<p>Help! I am making pulled pork sandwiches for the weekend. Last year I made this for the first time and it turned out beautifully, but this year, not so much!</p>
<p>I cooked my 8-1/2 lb. Boston Butt in the crockpot for approx 12 hours (to a temp of 165-175), let it rest for 1/2 hour and am now trying to pull it. Yikes! It’s not pulling as easily as last year. There seems to be a lot of tough spots, and only a few spots are pulling easily. Do I need to cook it more? Can I put it back in the crockpot safely and cook it more? How much longer? It didn’t seem to generate a lot of liquid either.</p>
<p>One more note: A lot of websites I am reading indicate the meat should be cooked to 190 degrees. My butcher told me only to cook it to 155. Maybe that’s the problem? The info I can find states that the collagen and protein will not break down until it is at 190, and it will not be tender. Garrr…</p>
<p>Haha! I have never hard of a Boston Butt! 8 1/2 lbs! That’s a big butt! I think it depends on the meat. If it is very lean meat it may never get very tender and pull apart. Meat needs a good deal of fat to break down in order for it to pull apart. My guess is that your best bet is to cook it longer and maybe (if you haven’t already) put some barbecue sauce in the crock pot with it. The acid in the tomato and the vinegar may help to break it down. Good luck!</p>
<p>No, same crockpot. Little bit bigger cut of meat this year. I followed the butcher’s advice, but clearly he’s not familiar with cooking a boston butt. Disappointing - their meat counter is really wonderful but the advice was not. I put it back in the crockpot with some liquid (already had cut off some fat and removed the bone) and will cook a few more hours. Apparently it shouldn’t go over 200 degrees; wonder how much longer it will need to cook. I really hate to get up in the night and check it. I’m gonna guess it needs to cook at least 3 more hours but could need a lot more.</p>
<p>Anyone know how long it takes to get from 155 to 190 by any chance?</p>
<p>Probably too late now for this to be of help but I always put a bottle of beer in the crockpot when I do mine. I also put a layer of onion on the bottom of the crockpot and a layer on top of the shoulder as well.</p>
<p>I always put a little vinegar into my “pulled meat” crockpot recipes. And I cut the meat into smaller chunks before putting into the crock pot. I guess it’s too late for you to do that!! Hope you got it all worked out.</p>
<p>It turned out delightful! I was exhausted and stressed from all of my preparations for the weekend. So, I cracked open a beer, took a swig and poured the rest in the crockpot with the meat. Cranked it up to high for a half hour, set it on low and went to bed. Got up 6 hours later and it was falling apart. It was at 195 degrees, so perfect. Yeah! I made myself a BBQ sandwich today for lunch and it was delicious.</p>
<p>abasket, I did the root beer “butt” yesterday and it was awesome. The weird thing is that I HATE root beer!! I don’t know where the root beer “goes” but it makes the meat so tasty.</p>
<p>For some meats, your cook it under the target temp because, while resting, the internal temp continues to rise. Usually, I think it can rise about 15 degrees. But, I think all this applies to better, more sensitive cuts. Frankly, I’ve got butchers who don’t cook meat and the guys at the fish counter keep telling me they don’t eat fish. Big help.</p>