Pulled Pork Faux Pas

As promised, here’s the first in our Beginner BBQ Miniseries.  Colonel Tom meant to prep this BBQ Pork on his Weber Kettle, but lack of took him inside.  Let’s see how this went down…

Beginner BBQ MiniSeries Episode 1

Last Memorial day I had a 4-Lb Boston Butt waiting in the fridge for me to magically convert into a mountain of pulled pork.  However, like a moron I forgot how long it was going to take. At 1200 Hrs Zulu I suddenly realized I was too short on time to use the Weber.

PANIC !

A quick Google search showed me a ton of inside oven recipes for making pulled pork.

Inside Oven? Should I commit sacrilege?

Seeing that it looked like rain and the weather report gave me a 30% chance of being dry I’ whimped out. I mean really, it’s not like anyone was going to ever find out. Right? I’ll take this secret to the grave.

Here’s the play by play of my inside oven BBQ Pork journey…

It’s still going to take nine (9) hours but at least I can get started two hours sooner than I would be able to if I used the Weber. Good ol’ Weber. Beautiful Weber.

So, ok. I need a half an onion, sliced, a cup of ketchup, wait a sec. I don’t have any ketchup. I do have two half bottle of BBQ sauce. Yup, there they are.

Now where was that recipe? I can’t find it.

Resort to training: Improvise.

Needing two bottle of beer to flush out the sauce, I pour it all on top of the Boston Butt roast which I’ve already browned in a little bacon fat in my 5-Qt Dutch oven.

It looks like the pork is ready to float. That’s a lot of liquid but I recon most of it should evaporate. I put the lid on and slide it into the oven.

Oh boy! How hot should I set this thing for?

It has to go nine hours and I don’t want to boil it dry.

Hmmmm! On the Weber I would go for an internal temp of 190 degrees so why not set the oven for 200 degrees.

Nine hours should be plenty of time to cook it through, Right?

Right !

It’s now been six hours and I’m checking the Butt, just for safety.

What the Wazzo?

It looks just like when I put it in.

I’m cranking up the heat to 300.

Seven hours. I smell the onions cooking and I’m out of beer.

Liquid is still half way to the top.

I accept the challenge and I raise temp to 375.

Eight hours. I can smell the pork starting to cook but still very, very raw. The Onion smells caramelized.

Nine hours and I’m doing a visual check.

Now I’m confused. It looks done. The top has bark on it like I get on the Weber.

A flick of the knife shows that the color is correct all the way through and is indeed ready to shred.

The bone is falling cleanly off the meat.

Oven off, I let it sit in the Dutch oven to rest and do a back draw with some of the fluids it sweated off.

Nine and a half hours from first contact with browning heat and the little Butt is fast becoming a pile of shredded pork. I’m using a wavy blade bread knife and a meat fork but it’s taking very little work to pull this piggy meat apart.

A little sample tells me that although it is edible it isn’t the same as being done on the Weber.

Mostly it taste like beer.

I’ll serve my guests a glass of burgundy and bring out the pork with the sauce already mixed in.

If you must cheat, go all the way.

I swear, I’ll never do pulled pork that way again. Nothin’ ever beats smokin’ on the Weber.

Lessons learned:

1) Always pull your stuff together the night before.

2) Ask you wife to remind you what you’re doing when you wake up. No wife? Ask a lady friend to come over early to lend you a hand. No, really! That’ll work, won’t it?

3) No matter how good Dutch oven cooking is, some things were just meant for smokin’ and there’s just no substitute for doing it right.

Colonel Tom

Comment Using Facebook

"Subscribe to this Blog"

Receive an update straight to your inbox every time I publish a new article. Your email address will never be shared