Need some advice--My Pulled Pork?

[pentree68]

Greetings:
First time on this forum and beginner traeger smoker. I done my first pulled pork yesterday from a Traeger recipie I found on the internet. Everything went as planned--- BUTT---when i pulled the pork from the bone and tasted it--i was surprised there wasn't much taste to it. no flavor. plain jane taste. i had to sprinkle some garlic salt to it to give it a little taste. When I prepared the boston butt the day before i sprinkled--what i thought--to be a good amount of seasoning on it and wrapped and refrigerated it overnight. i used a pork seasoning i got at my local traeger store. did i not put enough on? did the seasoning i put on get diluted in the process--i started my pulled pork at
7AM--trager temp. at 224 degrees--let the boston butt get to internal temp. of 150 degrees--wrapped it in aluminum foil--then let it go to about 200 degrees. let it rest for about 1-1/2 hours then un-wrapped and pulled the meat from the bone. but really no taste to the meat. i would appreciate any advice from the experts on this?
thanks!
jackie

 

[CarterQ]

I'm sure the experts will chime in as well, but on a large cut of meat like that the only way to really get flavor down into the meat is to inject prior to cooking. There are tons of recipes for injections using your favorite rub, apple juice etc. also there are some good commercial injections as well, Smoke on Wheels pork marinade is great for this. Also your internal temp seems a little low for good pulling, did it shred easily? At 150 all of the fats and connective tissues may not have fully rendered out and this contributes to flavor as well.

 

[pentree68]

thanks! i let my butt get to 150 degrees internal temp. then I wrapped it in aluminum foil and put it back on my traeger until it reached the internal temp. get to 200 degrees. i then pulled it off and let it rest wrapped in two heavy towels inside an ice cooler for about 1-1/2 hours. it pulled easy after that. bone slid right out. just need to get some taste to it.
jackie

 

[Carter13]

+2 on the injection.

 

[CarterQ]

thanks! i let my butt get to 150 degrees internal temp. then I wrapped it in aluminum foil and put it back on my traeger until it reached the internal temp. get to 200 degrees. i then pulled it off and let it rest wrapped in two heavy towels inside an ice cooler for about 1-1/2 hours. it pulled easy after that. bone slid right out. just need to get some taste to it.
jackie

Sorry misread your post and missed that you foiled at 150 and put it back in till 200, my bad!

 

[Rip]

Did you add any liquid to the foil? Dbl wrap and add some liquid: cider, apple juice, whiskey, etc. Save the liquid and juices trapped in the foil. Then after pulling, pour the liquid over the pulled pork, adds a lot of flavor.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[sparky]

use mustard or molasses as your glue. then use your favorite rub on it. drown that thing w/ rub. butt doesn't care. be careful though if your 1st ingredent of your rub is salt. salty butt is no bueno. turn your smoker on and have 2 FT's. when done w/ FT's put your butt on. as a friend of mine once said, easy smesy or something like that. i don't put rub on and let it sit overnight. some ppl do. i'm a lazy bbqer. the butt i cooked this weekend i woke up in the middle of the night foil the butt at 160° or something. no juice or nothing in the foil. cooked until it hit 200°. rested in my ice chest for 2-4 or when ever i got hungry. there was so much juice in the foil just from the butt. simple marvelous darling. the best butt i every cook. moist, tinder and the flavor. yummy stuff manard. i got the idea to wrap the butt from BP and andy. the most important part. cut 2-5 off my cook time. when i woke up in the morning it was done. most of the time my butts cook for well over 14 hours @ 225°. i need MD to sell little monkeys to turn my mak on and put the rub on. kids work too. not my kids but someones kids.

 

[TentHunter]

I like to do exactly what Rip mentioned; add some braising liquid when foiling.

My favorite two braising liquids are:

1) - 1/2 cup Cider Vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup beer

or...

2) - 1/2 cup Cider Vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup whiskey (Kentucky bourbon or Jack Daniels).


Pour some of the braising liquids right back into the pulled meat. Tons of flavor!

 

[BBQ Joe]

I inject with S.O.W. pork marinade and foil with apple juice at 170. Great results. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Big Poppa]

In comp we inject and pour secret juices in when we foil...At home I just season it great and then when foiling I use Andys Smoke On Wheels Marinade. Understand that when you mix the pork after it is pulled it is very legal and common to season with your favoriet rub and a little sauceand toss like a salad and serve1

 

[FLBentRider]

I haven't started injecting, or foiling butts. Not foiling allows for some great bark formation. I know that not foiling takes longer with the stall, but mixing that bark back into the pulled pork adds plenty of flavor.

 

[scooter]

Inject baby! You can't go wrong with SOW pork injection either! Comes in a bottle ready to inject and it's really good.

Follow the below instructions and your friends will think you're a BBQ god!
Slap Yo Daddy Pulled Pork Sliders

 

[Chili Head]

I've never injected yet either. I always use Molasses and rub heavily. I like the bark while I'm pulling
I have some SOW injection and marinade on the way now and can't wait to try it!

 

[Big Poppa]

molasses...fake bark. Iknow the origins of this and do not like it...let the pork and the rub and smoke be the bark.....

 

[HoDeDo]

So if you are flavorless after you wrap:
1. are you wrapping in a pan, or just in foil? If you answer was pan, stop! dont do it again if you answer was foil, that's fine just wrap as tightly as possible. The key is that you dont want the liquid that is being captured, (or a braising liquid if you add any) to steam. You want it to braise the meat. Loose foil allows it to boil, and steam. That steam, can remove the bark you spent the previous 6 hours building, and can turn the pork mushy. So when you wrap, wrap tightly. I do the same thing BP does, I pour my marinade in as a braising liquid. Usually about 1/4 to 1/3 cup.

2. Also when you pull that butt off the cooker it is still cooking (likely will go up another 5-10 degrees), esp. if you cooler it. To combat over cooking it that way and sapping flavor, vent your foil until all the steam is gone, the tightly wrap back and cooler.
That should help you out. You don't have to inject to make a great butt; however it does kick the flavor up a notch or 3.

 

[sparky]

You can use sow for braising liquid? Did not know that.

 

[Big Poppa]

yeah it is waa laa cisco maynard cute and faab. you will love it!

 

[RickB]

yeah it is waa laa cisco maynard cute and faab!

Say What? Im either too young,to old or just to damn lazy to decode this one! (g)

 

[sparky]

molasses...fake bark. Iknow the origins of this and do not like it...let the pork and the rub and smoke be the bark.....

i like the molasses on my butts. it give it a different flavor profile. i use mustard most of the time but for a change the molasses is good. thats the cool thing about this forum is that you learn so many different ways to do things.

 

[Big Poppa]

did someone use nutella?

RickB that was Sparky SPeak1