Pulled Pork with Matt Pittman of Meat Church BBQ | Traeger Grills

Get Matt’s recipe here: https://www.traeger.com/recipes/pittman-pulled-pork

Put this foolproof pulled pork on the menu during BBQ month. In the third and last episode of “BBQ and BS,” Traeger’s Chad Ward and Matt Pittman of Meat Church will teach you how to master the art of smoking pork butt to tender perfection. Learn about everything from trimming and shredding to binders, cook temps, and how to bring out the best flavor with Traegerhood favorites like Traeger Rub, Pork & Poultry Rub, and Perfect Pork Rub. Put this pork on any and everything to pig out with a crowd this Traeger Day.

Intro: 0:00
Trimming: 1:39
Seasoning: 3:10
Let’s Get Cooking: 5:47
Halfway There & Wrapping: 7:25
Pulling Off the Grill: 10:20
Start Pulling: 11:25
Pro Tips & Taste Test: 12:40
Final Thoughts: 14:50

Follow Traeger Grills:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traegergrills
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@traegergrills
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TraegerGrills
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TraegerPelletGrills
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/traegergrills/
Grill Comparison: https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills
Find a Dealer: https://www.traegergrills.com/dealers

Find more recipes here: https://www.traeger.com/recipes

I’m Matt with me Church welcome to my
outdoor kitchen today we’re going to be
making pulled pork
we’ll meet Church partners with Traeger
Grills and we’re working together this
year during National barbecue month to
bring you guys three of my favorite
proteins today we’re making pulled pork
but in this series we’re also doing
brisket and we’re doing beef ribs so I
thought what I would do today is bring
in my longtime friend Chad Ward who is
director of barbecue marketing at
Traeger come on in here oh boy I brought
you a little something how about that
fella how about that yeah Chad’s also
Pit Master and owner of Whiskey Bent
barbecue we’ve known each other for a
really long time it’s actually his fault
that I partnered with Traeger he gave me
a Traeger years ago we’ve been talking
about working together for I don’t know
how long on a video and it and it’s
finally happening here we are so we’re
you know we’re doing pulled pork today
um we’ve talked a little bit back and
forth about what are our Styles we both
used to compete a little bit now we
focus kind of on the backyard and
what’s your two cents on what you think
we should do today you know to me I
think we just keep it simple you know
250 degrees you know the one thing about
a pork butt it’s super resilient
when you’re starting long smokes it’s a
great place to start in my opinion very
forgiving
I agree it’s really hard to screw it up
around here people buy a Traeger and
they want to jump in the barbecue and I
joke that people go straight to brisket
and I’m like hold on put the training
wheels on first but you know you can buy
this for 20 something dollars and it’s
really really hard to screw up yeah and
once you perfect this I think you’re
ready to move on to brisket in my
opinion all right well we’re going to
keep this super simple today first thing
we’ve got to do is we’ve got to trim it
so let me let me just get I’m just gonna
do a little bit of a light trim you know
anatomy of a pork butt I’ll show it off
a little in Chad you can talk about it
we’ve got the money muscle over here if
we were competing we would kind of
expose that because our friend Myron
says if you want to get paid that’s what
you got to turn yes sir but all I’m
going to do is I just want to find any
kind of errant fat and trim off I’m not
going to do a whole lot I may take off
some kind of thicker stuff on the fat
cap which there’s not a lot here that’s
all I’m going to do the other thing I
say too is always make sure and run your
hands over it sometimes when they’re
butchering that there’ll be some bone
shards that you obviously don’t want to
get into the finished product and I just
know that occasionally on Port but
you’ll notice that
and I think that’s where they separate
right here the joint some of those
shards will end up getting in there but
not really simple trim yeah I don’t do a
whole lot I just kind of get the like I
said the errant stuff kind of sticking
off
um I always say fats flavor but in
moderation you know so like right here
this is like a little too thick you know
I’m going to take that off I leave this
sometimes
um and then depending on how I’m how I’m
cooking it but the thing is if you leave
this fat Cup on here
then you can’t get seasoning on the meat
and you know when you take this fat off
at the end there goes all that seasoning
so I I kind of I want my seasoning to
