Pulled Pork - New method to avoid the "stall"

The best thing about this cook is that we didn't have company over for dinner. The 2nd best thing is that it served as a Thomas Edison moment; I succeeded in finding a way not to make pulled pork.

A couple of weeks ago I used a Cook's Country recipe to prepare Kalua (Hawaiian) pork. It was prepared similarly to pulled pork but was cooked in an aluminum pan with a few holes poked in for smoke for a couple of hours, then completely covered for a few more hours. I wasn't a big fan of the rub; but the meat was tender, succulent, juicy, delicious. It fell apart like regular pulled pork. I thought at that time it might be worth trying a method like this for pulled pork.

Then this week I read Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn's article on methods to avoid the stall. It is a great article worth the read. The short version is you can avoid the long "stall" where the internal temp of the pork shoulder (or brisket) sits at 160* +/-  for a few hours. The solution is to tightly wrap it in foil. Hey; that's what I found with the Kalua Pork. I was intrigued and thought I'd give it a shot. If I could cook a good pulled pork in just a few hours, I'd be very happy.

So, I went for it. My earlier results were so good I thought I'd skip the injection and brine, so I went straight for the rub. I put a basic pork rub on a 3.8 pound boneless pork shoulder Saturday night, wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator.

Sunday morning it came out as Carla and I headed to church

After church it went on the grill

So far a normal cook; it was on at 235* waiting for an internal temperature of 150* when I would wrap it.

I wrapped it a few degrees early; at 145* IT after about 4 hours.

Once it was wrapped I bumped the cooker up to 335*; It only took an hour to get to my target of 190. I didn't like the color of those juices. Much redder than when I did the Kalua pork.

I let it rest and then attempted to pull it.

Okay smoke ring but it was way, way too tough. But I wouldn't be detered; I used the bear claws best I could

It may look good, but it sure didn't taste good.

Thank goodness for barbecue sauce. I used a little Bob Gibson's sauce and served up a sandwich with some slaw.

I was too disappointed to get a real good plate shot.

 Part of the problem may have been the meat, I had 2nd thoughts about it when I picked it out Saturday; it had a lot of fluid in the package. The other problem may have been that it went from 145 to 190 so quickly. I think next time, I'll pay closer attention to the piece of meat I use and then  smoke for only 2 hours then put in the foil.

I had such high hopes but ended up being very disappointed.