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Pulled Pork Good Budget Extender

2.5K views 34 replies 21 participants last post by  dollmaker  
#1 ·
I bought a good sized pork butt several days ago at a good price. My sixteen year old son seasoned it and put it in the crockpot. He put a layer of molasses, few drops of liquid smoke, garlic powder, salt and pepper. When it was done , he drained it, shredded it and mixed BBQ sauce in it. I remember wondering about the molasses...but I didn't want to squelch his creative cooking side :)

He definately takes after his father...it was delicious. Served with beans, onion slices and dill chips. This dish lasted four days. The boys made sandwiches for themselves numerous times through out this period.

I am finding often times pork runs much cheaper than beef. I've never been much of one for pork, except bacon ( and who can afford that anymore?!) :) Including beans and buns, we got several meals and snacks out of this for around seventeen dollars.
 
#2 ·
We've always used pork for the big meals where lots of people had to eat. For the money, it's the best buy out there for the number of servings it provides. I love pork but DH hasn't ever been a great fan and always prefers beef.

Your son's recipe sounds wonderful to me. I love the taste of liquid smoke in almost anything meat or veggie.
 
#3 ·
We've always used pork for the big meals where lots of people had to eat. For the money, it's the best buy out there for the number of servings it provides. I love pork but DH hasn't ever been a great fan and always prefers beef.

Your son's recipe sounds wonderful to me. I love the taste of liquid smoke in almost anything meat or veggie.
I've only recently discovered the joys and versatility of liquid smoke. From now on I'm keeping it on hand :) I hadn't thought about how handy pulled pork would be for large gatherings, thanks for the idea!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I am finding often times pork runs much cheaper than beef.
I see boneless skinless chicken breast on sale in the $1.49 to $1.99 per pound range all the time. Rarely, but sometimes, I even see it for $1.29/lb. I slow cook it to make pulled chicken breast meat. You can use it in the same dishes that pulled pork is used in. I usually make burritos with it. Sometimes I just add BBQ sauce and put it on a bun.
 
#5 ·
I just pulled two pork butts out of the freezer this morning. Around 9 or 10 tonight I will fire up the smoker and let em go for about 16 hrs. Neighbors will come for dinner tomorrow and even sending them home with leftovers I could eat on it for a week. Paid 11.00 a pc for the butts. I pull it and freeze it. Cant beat the cost per meal for sure.
 
#6 ·
I just pulled two pork butts out of the freezer this morning. Around 9 or 10 tonight I will fire up the smoker and let em go for about 16 hrs. Neighbors will come for dinner tomorrow and even sending them home with leftovers I could eat on it for a week. Paid 11.00 a pc for the butts. I pull it and freeze it. Cant beat the cost per meal for sure.
Wish I lived closer! :D
 
#10 ·
Image


Hopefully that works. I went out to check it and it was finished already. Only 10 hrs for this one. The webber smoker held about 235 perfectly the whole time.
Wrapped in foil and then a towel and into the cooler for a couple hours. Looks like an early dinner but the neighbors wont mind :).

The smaller one was 7 lbs the larger 8 lbs. Thats before trimming the fat. Maybe 1/2 a lb of fat on each.
The rub recipe

1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 ½ -2 hr per lb
3 apple and 3 hickory chunks


The sauce recipe

This is a rich, thick, tomato based barbecue sauce recipe often associated these days as Kansas City Style. You get that traditional combination of sweet with a touch of heat in a dark and thick tomato sauce. Adjust the heat by changing the amount of cayenne.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients:
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cayenne (Less for less heat)
Preparation:
Heat oil in a saucepan. Add garlic and sauté until brown. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.


For an alternate sauce you can also use this one.

For the vinegar sauce:
2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cuup firmly packed brown sugar, or more to taste
5 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
4 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Simmer the sauce until desired thickness.
 
#11 ·
Image


Hopefully that works. I went out to check it and it was finished already. Only 10 hrs for this one. The webber smoker held about 235 perfectly the whole time.
Wrapped in foil and then a towel and into the cooler for a couple hours. Looks like an early dinner but the neighbors wont mind :).

The smaller one was 7 lbs the larger 8 lbs. Thats before trimming the fat. Maybe 1/2 a lb of fat on each.
The rub recipe

1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 ½ -2 hr per lb
3 apple and 3 hickory chunks


The sauce recipe

This is a rich, thick, tomato based barbecue sauce recipe often associated these days as Kansas City Style. You get that traditional combination of sweet with a touch of heat in a dark and thick tomato sauce. Adjust the heat by changing the amount of cayenne.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients:
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cayenne (Less for less heat)
Preparation:
Heat oil in a saucepan. Add garlic and sauté until brown. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.


For an alternate sauce you can also use this one.