adhere to the meat so that I get that in
my bite at the end absolutely I
completely agree and one thing too to
remember you know we’re gonna end up
pulling this you can always add a little
bit of your seasoning back in to the
pool too if you want a little more pop
we’re definitely going to do that little
finishing dust yes sir there at the end
well let’s talk while I’m finishing this
up I’m not going to do much let’s talk
about seasoning I’ll tell you what I do
and then I know you’re going to jump in
and tell us a bunch of flavor options
but meat Church makes we’re known for
our seasonings so you guys are gracious
enough to let me use our stuff and then
but I love Traeger stuff too so we’ll
we’ll talk about that but I like to put
a binder on my pork that’s just
something that I grew up on binders are
optional when I cook pork I usually use
mustard
um so I don’t know how you feel about a
binder but we’re gonna go Whataburger
mustard because you came to Texas man
there’s nothing wrong with that you
ain’t gonna scare me with anything
Whataburger love it uh one I have used
in the past on pork and it worked out
pretty well as a pecan oil kind of give
it a little bit of nuttiness behind and
a little bit of a little darker color
but Mustard’s always kind of a great
go-to super easy it doesn’t affect the
flavor profile for anybody that’s
worried about that not only does it help
the seasoning adhere to the meat but it
also helps the seasoning stay adhered
during the cook which was one reason
that I like to do it I kind of went a
little heavy there
and then like I said we’re going to talk
about seasoning so
today we’re going to use my OG honey hog
rub which is a it’s an all-purpose rub
with honey powder in it it’s one of our
most popular rubs my kids love it my 10
year old eats it straight out of the
bottle puts it on popcorn
and we’re ultimately going to put some
of the hot in the wrap we’ll talk about
that later but I know you’re the expert
on some other flavors that we could be
using for folks watching this video yeah
so for me you know on the trigger rubs
I’ve always liked the pork and poultry
um on a pork butt it gives great color a
little bit of savory a little bit of
sweet and then the perfect pork now also
just another great flavor and if you
want to go a little bit of layering I
always like just a straight up trigger
rub with a little bit of the perfect
pork I think is great on a pork butt I
go pretty heavy with this a big piece of
meat I tell people it kind of reminds me
of like a prime rib it’s basically
impossible to over season this because
like you said we’re going to shred it in
the end
so it takes I put a lot on here yeah
yeah you definitely want to make sure
you get good coverage and plus we want
to have beautiful bark too we want to
make sure we get plenty of nice color on
there and texture
pretty heavy all right
well I always say from here I’m gonna
let the seasoning adhere uh so I tell
people if you’ve got the time you know
let this sit an hour or if you’re doing
Barbecue on the weekend do this on
Friday night crack open a beer do all
this prep throw it in the fridge and
just let it sit but in this case we’re
going to give it at least 15 minutes
when this looks nice and wet the
seasoning is adhered it has pulled all
the moisture out of it and we’re good to
go so we’re going to let this sit for 15
minutes and we’ll jump into cooking
let’s do it
well it’s adhered I might say it looks
mighty sexy that is a sexy looking pork
butt hole boy well let’s talk about
cooking it uh you know for me when I
teach barbecue I you know people like
225 250 275 they all work I kind of
adapt recipes to how much time I have
right but I think one thing I’ve told
you before is coming out of the comp
World guys in comp cook hot a lot of
guys do and one time I thought well how
hot can I cook and not lose quality so
sometimes I cook a lot of stuff at 275
which is what we did with this so what
we’re going to do with this so yeah no I
I agree with you and and I think too
like I always tell people like the
recipes there is a guide don’t feel like
you got to follow every single step of
it because you may be a little tight on
timer you may have a lot of extra time
and based on that you can always adjust
the cooking cycle yeah you know to Jump
Ahead we’re gonna end up wrapping this
but you don’t have to if you really
wanted to get like epic bark you could
drop the temp down and you could just
run like a no rap butt
um there’s so many things that you can
do so I’m gonna go ahead and throw this
in the trigger we’ve got the Ironwood
running with Hickory pellets at 275
degrees oh I need them I need a
thermometer
and we need a thermometer yeah
got the old meter here yes sir insert
back here just
hear the beat okay now it knows we’re
hooked up and that’s going to give us
