From there, it was smoking. Pulled Pork…a 20 hour marathon cook at a ridiculously low temperature that could be sustained through the night ! Pulled Pork needed to be researched. “Time and temperature ?” “Cut of meat ?” What exactly was a “Boston Butt” called in the UK ? Butchers weren’t automatically educated in this language. Pictures were downloaded, discussion groups consulted. This type of knowledge was rarely needed with gas grills…
(It would only be later that I would discover that pulled pork is a lot more forgiving as to the specifics of the cut of meat. As it is, a “picnic joint” – more widespread in the UK – would have been OK !)
I still have the resources I used to direct me for that first Pulled Pork “smoke”. On going through some old (paper !) files, I discovered a couple of website printouts (much like this Blog, I expect, only with useful information !), which I had thoughtfully stapled together into booklets (bless !) and put in a folder labeled “BBQ” along with directions on how to butcher a pork shoulder…on the assumption that “here was the definitive instruction manual for pulled pork” (bless, again !). Little did I realise how controversial I would discover this topic to be in the coming years…
I should point out how indebted I am to those first websites (which I think we’re old and wise way before I stumbled upon them). Click above for a link to that site.
Anyway, a shot of that first “smoke” is deserved…and it only served to spur me on to develop this interest into a real obsessive hobby-habit.
“Low and slow” NEVER lift that lid ! Crutches, wrapping… And the introduction of two early “gadgets” – a baby-monitor style temperature probe (wireless of course) and a “rack” for the meat.
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