Why Every Pitmaster Should Try This Oven Technique for Pulled Pork
Low and Slow Plus an Overnight Oven Rest
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Introduction
Low and Slow Pork Butt With a 16-Hour Oven Hold
What's up BBQ fans! Today is all about pork. I recently did a hot and fast, 6-hour pork butt on the Komodo Kamado, and it turned out decent pulled pork. What you didn't see: after the cameras were off, my wife tried it and said it was a little bland compared to what I normally make. I also noticed it dried out fast. Fifteen minutes after shredding, it was noticeably worse.
So today we're going the other way: a true low and slow cook at 225°F, then an overnight hold in the oven. Is it worth the extra time? Let's find out.
The Prep
I started with a bone-in Berkshire pork butt. I tell you guys all the time: for pulled pork, buy Berkshire or Kurobuta, something better than your average grocery store pork. Look at that deep red color. It's more tender and flavorful, and when you pull the bone and start breaking it apart, you're not digging out a bunch of stringy fat you don't want to eat. People buy prime and Wagyu steaks, then cut corners on pork. They're missing the mark.
Crosshatch the fat cap. It helps the fat render. Skip this and it just doesn't render well.
Rub: Heath Riles Competition BBQ Rub from All Things BBQ (use code: RUMANDCOOK11 to save 11%). It's not my usual go-to, but I've been liking it for a change. Go on heavy. A pork butt can take it.
Rest: 15 minutes. The salt pulls moisture and the rub turns a nice red mahogany. The meat was still around 38°F going on, which is exactly what we want for more time in the smoke.
The Fire
In the Komodo Kamado 38, I had some lump left from a previous cook. I cleared a path to the bottom, dropped in a couple of oak chunks, and topped it up with Bear Mountain lump. I lit a spot about the size of a baseball with my GrillBlazer GrillGun (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%) for about 30 seconds, then set a big chunk of oak right where I lit it.
The goal is to bring it up to temp slowly, so we get a lot of smoke early while the pork is cold.
Start-up vents: top open one turn, bottom about an eighth of the half-moon
Running: I dialed the top back to about a quarter turn, and it settled right at 225°F
Within 5 minutes the white, billowing smoke had settled into a steady heavy smoke. A few minutes later, the pork went on the indirect side.
The Cook
I put the probe from my Typhur Sync Gold Dual (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%) into the butt and set the target at 200°F, but only as a guide. There are no hard rules on the finish temp. The only way to know it's done is to probe it with an instant read like the Typhur InstaProbe until there's no resistance anywhere. Otherwise the outside is tender and the middle isn't, and you don't find out until you're pulling it.
About 5 hours: great dark mahogany color, fat cap rendering nicely
6 hours 54 minutes: 170°F internal
Wrap at 178°F: tight in heavy-duty foil, no liquid added. Most people say you can wrap after 165°F, but I like to push it a little further for more smoke flavor.
After the wrap: I let it run at about 275°F to speed things up
Pulled at 204°F, once it probed tender everywhere
Total cook time: 8 hours 54 minutes. If I'd stayed at 225°F the whole way, it would have been closer to 10 to 10½ hours.
The Overnight Hold
I rested it on the counter for about 30 minutes first to slow the carryover cooking. If you go straight into the oven, it's not the end of the world, but pork can get that 3-2-1 rib effect and turn a little mushy. Pulled pork should still have some texture.
Then it went into my oven at 160°F, still wrapped, for about 16 hours. Save the liquid gold that collects in the foil.
Taste Test
This thing was tender without a doubt. I pulled out a whole piece and it was ridiculously juicy. There's a beautiful smoke ring, the fat rendered down to that nice brown color, and there's a ton of smoke flavor.
That, my friends, is why they say low and slow is king. It's night and day compared to the hot and fast pork. It only took about 3 more hours to cook, but at a low temperature the fat renders slowly and spreads through the meat instead of leaking out. Add the overnight rest and it's magic. Even after sitting out exposed, it stayed moist. By that point, the hot and fast batch was already drying out.
Final Thoughts
Overnight rests work beautifully on brisket, and that's why everyone in Texas is doing it. When I started doing overnight brisket rests, it was a game-changer. I don't do overnight pork butts very often, but this cook will convince me to do it more.
If you've got the time, give the overnight rest a shot and forget about hot and fast. Great barbecue takes some time.
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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