For the vinegar sauce:
2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cuup firmly packed brown sugar, or more to taste
5 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
4 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Simmer the sauce until desired thickness.
This was wrong on so many levels. Sheer Torture!!!!:sob::sob:
Looks Really good.:happy:
 
#12 ·
Is there anything you can do with a pork butt besides pulling it apart for BBQ? DH and I were just talking about this last night.
I would love to buy them when they are cheap, but that is a lot of BBQ sandwiches and we aren't THAT fond of them.
 
#13 ·
We love pork shoulders! DW bought two of them 2 weeks ago on sale for $1.49/lb. One was 9.8 pounds and the other was 8.3 pounds. She froze one and put the other (9.8) into the large Rival Crockpot that we have. She only put a little pepper and Seasoned Salt on it, since we like to use the cooked meat in several different dishes and will season more at that time. I love it with just the minimum seasoning, and always eat more than I should for a serving.

Three of us had dinner that evening, pulled pork sandwiches the next night (w/BBQ sauce), and stir fry the third night (with some of our garden veggies). She had one more pulled-pork sandwich out of it for a lunch, and froze the rest. There’s enough left for two more meals for the three of us, and with minimal seasoning on it, the meat can be used for her choice of several different dishes. The dog got the bone and the dog and cat both got some of the fat trimmings that had a little meat on them.

That is 5 meals for three, plus a sandwich, and some pet food for less than $15. I notice that this week’s paper has pork shoulders on sale for $1.69/lb. The freezer’s full, so I guess we’ll have to pass, but that’s still a good price around here. Reckon the drought sell-off has anything to do with the prices right now, or is it a seasonal thing with everyone cooking outdoors? All of those County Style Pork Ribs come with several shoulders....

CD in Oklahoma
 
#15 ·
Is there anything you can do with a pork butt besides pulling it apart for BBQ? DH and I were just talking about this last night.
I would love to buy them when they are cheap, but that is a lot of BBQ sandwiches and we aren't THAT fond of them.
Sure you can pull it and add taco seasoning for tacos or burritos as well. After you pull it you can also freeze it. Keeps pretty well but I never have enough to freeze :).

Last time I did these I feed 8 people on one butt and still had almost 1/2 of it left. The sauce I made (The 2nd one where I listed the recipes, the vinegar sauce) was so good I ended up just eating plain pulled pork and dipping it in the sauce. I did that for days LOL.

Most of the groceries around here have a sale on pork loins about once a month. Prices mostly run in the $1.87 range. Nearly all lean with no bones. We sometimes grind some for sausage.
I wish I was set up to make sausage, that would be a great use for it!!!
 
#16 ·
Is there anything you can do with a pork butt besides pulling it apart for BBQ? DH and I were just talking about this last night.
I would love to buy them when they are cheap, but that is a lot of BBQ sandwiches and we aren't THAT fond of them.
You can use taco seasoning instead of going with the bbq flavors. It works great in taco salads and freezes really well too.
 
#17 ·
I use pork shoulder for Mexican cooking. It is the best for carnitas. It also makes great green chili.

If you can get those boneless loins on sale, slice them longways so you get two long flat-ish pieces and cook them using your favorite spareribs method. Once they are done, cut them into spareribs size pieces.

Spareribs are $4 a pound and I can get loins for $1.29 on sale. Just as good as spare ribs and 100% meat, no bones to throw away.
 
#19 ·
You can use taco seasoning instead of going with the bbq flavors. It works great in taco salads and freezes really well too.
Exactly! Heat it in a pan with taco seasoning. Take 2 of the small Frito/Lays bags of Fritos Corn Chips, make a small opening the top of the bags and crush the Fritos while still in the bag, then dump into a serving bowl. Cover with the seasoned pork, add cheese, salsa, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and serve Frito Pies!

We do this all of the time with boiled beef hamburger, but it’s just as good with pulled pork.

CD in Oklahoma
 
#20 ·
I think the beauty of pork is that it can easily be used in any type of cuisine. It accepts almost any combination of seasonings and techniques. I'm a youtube cooking video fanatic and there are so many recipes for pork that I'd like to try. I drool over this one:

[YOUTUBE]e-m-V5JxmVc[/YOUTUBE]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-m-V5JxmVc]Pecan Encrusted Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary Brown Butter - YouTube[/ame]
 
#21 ·
Is there anything you can do with a pork butt besides pulling it apart for BBQ? DH and I were just talking about this last night.
I would love to buy them when they are cheap, but that is a lot of BBQ sandwiches and we aren't THAT fond of them.
you can cube it for stir-fry , slow cook it for a regular roast , brine and smoke it will be a ham, grind and make sausage , brats and ring bologna , can even use for pork steaks if you like , remember there is a bone in there you need to work around
 
#22 ·
Don’t forget about hash and tamales. Cooked pulled pork can be added to a frying pan of onions and potatoes (bell pepper if you wish) for a really nice pork hash.

Tamales are an “all-day” kind of activity, or at least not what we would do for a simple evening meal. We usually boil our pork (along with boiled chicken) to make our tamales, but cooked frozen pulled pork would work just fine as a substitute, especially if it’s not highly seasoned originally.

CD in Oklahoma