Why doesn't my pulled pork taste like the Pros/Restaurants?

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I admittedly didn't read all the responses, so I apologize if this advice has already been given.

The answer, in my humble opinion, is pretty simple.

Add Salt and or vinegar.

You're dealing with a large orb of meat which has has a surface to mass ratio of like zero. The only place for seasoning is on that severely lacking surface area. Every pit guy I've ever seen shredding or chopping meat in a restaurant down south does one of two things. He either sprinkles on a bunch of heavily salted vinegar or just dumps on a whole bunch of salt. Like hand fulls of the stuff.

Thing is. pulled pork has a lot of fat and gelatin. That's what gives it it's signature velvety mouth feel. The downside is that this fat and gelatin also gets between your taste buds and the stuff they're trying to taste, dulling the flavor. Salt basically turns up the sensitivity of your taste buds so you can taste the food better. Things like vinegar and other pungent flavors do a variation of the same thing, though they do it in a different way, basically by turning on the sprinkler system in your mouth and washing away enough of the coating on your taste buds to let the flavor through. Your saliva also contains enzymes which rapidly break down food,  adding to the illusion that citrus or vinegar marinades and sauces actually tenderize food. They do to a certain extent, but it takes a LONG time.

Soooo, add some vinegar and salt (finishing sauce) to your next butt as you're pulling it. You may find that solves the problem and your pulled pork tastes more smokey and savory. If it's still not quite smokey enough, just add more wood.
 
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l roasted a few butts over the winter and came up with this, to cold to fire the smoker. This gives great flavor to the pulled pork...JJ

POP Sauce

2C Cola

1/2C Apple Cider Vinegar

2T Rub, whatever's on the meat.

1T Mustard

1T Molasses

1T Colgin Hickory Liquid Smoke (optional)

Add all to a pot and bring to a simmer, for 5 minutes. 

For Finishing Sauce, keep warm and add to meat.

For Marinade, cool for 30 minutes the refrigerate until cold.

Marinate meat overnight.

For Glaze, reduce over low heat until syrupy. Brush over grilling meat and caramelize.

Enough for one average butt.
 
Some excellent advice given here by some experienced folks! I will add my couple of pennies. Pork itself has a rather neutral flavor. You have to build flavor layers. I have never injected a piece of meat in my life for a variety of reasons I won't get into now. When I do pork butts I don't waste a lot of rub on the raw pork butt before it goes on the smoker. Not much is going to be left of it after a long cook and the fat melting off taking the rub with it. I dust it just enough to give it color and to form a bit of a paste after it sets up for a hour or so.

I do spritz however and you can control the bark through spritzing depending on the spritz ingredient's. High sugar content means a lot of crispy caramelized bark which adds a level of flavor.

Mine is usually apple juice and cherry schnapps. I try not to over spritz maybe once every hour or 90 minutes.

Now when my pork butts are approaching the 160 internal temp mark I will pan them. I don't cover them just pan them. I add about a half bottle of dark beer to the bottom of the pan. All the juices from the pork butt will mingle with the beer and keep your butt nice and moist. This step adds a big flavor profile. Depending how hot you are running your smoker you may need to add more beer as you go but I rarely have to do this.

When they hit 205 or so they come off. Now I will cover them with foil and put them in my Cambro food keeper usually overnight. I pull the pans out the next day and they are still quite warm.

The pork just melts there is not much pulling involved. There is sometimes a half inch or more of beer and juices in the bottom of the pan. I will pick through the pork removing any unappetizing looking pieces. When done I just mix the pork around in the pan and it will reabsorb all those juices. As a finishing touch I will add more rub.

I can't say it's restaurant good because I usually don't order things I make myself all the time in a restaurant I order dishes I don't usually make like pasta or fish dishes.
 
For what it's worth, I use the juice of the pork to 'add back' flavor.. Somewhat similar to 3montes above

Process:
1) I rub it at least 12 hrs before smoking and let it sit in the fridge overnight... Then, I use an apple juice/captain Morgan's about 4:1) mixture to spray occasionally to keep the bark from drying out too much

2) smoke at 225-250 until stall (usually 165 IT)

3) wrap it tight in a pan with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of that liquid mixture and put it back on the smoker to get it to 185 or 190 (same smoker temp.. Usually an hour or 2 depending on size)

4) carefully take it out of the pan and put it back on the grate to finish the smoke to 200 IT, but no more spraying... Basically 'smoking away' the extra moisture in the skin to bring the bark back a bit.

5) pour the liquid from the pan (usually 2x or more starting volume and 1/4 liquified fat the will separate) into a gravy separator to get rid of the fat and save the juice to add back to the finished pulled product later.

One thing to keep in mind, you need to make sure the smoker doesn't get too hot when it's wrapped because if it does, the juice dries out too and you end up with burnt crust in the pan.

I am sure there many other ways, but this has worked well for me.
 
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I save all the drippings I can if not doing beans under the meat.
Then add them back into the pulled meat, I also take pieces of bark and fat and mix them together really well and mix that into the meat.
I've not yet used a finishing sauce, but it is on my list to try with my next Butt or Shoulder.
Some great sounding finishing sauce recipes around here.
 
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