What better recipe to start the blog with! I grew up in the south and let me tell you, nothing makes my mouth water like pulled pork. God I love pork and hickory…
Ingredients
Pork
2 – 6lb pork shoulder or Boston butt roasts
Rub
1 cup of light brown sugar
1/3 cup kosher/canning salt
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp crushed jalepeno
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
Mop
1 cup Bourbon
1 cup water
2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
3 tbsp honey
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1 tsp rubbed thyme
Serves 15-20
Directions
1. Score the fat layer of the pork
2. Combine rub ingredients and rub all over pork.
3. Place pork in 1 gallon plastic bags and refrigerate overnight.
4. Remove the pork from the refrigerator and let stand for 1 hour. Remove prok from plastic bags and reserve liquid.
5. Prepare smoker for a long smoke. I use a combination of hardwood charcoal and hickory. Heat the smoker to 500 degrees F then reduce to 250 F. Place the pork in the smoker with a drip tray underneath.
6. Combine mop ingredients and microwave on high for 1 minute, stir to combine. For the first four hours, rotate the pork once per hour mopping both sides generously with the mop. Make sure the temerature is maintained at 250 for the duration. After 4 hours make sure the fat side is up, close the smoker and smoke for 8 hours for a total time of 12 hours. The internal temperature should reach appoximately 190.
7. Carefully remove the pork from the smoker and cover in foil. Place pork in a cooler for at least 2 hours (up to 4) to let it cool enough to pull by hand.
8. Remove pork from foil, place in a large bowl and pull pork into shreds.
9. Serve immediately on soft buns with optional slaw.
Variations
1. Try different rubs. Keep the salt and sugar proportions the same but vary the rest to your tastes.
2. Try different woods. Apple and cherry are wonderful as well.
Sides
Try the recipes for baked beans, potato salad, and cole slaw. Each of these are just made for BBQ.
References
The rub and mop recipes are inspired by the “Who loves ya baby back” rib recipe by Alton Brown of Good Eats.