Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 19 of 19

Thread: open pit vs closed pit barbecue - taste difference?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
    Posts
    2,645
    Stephen, around here, home BBQ'rs will seldom cook a pork butt or roast on a grill or smoker, because they're too big to handle easily. Its more common to cook them in a slow cooker, where they cook evenly and with plenty of liquid, and chop or shred them after that. You don't miss the smoke flavor because there's so much other flavoring going on.
    But if you ever come here to Kansas City, where there are approximately one zillion BBQ restaurants, look for burnt ends on the menu. These are beef or pork chopped from the ends of brisket or whatever, so they have a lot of crispy and tender to them when done right. Pulled pork not that common on restaurant menus.

    Check out the Kansas City Barbecue Society who might have some technical info and I think offers some classes: https://www.kcbs.us
    Last edited by Stan Calow; 08-10-2020 at 1:59 PM.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Las Cruces, NM
    Posts
    2,034
    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Calow View Post
    Stephen, around here, home BBQ'rs will seldom cook a pork butt or roast on a grill or smoker, because they're too big to handle easily. Its more common to cook them in a slow cooker, where they cook evenly and with plenty of liquid, and chop or shred them after that.
    A surprising (to me) fact is that you can cook things in a slow-cooker without adding liquid. I learned this from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKEc...RrZg&index=376 A similar technique works for chicken.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen Tashiro View Post
    My goal is only to add details to a nostalgic memory. Running a grill or smoker in the city has its problems. You hear from all dogs in the neighborhood and your equipment attracts various other critters.


    A dish I would go to some trouble to recreate or purchase is a chopped pork barbecue sandwich as recalled from one served by a little food stand in Charlottesville VA. (chopped - not "pulled")
    Chopped versus pulled is a choice to make after the shoulder is cooked and has had a rest in the cambro.

    Doing a full pork shoulder, or a 15# turkey, or a good sized ham is the upper limit for a 22" Weber but it can be done. The key for all three is some kind of metal wall to keep the hot coals out from under the dripping meat. And I have to add charcoal about every 45 minutes.

    Just about any gas grille should be able to handle a full shoulder, 8-10 pounds usually, I prefer them with the bone in.

    A low powered electric smoker could struggle here - I defer immediately to those who have done it, I have not. One option, if needed, would be to slice a shoulder (across the grain) into steak shaped cuts since you want to chop it anyway. Might be easier to start with a boneless shoulder for that.

    I personally run whole bone in pork shoudlers at 225 degrees F for 8-10 hours. I like jiggling the end of the bone sticking out to judge tenderness, but do use a meat thermometer to judge internal temperature as well. You might cut some time off that cook by wrapping the shoulder in foil after it has been bare on the grate in the smoke for a few hours. I generally don't, but I am generally running one shoulder and one brisket on each of the racks in my smoker. I cut a little time off the brisket cook by wrapping the brisket when it gets to "the stall", leave the shoulder bare and generally both cuts will be done at about the same time.

    Pork shoulder is a very forgiving cook, it can take a lot of temperature variation over the time of the cook, and is the first cut of meat I have new team members cook when they are ready to take on long cooks. Brisket is a lot fussier to cook, at least partly because beef brisket has less marbling than pork shoulder, but I don't really know why for sure.

    Yet another option would be to smoke a full shoulder in a charcoal cooker at 225 until the charcoal runs out, wrap the shoulder in foil and then finish it in the oven in the kitchen.
    Last edited by Scott Winners; 08-10-2020 at 6:41 PM.

  4. #19
    Annually for the last 26 years, we have cooked either Boston butts, or pork shoulders for Campers on Mission BBQ at State Fair. We've done then both on charcoal. and gas only. Cook around 185- 200# of meat. Cook it at no more than 275 degrees for about eight hours. When it's done, we shake it off the bone into our chopping box. Box is made from oak, about 16" wide, X 16" tall, and 30" long. Bottom boards have cracks about 1/8" between them to allow for grease to run out. Actual chopping is done with scraper hoes, also know as ice scrapers. Any sauces is added to meat while in box. Then BBQ is stored in ice chest till served. Typical BBQ includes 185# of meat, 100# of potatoes, 80# of slaw, 20# of hush puppy mix, 30 gallons of iced tea, and a huge tray of banana pudding, along with other desserts. All of which is FREE to fair workers as a part of the ministry. Already missing not doing it this year due to Covid 19

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •