Reheated pulled pork not wowing me…

[bgaviator]

Just out of curiosity what did you smoke it on? And time/temp and I saw you said mulberry wood but was it chunks, chips or pellets?

Kamado Joe. Chunks. 275° for 8.5 hours

 

[tomhooper]

I normally set it to around 150 or so. Have actually just not gotten out the sous vide and dropped in in a pan of water that I'd brought to a boil and let start cooling down.

 

[LoydB]

I generally reheat at 145-150 F.

 

[zwiller]

I find my PP is actually better reheated. Lots of folk agree. What made me a believer was making 50lb PP for daughters grad party over a few months. Mulberry being fruit is on the light side of things for me. I tried pretty much all wood flavors and a few blends on the grad party PP smoke and by process of elimination I tried oak and life was never the same.

Vac seal and sous vide. This is the way.

LOL Agree.

This was an overnight cook while I was sleeping so I didn’t want to have to get up to wrap. Bark is hard to achieve on the Kamado Joe so that’s another reason I didn’t wrap. Would it be good to sit the pork on a rack above a pan and just not wrap? Basically use the pan to catch drippings to be added back later?

To improve bark, do a pellicle. Overnight uncovered rest or throw a small fan on it 30m. Aim for dry to touch. I used to do overnight but no longer. Here's my take on PP:

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/butt-halved-success.298552/

 

[thirdeye]

Is it pretty common to lose some of the smoke flavor on the reheat for pulled pork?

The smoke flavor does not really penetrate large meat cuts very deep, so you have to careful when breaking down a shoulder butt to include some surface bark and near-surface meat with your plugs, chunks, slices etc. If you shred it too fine, you can loose control of the surface flavors.
If you are specifically planning to save some meat for leftovers, keep half of the butt intact, chill it, then vac seal it in larger pieces. These portions were partially frozen before vac sealing. And even though they appear to be slices... once reheated they are still fall-apart tender.

I sliced this chilled shoulder butt from top to bottom just like pork steaks are sliced.

One trick I use for getting more smoky flavor into the center of shoulder butts is smoking some pork neck bones, then using them to make the broth that I use for my injection. The neck bone meat is so thin, it has a wonderful smoky flavor, and the broth is very rich.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Most all my leftovers get vac sealed and tossed in my 10cu' deep freezer. It's super easy tossing in proportioned pulled pork, brisket, chili, ect. I even vac seal sauces for later use.

You can take frozen vac sealed right of the freezer and into hot water to heat it up.

Warren

 

[bgaviator]

Tonight we made nachos and I reheated in the small sauce pan with a lid and some splashes of apple juice. I also pumped up the flavor by shaking on some more Meat Church Honey Hog and Texas Sugar rub. It was really good and moist. I am starting to think the weak smoke flavor may just be from the mulberry wood. The mulberry was great for ribs and chicken. But shoulder I think I needed something stronger. Back to my hickory/cherry blend or pecan I think.

 

[bgaviator]

I’m starting to think the lack of smoke flavor might be more to do with using milder mulberry wood in this cook. A lot of people suggest vac seal and Sous vide is the best way to reheat the pulled pork. And I can certainly see that being the case for pork that you’ve sealed and froze for later. But for the immediate week’s dinner I am kind of liking the method I’ve been doing of heating it on low in a saucepan with a lid. Because this way I can rehydrate it to the level I want and I can control additional seasonings.

 

[bill1]

Next day seems smokier. I attribute that to having desensitized my olfactory nerves during cooking. But after a week I agree smoke flavor gets lost. I think a lot of our “flavor” is smell not just taste and I think it just gets lost to the container, fridge, kitchen etc. Pulling it all at once just exposes more surface area to the “airing out” process. I cheat and add liquid smoke to my acv and spritz before reheating. Or just eat it up quicker!

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Absolutely

I just smoked a Boston Butt for the 4th on my Smokin-It model 2. For whatever reason, it's the first time my drip pan had a good quantity of juice (very little fat) in it when I wrapped the butt at 169 degrees.

I let the meat rest for about 4 hours wrapped before serving and it was very good. Then I took the leftovers and incorporated all the juice back into them and sealed them up in several bags for individual meals. I just reheated a bag in hot water for lunch and made a sandwich out of it. It was excellent, with good smokey flavor from the re-incorporated juice.

Now, if I could only figure out how to get a good quantity of juice next time I make one...

