Did you know that you can whip up some amazing, competition-style pulled pork on your very own Infrared grill? Well, you can! Now, while most BBQ competitions do not allow the use of gas grills, that does not mean that you can’t create an award-winning masterpiece for your backyard crew.
Prep The Butt
First, if you trim out some of the hard fat pockets, this will allow the rub to better penetrate the meat. Leave the fat cap on the bottom of the pork butt intact. It acts as a natural heat shield for the butt’s bottom.
The injection adds flavor and helps the pork to retain moisture which is important because it’s a big piece of meat that will cook for a long time.
The rub can be savory, sweet, hot or a combination. The recipe I use is a balance of them all. I suggest that you use the freshest spices wherever possible. Get the best quality you can afford and you will get top-notch results.
After the pork butt is rubbed, rest time is key. The rub will soak into the pork and will help with the formation of the bark (the outer layer of the pork butt that gets a deep rich mahogany crust). It also has the highest concentration of flavor from the rub.
Time To Cook
While the meat is resting in the fridge, it’s easy to make smoker packets in advance. For a light smoke flavor, you will need a minimum of 4 smoker packets.
Lay one sheet of foil down. Add approximately 1 cup of wood chips. Close the packet tightly to form a flat package. Poke holes in the top of the packet to allow the smoke to come out.
make it even easier to smoke without having to make packets.
The meat needs to go onto the cold side of the grill. On a four-burner grill, you can create an indirect cooking zone by turning on one of the burners to high and then leaving the other three off.
As the cooking time progresses, change out the smoker packet after every hour. When the surface appears to be dry, spritz with apple juice.
After approximately 4 hours, the bark has formed to a rich, deep mahogany color. Now, it’s time to wrap. This will help flavor and tenderize the meat while expediting the cooking process.
After an additional 3-4 hours, the pork butt will be done. The internal temperature should be around 200F. The bone should pull out with little resistance. Give the pork butts at least a 1/2 hour to rest while wrapped in the pan.
And now for the sauce…
This sauce is thin and will easily meld into the meat. It has lots of spices for that final flavor boost.
Pulling The Pork
Pulling the pork is easy. You can do this with two forks, discarding any excess fat pieces. You can also pull the pork apart with your hands. I use plastic gloves over a thin pair of cotton gloves and it works well. Try not to shred the pork too much. Larger pieces will stay much more moist than thin, stringy pieces.
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