Best Kamado Pulled Pork Trick You Need To Try!
A Cold-Smoke Start for Maximum Smoke Flavor
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Introduction
The Best Pulled Pork I've Ever Done on a Kamado
What's up BBQ fans! This is hands down the best pulled pork I've ever done on a kamado. For the last year or so, a lot of people have been talking about one technique: a cold smoke at the start to get more smoke flavor in. Today I'm trying it with a pork butt on the Komodo Kamado 38.
Start With Good Pork
The end product is only as good as what you start with, especially when you're putting in this many hours.
Heritage breed at a minimum. That's what I used. It costs a little less and is still decent quality.
Duroc and Berkshire are both highly respected. Berkshire is a little darker, with a slightly sweeter taste.
Better pork means less stringy fat to pick out when you shred. Just great bites.
The Rub
A 50/50 mix of fresh cracked pepper from the Pepper Cannon (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%) and Season-All seasoned salt. It has a different flavor than Lawry's and is a little coarser, so it mixes really well with 16-mesh pepper. A full Pepper Cannon cup is about 3 tbsp, so I ground two for about 6 tbsp of pepper.
No binder. Straight out of the package, it's moist enough for the rub to stick.
Season the bottom first, then the presentation side, then pat the sides. Season from up high for an even coat, and shake the bottle often.
I usually crosshatch the fat cap. Today I skipped it.
Let it sweat for 15 to 20 minutes until the rub darkens as the salt pulls out moisture. If you dry brine overnight, still let it sweat before it goes in the fridge.
The Cold Smoke Setup
Fuel: Bear Mountain hardwood lump, not quite half a basket, with a small lit spot so it doesn't overshoot.
Wood: Bear Mountain Hickory chunks, a couple under the lump and a couple on top so it smokes right away. Cherry, oak and pecan are great too. I wouldn't go heavier than hickory. Mesquite is too much for this cook.
Two zones. The fire on one side and the pork on the indirect side. With this much grate, you don't need deflectors.
Vents: start about 1½ turns on top and 1 inch on the bottom, then close down to an eighth of a turn on top to hold below 200°F.
Put the meat on ice cold. Mine had just finished thawing and was about 32°F.
Isn't dirty smoke bad? White, billowing, dirty smoke for an entire cook is terrible. But a heavier smoke at the start cleans up over time, and it drives a lot of good smoke flavor into the meat.
Monitoring With the Typhur Sync
I used the Typhur Sync Gold Dual (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%). With 2-inch refractory walls, disconnects have always been my world. The Sync has five internal sensors plus an ambient sensor good to 932°F, and its sub-1G signal has reached 315 ft for me without a drop. I set up a pork shoulder cook in the app and tracked it on my watch while I walked the dogs.
Pro tip: if the estimated time looks off, edit the target temp. I'd left it at 180°F, and changing it to 204°F updated the estimate.
The Cook
Cold smoke around 200°F for about 3 hours. At 3 hours, the pork was at 95.9°F.
Bump it to 275 to 300°F. I opened the top vent about a quarter turn and added another small chunk. The last couple of hours ran about 300°F ambient, 305 to 310°F on the dome.
Wrap at about 176°F, at 6 hours 11 minutes. Great color, with the fat rendered up over the top. Cotton glove liners make handling hot meat easier. Wrap it tight and put the probe back in.
Cook to tender. Pulled pork usually finishes around 200 to 205°F. I probed with my Typhur InstaProbe, and it was done at about 200°F, carrying to 202°F.
An Overnight Hold
It got dark early and was too windy for lights, so I rested it on the counter while my regular kitchen oven preheated, then held it at about 165 to 170°F for almost 17 hours.
The app showed my oven swinging up and down the whole time, and it's an expensive oven. Typical ovens can swing 50 degrees. In the pellet grill world, everyone obsesses over temperature swings. Don't. It's part of the game.
Taste Test
Great fat breakdown, soft bark from the long wrap, and a nice smoke ring. It had more smoke flavor than I expected. Not over the top, just great smoke. Deeper in there's a bit less, but mix in that bark and you've got an absolutely delicious sandwich. The dogs approved.
I planned to make a vinegar sauce, but I was out of both white and apple cider vinegar. If you haven't tried vinegar sauce on pulled pork, do it. I held off for years and wish I hadn't.
Final Thoughts
This is one of the best pork butts I've ever done on a kamado-style cooker, by leaps and bounds. Put your meat on cold, smoke it below 200°F for three or four hours, then finish hot and wrapped. You'll be amazed at the smoke flavor.
Thanks For Watching
Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster or a novice, these tips will enhance your cooking skills and leave your family and friends raving about your delicious, smoky creations. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more step-by-step videos, and let's together become the barbecue heroes we were meant to be!
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