First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

All Meats Including BEEF, PORK, LAMB & GAME
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Burnt offerings
Posts: 66
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 4:26 pm
Location: Currans Hill NSW

First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Burnt offerings »

I decided to have a go at pulled pork!

After reading others pulled pork adventures (Shayne made it look easy!), plus a question to Chris (Urban Griller).
This weekend was when I had the time, so here it goes!

I hope this will help those who own a ProQ Excel 20 when they decide to give pulled pork a go!

I purchased a 1.9kg pork scotch fillet (neck) yesterday morning, made a rub, wrapped it in cling wrap and into the fridge.

Here it is with the rub applied, then 12 hours in the fridge. I didn't inject it, I want to to see how it tastes without anything added.

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I filled the basket of the proQ with a mix of Heatbeads and lump charcoal, with some hickory chunks through it and some apple chunks as well. Then lit a full chimney with a mix of Heatbeads and lump and put it on a gas burner at 11.00 last night.
The same time I had 5 litres of water on a burner to have it at (or near) boiling the same time as the chimney was ready.

When the chimney was ready, it was dumped into the smoker, then I assembled the smoker without the water pan to preheat it (about 10 min or so).
After the temp gauge reached 350°F I quickly pulled the top section off, in went the water pan, then filled with the boiling (just off the boil) water. Then the top section was replaced, with the digital temp gauge (Maverick ET-732).

When the temp was steady at 226°F. The pork went in at 12.00 midnight.
I had tied the pork to keep it in a reasonable round shape and added more rub before it went in.

At 2.30am I woke, for some reason, so I added more water to the pan. The pork temp was at about 130°F, the smoker was at 220°F, so I stirred the fire a little and added some more lump and Heatbeads (just to be sure).
I woke again at 4.30am, the Maverick receiver was showing the pork at 163°F and smoker temp at 227°F.

This morning I woke at 7.00am, the pork was at 169°F and the smoker at 223°F and it looked like this.

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A slightly closer look through the smoke and steam.

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At this time the pork was in its stall, by 8.20am the temp of the pork had dropped to 163°F, at about 8.45am, it started to rise again.

At 10.00am it seemed to sit on 176°F for about an hour or so. At 11.00am I sprayed some apple juice on it.

Here it is at the 12 hour mark at 181°F, so It might be at or about the 200~205°F mark by 5-6.00 pm tonight.

Image

I'll post more photos as the cook progresses.

Warren
Last edited by Burnt offerings on Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GMG Daniel Boon WiFi, Weber OTG, ProQ Excel 20, small generic kettle, other BBQ stuff.
I like BBQ stuff!
2014 Commonwealth Games Gold medal winner!
World shooting Champion.
5 time Olympian.
Burnt offerings
Posts: 66
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 4:26 pm
Location: Currans Hill NSW

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Burnt offerings »

A little more on my pulled pork adventure..

It's now 14 hours into the cook, the pork is at 189°F, The ProQ is sitting on 229°F at the moment.

The pork sat on 181°F for 50 minutes or so, then started to rise again at 1.30pm.

Image

So far so good, I'm aiming for a final temperature of 203~205°F when I pull it off.

Warren
GMG Daniel Boon WiFi, Weber OTG, ProQ Excel 20, small generic kettle, other BBQ stuff.
I like BBQ stuff!
2014 Commonwealth Games Gold medal winner!
World shooting Champion.
5 time Olympian.
Nath
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Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Perth WA

First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Nath »

Looking goooood!


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Nath
Burnt offerings
Posts: 66
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 4:26 pm
Location: Currans Hill NSW

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Burnt offerings »

It's finished!

Total cooking time was 17 hours at a final temperature of 200°F.

I sprayed it several times with a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar.

Here are the last photos of the cook.

The pork, just out of the smoker just about to get wrapped in foil.

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Having the first look inside.

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Pulled!

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On some bread rolls.

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We had it on Bread rolls, just by itself, with Carolina red sauce as well as with coleslaw, to say the least, I'm full!

My wife and I agreed, the rolls with just the pork without anything else on were our favourite way to have it.
We could just taste the bitterness of the vinegar in the bark, which made the plain rolls stand out for us.