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I normally set it to around 150 or so. Have actually just not gotten out the sous vide and dropped in in a pan of water that I'd brought to a boil and let start cooling down.

This is what I do when re-heating. The meat is already cooked, and all you have to do is warm it up, no need for precise heat control. But sealing the meat up is critical. Otherwise I find the meat quickly develops "off" flavors.

 

[jcam222]

I just smoked a Boston Butt for the 4th on my Smokin-It model 2. For whatever reason, it's the first time my drip pan had a good quantity of juice (very little fat) in it when I wrapped the butt at 169 degrees.

I let the meat rest for about 4 hours wrapped before serving and it was very good. Then I took the leftovers and incorporated all the juice back into them and sealed them up in several bags for individual meals. I just reheated a bag in hot water for lunch and made a sandwich out of it. It was excellent, with good smokey flavor from the re-incorporated juice.

Now, if I could only figure out how to get a good quantity of juice next time I make one...

Supplement it with a little chicken stock in the pan. It will mix with the pork juice and rub for perfect smokey goodness. Minors also makes a pork concentrate I've used. It's just rarely in stock and chicken works great.

 

[gmc2003]

Now, if I could only figure out how to get a good quantity of juice next time I make one...

Keep a small amount of liquid in the pan so the drippings don't evaporate. It doesn't have to be much just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. I use apple juice, broth, or water.

Chris

 

[thirdeye]

Then I took the leftovers and incorporated all the juice back into them and sealed them up in several bags for individual meals.

A few years ago, I kept an ongoing poll of various liquids for reheating barbecue. Here is the list of pork liquids in order of popularity.

PULLED PORK
Apple juice + cooking juice (which refers to foil juice)
Apple juice + chicken broth
Coca-Cola
Apple juice + cooking juice + cider vinegar
Coca-Cola + pork broth
Coca-Cola + ham stock
Coca-Cola + chicken broth
Coca Cola + BBQ sauce
Apple juice
Apple juice + cider vinegar
Dr. Pepper + cooking juice
RC Cola + sauce
Cider vinegar + water
Vinegar + water (or apple cider)
Fruit nectar
Pineapple juice + sauce
Sprite

 

[whatchacookin]

I can't speak for everybody, but one possibility is that your taste buds, and your smeller are used to the smoke flavor the day after, and your less inclined to pick up on it. It happens to me. If I eat something I've smoked and eaten the same day, and then ate leftovers the next day, I don't seem to pick up as much smoke flavor. If I seal it up, and wait a few days and then eat it, I pick up the smoke flavor again.

Agreed. I wait a couple days, reheat in a dish in the oven at 195 give or take 40 minutes, add a little water to hydrate and it’s great. I also do the same for brisket. microwave is out of the question. the smoke flavor is definitely there.

 

[chef k-dude]

"microwave is out of the question"

Not for me. I seal in BPA free plastic, thaw on the counter (yes, the FDA and the paranoid will advise against that, but I've never made us sick) and nuke for 30-60 seconds or until its hot to the touch (8 oz portions), then let it sit in the vac bag a couple minutes to distribute the heat...and done. Retains 100% moisture.

But moisture was not the original topic here. I never have that problem because I use a finishing sauce to taste before eating and vac sealing (It does not contain apple juice). I have no desire to compete, just make "my" best Q.

Only downside to reheating is softening bark, but I, like someone else mentioned think my PP is actually better after freezing and reheating. As with many meats, I believe the bursting of cell walls from freezing tenderizes the meat (Secretly, many sushi places do this, even the Japanese). If there was smoke flavor in the first place and you mixed the pull well, there shouldn't be any smoke taste loss except that sensory loss from smoking day where you are "living in the smoke". Everything is smoky on smokin' day!

Using the mild wood smoke is the culprit here in my opinion, but there IS such a thing as too much smoke. I know that might be sacrilegious here, but its an opinion. My wife prefers just a touch of smoke while I can literally smoke while smoking. We gave a local Q place another shot (It's hard when your own meat is better than the "pro's") the other day and I had their wings. If any of their 6 sauces didn't suck, the wings could have had flavor other than smoke...they clearly didn't use any seasonings before the smoke, otherwise the cook was good. I burped smoke the rest of the night...thats too much smoke.

I haven't made PP in 2 years. Got tired of it somehow. Crazy, I know. Haven't gotten tired of my pastrami yet though!