So we made pulled pork from pork loin. The result is very dry. We did not want to add the barbecue sauce to the meat because we are going to have a couple of different kinds. I figured we can just add water to the meat before heating, but is there a preferred way to make dried pulled pork more moist?
Pulled pork is dry because it’s a long slow cooking. Loin has little connective tissue and fat. When the connective tissue gelatinizes, that’s what makes the pork seem moist and gives it it’s mouth feel.
Use the shoulder(Boston Butt) next time.
Wouldn’t know how to save this batch, though.
This likely belongs in Cafe Society (I’ll report it) - but Pork Loin is not the right cut of pork for pulled pork - generally - you want to use a Boston Butt or Pork SHoulder. They are fattier cuts, and once they get to the right temp - man I wish my smoker wasn’t iced in.
It also depends upon the method of cooking - if you’re hot smoking it - what temp did you get it to? what temp did you have your smoker at?
Cooked in the oven at 225 degrees for about 15 hours. it reached an internal temperature of 193 (the recipe said to wait for 200, but jeez, 15 hours) and then we took it out. Tented aluminum foil over it for the whole time.
I think it’s dry because you’re starting with a loin, which is a lean cut. I’ve only used pork shoulders or “butts” because they have enough fat and connective tissue to keep the meat moist by the time it’s done.
Perhaps you could brown some bacon, and use the drippings to toss the pulled pork in? You don’t really want “wet” pork, you want something that feels moist. Fat is really the only way to get that mouthfeel.
My cure for dry pulled pork is just a helluva lot more BBQ sauce. And a scoop of slaw on that sammich too, if you please.
Pork at 200? Holy toledo! When I make loin (to be served as loin, not pulled pork) I cook it at 350 for 20 minutes per pound, up to 140 degrees and then rest it for 15 minutes.
If you cook pork loin to, say, 160, it’s awful and dry. 190 is unheard of.
When I do pulled pork, in the grill, I go to about 160 and let it sit.
Everyone else is spot on - shoulder is what you use for pulled pork, for the reasons they listed. Loin is only for quick cooking, as they said, because it has little fat.
I should have pointed out that pork loin is the same cut as a filet mignon/tenderloin in beef.
Moved GQ --> Cafe Society.
I wonder, and this is a total WAG, based on what I know of barbeque, not based on experience salvaging a dish like this…
Would it be possible to make some unflavored gelatin and pour it over the meat? Toss and serve with sauces?
It’s gelatin, not fat, that gives pulled pork its delicious mouth feel. Loin is the wrong cut not precisely because it’s too lean, but because it’s only a muscle or two, so there’s no connective tissue to speak of in it. Hence, no breaking down of collagen into gelatin. When choosing a cut, you want something that’s got a lot of white bits in it, with lots of different muscle groups, so there’s lots of connective tissue. Like, as said, a shoulder.
It may not be salvageable, but if it were I, I’d try some unflavored gelatin and see if it makes it edible.
I think it’s the tiny amounts of “raw” gelatin/rendered connective tissue between each muscle fiber that provides the mouth feel.
Commercial gelatin might be too processed and just pouring it on won’t have the same effect. It won’t soak in.
I don’t think the gelatin soaks into the pork itself, it just coats it. But I could be wrong about that. Basically, I figure the OP is at a “what’s the worst that could happen?” stage. He’s either getting creative or getting take-out! 
I suppose to answer your question, my preferred method of redeeming and perhaps salvaging this pulled pork would be to create a new dish… perhaps twice cooked or “re-braised” pork. I’d perhaps shred the pork loin and add to a baking pan with a bit of water and a cup of lard or some rendered bacon fat and some BBQ sauce. Maybe add some aromatics and spices- chopped onions, garlic, cayenne and maybe a hint of cider vinegar or apple juice. Cover with foil and bake till moist and rehydrated by added fat and moisture.
I know BBQ purists will scoff…but I always do pulled pork in a Crock-Pot. Add a little stock, some cut-up onions, minced garlic, couple of Bay leaves and let it cook all day. Add the sauce after the fact. No problem with dryness there!
SS
Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon says you got to wet it! (Spoilered because some people feel his lyrics are suggestive. Go figure!)
Okay, that’s a wise crack, that’s not really cooking advice…
Pork loin is absolutely the wrong cut for pulled pork. This here is your problem.
You want a cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue (and not too lean, but connective tissue is the key here), a cut of meat from a well-exercised portion of the animal. Here is the science: Connective tissue has a lot of collagen. Collagen breaks down into gelatin over a long, slow cooking process. The gelatin coats your strands of meat (which are technically long since well-done) and gives them moisture and softness, exactly the quality you’re looking for in pulled pork. This same process is what happens when you make pot roast, or when you stew something for hours until the meat turns from a hard, tight nugget into melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
Loin, being from an unexercised part of the animal, is a terrible choice for long and slow cooking. There is virtually no connective tissue in loin, and it simply dries out if cooked too long. Loin is best cooked quickly to an internal temp of about 150-155 (it’ll still be a little pink at this point.) Once you get it to the well-done stage, it starts getting dry and there’s no going back.
So, use pork shoulder. Specifically, the Boston butt (as opposed to the picnic), is the easier of the two for a novice cook to deal with.
You can get pork to pull at 160? Whatever you’re making there, I doubt it’s pulled pork.
Standard barbecue pulled pork is pulled at a temperature range of 190-200F. If I want chopped pork, I pull it at around 185, when it’s soft, but not pullable. It only starts to shred at around 190-ish internal. At 160, my pork is still medium on the inside, only sliceable, and the collagen hasn’t even really begun to break down. I will do shoulders up to this temperature if I’m in the mood for sliced pork. But it ain’t pulled pork.
Whenever you make brisket or pulled pork, the meat is technically way the hell past well done. Brisket also gets cooked until it becomes wobbly on the grill. The internal temp of the meat, last time I did this, was around 197. These are all correct temperatures. Low & slow barbecue is not cooked to steak doneness ranges, because it misses the whole point of low & slow, which is to let the collagen in the meat break down and become tender.
Have you ever made a chuck pot roast or chuck beef stew? Ever notice how the first few hours of cooking, the meat is technically well done, but hard as a rock if you taste it? If you’ve never done this, taste bits of meat an hour through cooking, two hours through cooking, three hours through cooking. Note the difference. At first, you have chewy, gristly meat. At the second hour, you have something with still a little bit of chew, but increasing softness. At the third hour, you have something you can cut with a fork. (Times approximate). This is the process you’re aiming for in barbecue.
Now that the meat is irredeemably tough, could it be ground up and used in some other way, like a pate or loaf or something?
Mmmmm, rillettes. I don’t think tough, dried out pork is going to work for that either though.
I cook pork tenderloin in the crock-pot all the time. No water or anything – just some sliced onion in the bottom of the pot, then brown 3 or 4 tenderloins all over in a pan and crowd 'em in. Cook on low all day or overnight – they’ll throw off some liquid, which you should return the chunked tenderloin into.
To save the OP’s meat (heh), the first thing I thought of was to make it into some kind of stew. Posole, maybe – add some green chiles, hominy, and stock, and simmer until rehydrated and soft.