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DanMcG wrote:I'm confused.....the weekend is almost over and I still don't have a clue what you all are talking about.....

I need to get on my work laptop to download from my iPhone ... but believe me the clues are all there

I have twelve hours to go before the weekend is over but hope to be back from work in three

The roll up to the weekend was like any other but with one exception the sun was shining and we had a visitor in town. It had been a year since I have seen my good friend even though we have kept in touch it’s great to have him back for how long is now the thing.

The week started half gone due to having a holiday weekend which always puts a crunch on things, customers wanting things as soon as they can; if not sooner. I just have to keep on reminding some that as yet I have not learned on how to walk on water and things of quality take some time.

I had to have an order in so I could complete a special order in for four or six shoulders totaling a 100lbs and as things go there was a short time as the pork was needed for the weekend (Friday) and the day was already Tuesday which in fact did not leave me a whole lot of time to have the pork in as only one day grace

Thursday was an exceptionally long day in before eight getting ready for him to show up so that we could spend the day together There was discussions on whys and wherefores and getting up to speed on things before finally getting down to breaking down sides of pork to get the aforementioned shoulders of pork ready

I did three and he did one, for a first attempt it was clean and good (reminder for the next little while to jack the table up as it is set for a short fry ~~ me!) for the first time. Knife skills good; saw ~~~ needs a tad work but then it seems that all of us it was work in progress at the beginning.

Friday came and the four pork shoulders took a journey of their life to join up with the Master, due to time constraints with him running late (not his fault) and me with still 100lbs+ bacon to slice for an order I had to leave before meeting up with him and head back into work with the idea of coming out later to help babysit the meat while cooking and also lend moral support (heck I’m the apprentice this time) As (bad) luck would have it it took me longer than planed and with clean up I was not out of my place until well after twelve midnight and by time I would have taken the drive out it would have been close to two in the morning.

I did make it out by mid morning and spent the rest of the day assisting where ever needed

The only thing that I have regrets is that I was not there from the very start; but maybe later.

I said a year ago that I do not eat ribs; why chew on bones when there is a decent steak to chow down on. As you all know I got converted.

Over the last year I have had my fill (that’s an understatement) of pulled pork on a bun. The biggest problem is that my hopes (and expectations?) have been high ~~ how hard can it be to do pulled pork?? I have spent anywhere from $7 to $13 and each time I take a mouth full but end up tossing it into the trash. Way too dry (like eating sawdust) and taste like sh*te. So with this in mind I was looking forward to what vagreys could bring to the table


The following is a sample of what I have fallen in love with, sorry to say there are not too many photos as I was busy stuffing my face as well as giving help where ever needed.

Thank you vagreys for a wonderful day and and most of all for the most enjoyable pulled pork I have eaten.


Cooking on the smoker




The other side of the smoker



This one was pulled just before I got out there




The smoker




My first sample of a decent pulled pork



vagreys starting to pull the pork



Rough chopping the pulled pork

For those of you who are interested, some friends of mine asked me to cook pork for 180 folks as a provided meat for the potluck. They had rented a Traeger XL wood-pellet fired smoker/grill. The shoulders were 22-24 lbs, each, and I cooked them low and slow for 18-20 hrs at 225°F over pecan wood pellets. For many of the folks from here in the Vancouver area, my kind of pulled pork was a new experience. I served a Catalan mustard, a Lombard Mustard, and an (old-style) Eastern North Carolina barbecue sauceto go with.

This was my first experience with a Traeger rig, and it was interesting. One of the two burner units quit working at some point, which I did not realize until checking the temp on the shoulders, late in the game, and finding that the right two shoulders were nearly 40°F cooler than the two shoulders on the left side of the smoker. Afterwards, there was this huge mound of unburned pellets over and around the right burner unit! I compensated for that problem and the shoulders still came out pretty good. I was cooking in a park where there were a pair of resident bears and at least one transient mountain lion. The idea of cooking 100 lbs of tasty pork in active bear country (I'd seen fresh scat at the site within the prior week) was a bit nervous making, especially in the dark with everyone else asleep at about 4am...

There was a little extra barbecue left, which will be chopped a little finer and, with coleslaw and some Memphis-style sauce for pork shoulder, will turn into classic barbecue sandwiches.

It looks perfect to me and I'm glad you had Eastern North Carolina sauce for the meat. I have also gotten my share of dry, over-cooked pulled pork, so I'm glad BriCan finally got some cooked right. Good job vagreys!

He's a right tease isn't he...

Hmmm Pulled Pork..., how can you not love it



And the money shot