In article , Douglas Barber
wrote:

I'm sure this will be old stuff to most, but can't hurt to say it again.
I gauge the doneness of pulled pork by a method taught me by the FatMan
- when you can't turn it over on the smoker without it starting to come
apart, it's ready. To my mind, you shouldn't have to chop pulled pork
(though there's nothing wrong with doing so after "pulling" or shredding
it, if you want the "fibers" shorter). If its done the way I like it,
you should be able to shred it easily with your fingers, or two forks,
and the falling-apart test is just the thing for recognizing when the
meat's reached the point where you can do that.

"Butt-forking" produces a shred more to my liking than cleaver chopped.
Another sign of doneness is the bone. It sticks out and gets wiggly
when ready. The meat will start to slump on the grill and fat will
start to render out more.

At what was probably my most successful cookout, a bunch of us just sat
around a table picking at a nicely barked cut that was set whole on the
table, no silverware, no buns, no sauce, just paper plates, napkins, and
assorted libations. Although now that I think back, such savagery may
have resulted in most of the wimmings sorting themselves into a more
civilized group at a separate table....

If it was a deep discounted rack of Blahnik shoes, the 'wimmings'
would've been the savage ones. Hell hath no elbows like a woman
shopping for a bargain......

Even in my WSM with temp a pretty constant 225-250, I don't think I've
ever had picnic or butt reach the falling-apart point in much less than
one and a half hours per pound - except when using the WSM with no water
pan - a method which, by the way, can turn out some mighty fine pork. On
the other hand, I've cooked several that *never* began falling apart and
never became really "pullable". These were always abnormally small
shoulders or picnics and I've avoided the really small ones ever since.

Bigger is better. 4 lb butt cuts are for a crockpot. Even the runt of
the litter can grow a 6 lb boston butt - I say 'no' to anything under 8
lbs.

When buying butts, I look for cuts with the fat cap intact (this can be
hard to determine, grocers like to face that fat toward the bottom of
the package), and as much "interior" fat in the cut as possible. A
really lean cut will be too dry before it ever gets pullable, if it ever
gets pullable.

A bigger hog is usually a fatter hog. The floppy brisket test can sort
of translate to porkbutts as well-the more internal fat, the looser the
butt will feel in the package . You don't want the shoulder off of the
rock hard chiseled Bowflex pig for BBQing.

I prefer butts to picnics because of the greater surface area exposed to
smoke on the butt - more bark, and better penetration of smoke flavor
throughout the meat. If you do a picnic, IMHO, always cut off the rind
or skin before cooking, nothing can penetrate that skin - seasoning,
smoke, nothing, and it never gets edible. That's not to say that you
should cut off all the fat that's under that skin - you want that, to
keep the meat from drying out.

I skip the picnics when possible. The musculature on them is less
divided up and there's a lot more bone to pay for.

monroe(leave the fat on)