It was juicy, very tender and the flavour was worth the long cooking time.
My wife said I will have to do this again! I will.

After pulling the pork from the smoker, I wrapped it foil and then in a couple of towels, then popped into an esky for about 2 hours (had to wait for my wife to come home from work).
So, the timing was just about spot on!
She was happy to help shred the pork and of course taste it as we were shredding it! (we could have shredded it finer, but hey, it was melt in your mouth tender anyway)

Overall, it was a very easy cook, all I had to do was check the smoker temp and make the odd adjustment to the bottom dampeners every now and then.

The ProQ Excel 20 performed well, the temperature stayed in the 220 to 230°F mark.
I topped up the water pan several times as well as added a handful of charcoal lump every now and then as well.

Next time I do a pulled pork, I might inject it with something (at the moment, I'm thinking using Coca Cola for an injection).

All in all, it was worth the long cooking time and very easy to do.
Anyone thinking of trying this, just do it, all you need is a lump of pork, time and your favourite BBQ of choice.
You don't need a smoker, Shayne did all of his in a Weber kettle and they all looked great.

I don't know why I took so long to try a pulled pork!
It was fun, especially eating the end result!

Warren
Last edited by Burnt offerings on Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
GMG Daniel Boon WiFi, Weber OTG, ProQ Excel 20, small generic kettle, other BBQ stuff.
I like BBQ stuff!
2014 Commonwealth Games Gold medal winner!
World shooting Champion.
5 time Olympian.
titch
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Location: Sth East Melbourne

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by titch »

Great post mate
Cheers
Titch
gnol
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Location: Werribee

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by gnol »

Must say man.
That is some wicked looking bark and a great looking cook.
I usually foil mine about 8 hours into the cook and the bark is softer and not as dark.
I have a couple of pieces about this size in the freezer so I may try a cook without foiling it.
Flippo
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Flippo »

Onya Warren, looks great buddy. It's inspired me to run one up this week, haven't done good old pulled pork for a while.
shayneh2006
Posts: 1914
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 5:34 pm
Location: Western Sydney

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by shayneh2006 »

Yep, great post with a fantastic end result.

Nice work indeed :P .


Shayne.
Image

Don't argue with idiots.. They'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
Kizza
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Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:11 am

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Kizza »

Good ona mate, great post. Exactly the detail I needed to read as I am awaiting delivery of my proq. really given me itchy feet!
Kizza
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Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:11 am

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Kizza »

Sounds like holding the temp wasn't too much trouble for you. Did you have any particular method with the charcoal?
StoneX
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Location: Mornington Peninsula

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by StoneX »

Very informative post!

I've been doing this on my Pro Q Frontier for a year and a half now.

I'll just add a few of things I've learnt over that time using a Pro Q.
- The water temp isn't that important at the start... Hot water from the tap seems to be fine, then let the smoker get to temp before adding the meat. I learnt that after my first cook worrying about adding boiling water.
- With a scotch they seem to work out great even down to 190F. I've had scotch seem dry at 195F. I think 200F+ is more important for bone-in shoulders.
- Stirring burnt coals/charcoal ended up with ash on my meat :(
urbangriller
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Location: Perth WA

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by urbangriller »

Good effort Warren!

Near text book cook! Like StoneX says, it's sometimes a tricky bugger, finish temp depends on the amount of fat and collagen you start with.

As an aside: Gold in the 50m rifle is a good effort, and a Games record high score to boot! I'll be having a beer for you this Aust Day!

Cheers
Chris
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
Mark80
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Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:44 pm

Re: First pulled pork in the ProQ Excel 20

Post by Mark80 »

Just fired up my ProQ Excel this morning for my pork shoulder and thought I'd check the forums while waiting for the temp to rise.
I was going for an 8-9hr cook but think I'll leave it a bit longer based off your pictures, that bark looks good mixed through.
Only using oil & honey to moisten it then fresh ground salt & pepper rubbed in with hickory wood chunks on Emberpaks coconut shell briquettes. The next one I'll try a rub but want to try it with as few spices as possible for a base line this time. Will be spritzing it with apple juice & apple cider vinegar throughout.
Hopefully it comes out as good as yours looks.
Mark
ProQ Excel
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