Pulled Pork on the Weber Summit Kamado

 Pulled pork is easy. 

Smoking on the Weber Summit Kamado is easy. 

So with this setup it's very difficult to mess up!

I will show you the method I used for this cook, but I often change up my method. The single most import factor for any smoked meat, including pulled pork, is Time and Temp. Make sure you cook it for long enough and get it hot enough to pull apart easily. This will can take anywhere from 5-12 hours depending on the temperatures and method you use. (If you think it's "done" after three hours, its probably not, it definitely needs more time to break down.)

 I started with a Boneless Pork "Boston Butt" Shoulder from Costco. They are cheap, uniform, and readily available. You can also use a bone-in pork shoulder. You can also use the Picnic cut, which is the lower part of the whole shoulder, or the "pork neck" cut, which is sort of a half Boston Butt popular in Europe.

 I like to score the fat. This ensures a crispier final product and lets more seasoning and binder and smoke and flavor down into the meat. This isn't necessary, especially for Pulled Pork, but I like to do it. I find I have more bit of tasty bark in the final product if I do this.

I generally use a Binder and Rub. Binders are "controversial" right now in that many people say you don't need them, and they're right that you don't need them, but the Binder allows you to add another layer of flavor, and also allows more seasoning to stick to the meat. I like to pick a Binder that complements the flavor profile I am using. Yellow Mustard is "standard" but the subtle tumeric hints don't really stand out against a typical aggressive seasoning, and the dominant vinegar notes are lost and sweated away during the cook. So like to use Hot Sauce if I'm going for a Spicy Rub, a sweet BBQ Sauce if I 'm going for a Sweet Rub, and Spicy Brown Mustard if I'm going for classic Barbecue Flavors.

This Pork seasoning I picked up has a lot of brown sugar and sweeter notes, so I used Sweet Baby Rays, the sweetest BBQ sauce I can think of, as my binder. (Later on we will balance this sweetness with a more aggressive smoke.) 
 

 One benefit of the boneless Pork Butt from Costco is you can fold it open and get seasoning inside this. Always do this when you have the opportunity. I dry brined this, meaning I left it in the fridge uncovered overnight. This helps draw more flavor in. When used without a binder, this can also dry it out and reduce your cook time. With a binder, your cook time will probably remain the same.

 

One reason I like the Weber Summit Kamado is that I can fit whole logs or wood splits into the base. This allows for an aggressive smoke profile. What you see here is a Mesquite Log, my personal favorite wood.

 

Simply place in the log in the Summit and cover it with coals.

 I am using Kingsford Professional Briquettes from Costco because they're what I have. I also like to use Natural Lump, which for most brands produces a subtle campfire flavor. Extruded Charcoal is good also; it produces no flavors at all and lasts especially long. 

I am using the Baskets from Slow and Sear. They replaced by aging, rusted, warping Weber Charcoal Baskets. They are much thicker, made of durable 304 Stainless Steel (instead of Chromed Stainless Steel), and a little bit taller. But they still fit in the base. They do NOT fit on the "second rack" under the grill grate since they are designed for the Weber Kettle, but they do work for me here.

I am using them as "void space" for a full 16-20+ hour Brisket cook I either would not use them at all, or I would use them filled with coals. But here I am using them to keep the coals and the log together for what I assume will be a shorter 5-10 hour cook.

 Not pictured is me placing a firestarter under some of the coals and lighting them directly. No chimney today! I want a lower, slower fire. Instead of my usual 275F-325F which I usually do for pork, I am doing a lower 225F because I don't want the brown suger in my rub to burn. In retrospect I absolutely could have done 250F-275F just fine, and it probably would have worked better. Sometimes you can go too low and dry the meat out without cooking it fast enough, like a food dehydrator.

 We put the deflector on, put a drip pan on, and put the pork on. I like to use a water bath with every cook, so I filled it with water. I find it helps maintain even temps. Part of the pork flap is falling off to the side; a balled up piece of foil will keep it next to the full butt for even cooking.

 Now comes the easy part. We keep the top and bottom vents cracked and we just let it ride at temp the whole way. I was aiming for 225F the whole time and that's essentially what I got. It may have spiked to 250F or as low as 200F but pork can take the variation. Again, in retrospect, I should have aimed for a little bit hotter, in which case I'd have cracked the vents a little bit more open, but the grill held the temperature I wanted at the time, for pretty much the entire time.

 A few hours in and everything is looking fantastic. Despite my best efforts, part of the seasoning is darkening faster than I'd like, but there's nothing I could have done to prevent that except use a different seasoning.

 Later on I added some wings, as an appetizer for dinner. I'll do a post on those later. At this point I really should have wrapped the pork since the bark was set. But, I chose not to, and the pork still turned out fantastic. 

Both are coming along nicely.