our temp and all the way throughout the
cook right well that way I can watch it
from my phone while I’m off yeah chasing
my dang kids you want to open this up I
think I can do it
there we go
you hand me another set of gloves I’m
gonna I’ve got one here that’s been
cooking we’re going to talk about that
here you go
so we’ve got another pork butt here that
is at 165 degrees internal temperature I
can one hand this
one hander
look at that Park man
it’s got the meter in it here uh so like
I said it’s about 165. the time isn’t
like real important as a guide this has
been somewhere between five and six
hours it was prepared the exact same way
and I’m looking for bark which we have
and now I’m gonna wrap in some goodness
uh you know just to add a depth of
flavor well and one thing to remember
too is a lot of times you know internal
temperature is great but we’re wrapping
the color and bark because that’s what
we really care about and this has
already reached a point to where it’s
not going to take on any more smoke you
know based on the internal temp and I
would say this is at 165 but I say wrap
between 165 175 a lot of times I like to
let things go a little further to get
more bark I’m happy with this briskets I
take further but time to wrap so well
and especially if you’re going to
introduce any liquid
you know into the wrap a little heavier
bark to start with isn’t going to hurt
you at all not at all and that’s what
we’re doing here today we’re going to go
kind of simple what I’m going to do is
add some really good butter a touch of
brown sugar and then a little seasoning
so let’s do the brown sugar first
I’m not doing a whole lot but do what
you want you can get crazy here you can
put hot sauce
um a lot of people put good juices in it
I don’t know what you like to wrap with
I’ve used uh for juice wise I’ve used a
little peach nectar in the past I’ve
used a little Martinelli’s apple juice
either one just get a little bit of
braising liquid in the bottom but butter
and brown sugar you can’t beat that and
a little bit of season kind of like a
kind of like something we would do with
ribs I guess I’m gonna take this off
grab this very similar to like a comp
rib wrap I like to put a little rub in
my wrap this is my honey hog hot which
is the same as honey hog has a little
Jalapeno in it and for anyone worried
it’s not going to burn anybody out my
kids would eat this it just will help us
get a sweet heat which is what I love
absolutely
all right I’m gonna put this one back in
can I have that piece absolutely
so for me
from this point forward this is going to
be quite simple I’m cooking this until
it’s tender which is going to be just
over 200 degrees the good thing about
pork is if you it’s really hard to screw
up if you don’t cook it long enough it’s
going to be too hard to pull if you
pulled it in the low 190s if you cook it
like 210 it’s going to start to just
kind of get a little mushy but they’re
they’re still good that way but super
easy yeah I’m always looking for that
200 to 202 and somewhere in that range
and it’s always turns out right
back in the trigger we go no need to
change the temperature unless the
circumstances of your life dictate I
want to drop it down to elongate the
Cook or I want to increase it to speed
it up I mean you could blast this now if
you needed to so this is the part where
this to me this stage is now based on
what you got going on in your life and
when you want to eat absolutely
completely agree
we’re just going to make this real easy
all right look at here look at here I
magically have one for you that’s cooked
to Tender I should be polite and wait on
you but I’m not going to go for it
take a look see here
that immediately hit that smell yes you
get it for sure it smells like uh
Memorial Day Weekend down by the lake
right just good barbecue smells
delicious look
our our bark stayed nice and dark looks
amazing yeah it started to pop open here
a little bit yeah that didn’t matter not
at all that’s just that seam right there
by the bone
yeah I didn’t say up front this was a
bone-in pork butt which is my preference
to cook because it stays shaped boneless
pork will just kind of lay down flat so
this is when I’m doing pulled pork this
is my preference but one little Pro tip
if you ever do I’ve had it happen before
said bone in got it home it was boneless
you’ve got the game on the line you
still got to cook take a little bit of
butcher twine try to tie it all back
together so it’s a leaf uniform but when
you have preference bone in always
well we need to let this cool off a
little bit and we’ve got another secret
to tell you as we pull the pork at the
end so as this cools down we’ll be back
I’m ready to jump in man what are we
waiting on looks gorgeous now it’s time
to pull it all up and do some tasting
