Pulled Pork

Smokin Stuff

I like bbq. Who doesn't? I like cooking. I suppose there are fewer people who like that, but whatever. I do well on a grill, but I don't do a lot of smoking. It's just such a long and involved process...which

seems a little odd for a home brewer to say, but as I previously stated, whatever. 

I've done ribs with reasonably good success, but that's about the extent of it. A couple of weeks ago I decided to do something new. Pulled pork. It turned out crazy good, and the big chunk of pig goes beyond dinner and serves as the base of my lunch for most of the rest of the week. 

The Process

I won't call it a recipe because it's a chunk of meat and store bought sauce and rub, but here it goes:

Ingredients

• A pork shoulder roast. Go somewhere else if you want more detailed advice on choosing a good one. I don't know my pork shoulder all that well, so I just get a big one.
• Bone Suckin' Sauce (The thick kind). We get this stuff for a couple of reasons. 1) It tastes damn good. This stuff is really good. 2) We have some food allergies in the house. Among them are soy and corn. The good people at Bone Suckin' Sauce don't use soy and corn in the sauce.
• Bone Suckin' Sauce Rub - Same reasons as above.
• Charcoal and wood chips - I keep it simple here. I get charcoal briquettes. Usually nothing fancy, just briquettes with wood chips. In the off season I'll get plain briquettes and buy the wood chips separately. The reason is that I prefer Hickory or Apple wood. They're mild and a little sweet. Mesquite is just a bit acrid for my taste, and cherry and maple are just too damn sweet.  

The Prep and Stuff

Last night I spent some time making a solid crust of rub on the pork, and put it in the fridge to rest over night. No real reason beyond the fact that I was up and had time to kill. 

Next morning I got the apple briquettes going, and heated my grill to about 300 degrees. I moved the coals to the side of the grill under the chimney (because that's on the left, and I cook on the right), placed a pan of water under the grate on the right, and put the meat over the pan of water. I've read the purpose of this is to keep up the moisture while cooking. I've also read that's a myth and it doesn't actually help. I rarely cook meat directly over the fire, and this is no exception. Don't cook over the fire. 

For the next 8 hours I check in and throw in a handful of new briquettes. Doing this I'm able to keep the temp between 200 and 300 degrees. 

At the end of the 8 hours it's time to take a couple of forks and shred the meat while mixing in the sauce. 

Serving

Eat it.