the same results using a slow cooker. If you were using pork shoulder, I'd recommend using the warm setting for 2 days, but I don't recommend using it at all using pork loin.
Hi, I saw in the Modernist Cuisine ( Book Nº5, recipes), that they cook it 72 hours al 65ºC, I have done it at 65ºC but 24 hours, and it was great, really good flavor and perfect texture.. my question is what happens with the texture increasing the time, at 65ºC, from 24 hours to 72 hours as Modernist Cuisine. What Modernist Cuisine wants with the texture prolonging the time cooking to 72 hours, what happens with the meat ? ( Sorry for my English I am Spanish..) Thanks!
There's no mention of skin here.. curious since I know when I buy shoulder it always had skin and I don't think it taste particularly good even after this long.
I'm assuming remove it when cuting into cubes??
Pork shoulder (boston butt) usually doesn't have skin. You're probably getting the picnic shoulder cut, which is lower on the shoulder and a little cheaper. Since they're having you cube the meat, I think it'd be a lot easier to remove before that.
Hi I got the whole pork shoulder I smoked it for 4 and 1/2 hours do I still need to cubed before I Sous vide it
What happened to the original spice rub that was used in this recipe? I need to know if it has garlic in it. All i can remember is that it had a heap of dill in it
I have a pork bone-in butt roast and would like to use Sous Vide to make pulled pork with it. What’s the best recipe/way to approach using this cut of meat - including times and temperature. Thanks.
Well, I decided to make a modified brine and injected it into the 8+ lb. pork butt roast. I then covered it in a rub I made. I put the roast into 2, Ziploc bags (to be safe).
I used an 18 qt. container and filled it with 14 qt. of water after determining that’s how much water was necessary to cover the Joule hole and to prevent overflowing the container. I have it setting on two handy collapsible silicone trivets on my kitchen counter.
The container has a hinged lid to allow me to add water due to evaporation, and has a hole in the corner that perfectly fits the Joule which clips to the side.
The bags fit over the edge of the container and the lid is holding them on fine so far.
After reaching temperature, I thought the lid felt fairly hot and was concerned, so I took a bit of water out as I thought the water level may have been too near the lid.
The lid is made by Everie and says it is BPA Free and <212°F/100°C - so it should be okay - was erring on side of caution. I have timers set to check it every 2 hours.
Additionally, if any of you have the Alexa device, it works marvelously to check the status of the Joule. It told me what the current temperature was and what the target temperature was. You need to have the Joule skill downloaded to your Alexa app.
I’ll send updated pics of the finished product.
Final results:
Fantastic !
I added hot water from the tap and it was minutes to have it back on temperature. For the amount of time cooking the lapse is irrelevant
I did four whole pork shoulder roasts to make pulled pork BBQ for a party. Used a dry rub on each then vacuum packed and did another layer of the vacuum packing as added insurance in case of leaking,leaving a nice long tab of plastic to secure on the edge of a 18 quart container with a lid that allowed the joule to be used. I had very little evaporation,hot tap water was added as needed(once in 24 hour period). Chilled down each roast in ice water(still in double layer of plastic). Opened each,drained off juices into a sauce pan to reduce and patted them dry. Brushed each with a 50/50 combo of molasses and honey(maple syrup an option)then reapplied more dry rub. Placed the seasoned roasts on a rack over a cookie sheet covered with tin foil and placed them in a convection oven set at 400 degrees for around 40 minutes,acquired a beautiful crust and shred like a dream! Saved the reduced broth to add more moistness with the BBQ since it was going into chafing dishes. Excellent!
I took Patricia Vecci’s advice in these comments, with minor modifications, and got fantastic results. I used ChefSteps’ Rib Rub as my dry rub, but with only a fraction of the mace based on commentary on that recipe. However, the mace business got me thinking... I know from months spent in Indonesia that mace is an ingredient in Coca Cola (they export a bunch of mace to them.) And some of the best carnitas I’ve ever had turned out to be braised in Coca Cola. So I tossed a half bottle of Mexican coke (after warming it to get rid of the carbonation) into my sous vide bag along with the shoulder roast, which I had cut into big hunks but not small cubes. Like a fool, I neglected to save the broth later, but otherwise proceeded with the molasses/maple glaze as per Patricia. I did use the higher temp for sous vide... like buttah!!
Oh damn! The way to “pull” the meat in the bag is 10 times faster and provides double moist meat!
It’s the best version ever!
Thanks for that info, Dan. I just took my meat out of the sous vide. Amazed how much juice is in the bags. Ive never done pulled pork but the meat so far looks great. I’ll drain it and put it in the oven, correct? Brown it a bit? It won’t dry out will it? Reduce juices? Im freezing this to use for next weekend at our family BBQ (after two years and will add my own BBQ sauce to this.