 Under a 275F fire my pork would eventually have hit 205F-206F and been ready to pull off. But at the <225F heat I was going, it was done at around 190F. The trick is to go by feel. It probed extremely tender, and at 11 hours in I knew any further I'd be drying it out. So I pulled it off and shredded it up. My favorite method for shredding (after seeing it on American's Test Kitchen) is to put it in a blender with additional seasoning, juices from the cook, and a pinch of MSG. This results in every bite of pork having a great, juicy flavor. 

Since I never wrapped, I was unable to preserve the juices (and a TON of fat rendered out) so this pork was slightly dryer than I am used to. It was still delicious, and VERY smokey. Might have been the smokiest pork I've ever made. 

 The Pork is so smokey and meaty that it really needs a sweet sauce to balance it out. I normally don't use Sweet Baby Rays but this smokey Marlborough Pork really benefited from the sweetness it added.

 The next day we look at the fire, and see a good portion of the log is still intact. Probably could have smoked on that for another 3+ hours! The Summit really allows you to smoke for a LONG time if you use a proper setup.

Smoker Tier List

 

 

This tier list of smokers will probably ruffle some feathers.

Charcoal Grill Tier List

•  This is based on Charcoal Grills, only. Although Smoke and indirect functions were taken into account, I am not listing dedicated smokers, like Barrel Smokers, Weber Smokey Mountains, or Offsets.
•  I am including things like, Versatility, Durability, Ease-of-use, and Value.
•  I have not used all of these grills. In fact, I do not believe I have used most of these. This is based off of reviews that I've read, watched, and seen, as well as my own experiences.
• This shouldn't be used as a buying guide. If you want any assistance with picking out a new grill, comment or reach out.  

Were Vintage Grills Better?

 

Short answer: No.

Long answer: 

 I recently purchased the Woodland Brazier.  It markets itself, "FOR THE BEST IN BARBECUING" and features an ADJUSTABLE 3 position GRATE

 

It cost me $30 at an antique store, which I thought was a pretty good deal considering it has obviously never been used and still has the original packaging.

Rest assured, this is a collector's item and I will not use it myself... at least, not without taking extreme care to ensure that the charcoal does not damage the paint job. 

It is VERY basic. One could accomplish the same with with a stainless steel cookie sheet over a campfire. Or a few coals in a Cast Iron Skillet they don't mind ruining the seasoning on. Or a stainless steel pan they don't mind warping.

If you watch videos of how to grill from the 1950s-1960s, the instructions explain that the griller has to constantly baste the meat. Because if they don't, it will burn, being so close to the coals.

Probably the neatest, most "advanced" feature on the Brazier is the 3-position grate system. This allows for cooking over the coals in roughly 1" increments, allowing for close direct heat, medium direct heat, and far direct heat. (I'll be doing a post later on as for why controlling direct heat is important.) But aside from that, the Brazier has almost no features of convenience.

 

There is no charcoal rack, which would allow for better airflow under the charcoal. 

There are no vents, which allows for better airflow into the charcoal and over the food, and ideally out a lid vent.

But this has no lid, which would allow for smoking and indirect cooking. 

I have an $8 clearance grill from Target that has all of these things. 

 It also has a carrying handle, foldable legs, and a sturdier grate. 

The grate on the Woodland Brazier is a single coiled piece of metal spot-welded to a second, bent piece of metal. 

In nearly every respect the $8 Grill Smith [MADE IN CHINA] is a superior grill. 

But there's something about the Woodland Brazier that harkens back to a simpler, happier, more optimistic time. It was made in New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City. Its bright colors show an optimistic post-war mentality. The future was bright and fun. 

From a historical, I find this grill interesting. For literally millions of years, people have been cooking over fire. People have been cooking over fire since before they were people. Pre-human proto-hominids were cooking before Homo Sapiens even evolved. At every point in history, people were cooking over fire, all over the world, in every civilization, daily. Ancient Egyptions, Ancient Romans, Ancient Mesopotamians, Ancient Native Americans, Ancient Chinese, Medieveal Peasants, during the Renaissance, and before the Industrial Revolution, people were cooking over fire everywhere all the time. Grilling and smoking wasn't special, it was just "cooking." It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the gas oven and the electric oven that people forgot how to cook with fire. It wasn't until around 1900 that, suddenly, Grilling and Smoking became primitive and old-fashioned. It wasn't for another 40-50 years that it was then re-discovered as a unique, special outdoor thing practiced by only enthusiasts. And what did these enthusiasts, these consumers, these New York City dwellers do? They had to buy a product to cook over fire, they had to buy a product to do what humans had been doing for nearly a million years. 

And the Woodland Brazier wasn't unique, there are a lot of "grills" that are extremely basic and do little more than hold a grate over some coals. The most advanced ones included a rotisserie. 

But the best grills in the 1950s had lids, vents, and allowed for precise temperature control. Those better products still survive to today, those brands like Weber and PK Grills, mostly unchanged from the original.