you’re gonna make me do all the dirty
work here look at that smoke right there
that’s so good yeah good smoke ring nice
color I’m gonna go straight in the money
muscle absolutely gonna lie I’m just
gonna put this pile that over here okay
okay it’s got great look great bark on
it really good yeah and the nice thing
about that bark is now it’s going to
work into everybody your pulled pork you
know and that’s the thing this is so
versatile you can use it for so many
things to feed so many people yeah I
mean you know Traeger days coming up uh
May 20th and uh this is a great this is
a great option to feed a crowd because
there’s so much stuff you can put it in
you know my kids like it on sliders we
put it on nachos uh we’re in Texas we do
a lot of tacos you know stuff like that
but there’s so many things you can put
it on sandwiches you know whatever or
even if you want to go the easy way out
I’ve done this before it gets you a
cheese pizza
pop a little bit of pulled pork on it
slide in the trigger 15 minutes 375 got
a little pulled pork pizza that’s why
you are the director of barbecue
marketing great time
but uh no this this looks so good tell
you what I’m gonna leave some of this
barkiness over here okay because it
looks good to show off a little bit yeah
but you know I like to eat the money
muscle as I mentioned I like everything
around the bone uh I like the bacon on
the bottom but we’re just going to mix
all this together I’m wearing we’re
gonna hit everybody with a couple tips
or a couple things that we like to do
I’m gonna start with the first one you
can hit them with the second one yes sir
so we took 100 of the Jew out of that
pan and we put it in a fat separator and
you can see it separated there we did
not inject this pork butt there’s so
much intramuscular fat and pork I don’t
think you have to inject it and you have
this secret weapon right here so to me I
can just throw down some of this some of
the some of the good juice right here
and we can just kind of mix that around
and this is just going to be I love the
word succulent moist
it’s gonna be two good words and it’s
just pushing some more of that pork
flavor right back into the pool yeah you
know because that that’s the that’s the
fat that’s the flavor that we’ve we
cooked out a little bit and the butter
and the brown sugar and the hot honey
hog I mean you can’t beat it so which
brings us to tip number two anytime I
shred or pull meat
I like to do what you’re about to do yes
sir we gotta hit it with that finish and
dust this is a this is a an Ode to
competition as well but this is what I
call Raw seasoning so all this other
seasoning has cooked down now I mean
whether you could do this on top of
Ridge you can do it on whatever you want
to do mix this in and then this really
gives you a serious pop not to mention a
big old piece of meat obviously the
middle of it was not seasoned going back
to my prime rib example I had you know
and so this is a way to get seasoning
raw seasoning on on it you can put
whatever you like I like to jump in with
a hot because it gives you a little pop
yep just wakes up those taste buds which
is nice when you have just a little bit
of back end heat okay enough talking
I got a big one
oh it’s delicious and you know and not a
bit of barbecue sauce in there if people
want to add it they can but that is just
a hundred percent good smoked barbecue
flavor it’s smoky it’s got and I can
totally pick up the flavor from the rub
you know just subtle with the the sugar
uh in the butter you know just some
moisture and a little sweetness it’s
definitely not hot no no hot rod but
it’s not hot at all and the other thing
it’s interesting when you pull it when
it’s that warm that Asus already worked
itself back into the meat the rub that
we just hit it with is soaking back into
the meat um it’s just delicious I love
it the versatility of pulled pork is
amazing well this is an easy one um you
guys have to do this if you haven’t
already the recipe is down in the
description we hope you enjoyed this
series but you if you’ve just stumbled
across this and you haven’t checked out
the previous videos we did one together
on brisket we did one on beef ribs these
recipes are also going to be on
traeger.com they’re in the Traeger app I
tell everybody you got to have the
Traeger app it’s loaded with recipes
absolutely the Traeger recipes are a
massive different Trader between Traeger
and other brands in my opinion The
Culinary team that works there Second To
None great free resource for everybody
so you guys can check out all this stuff
there sounds great and I completely
agree with you trigger.com for this and
so many more it’s going to make you a
better cook overnight for sure all right
I’m gonna keep eating we’ll see y’all
next time
round two
[Music]