Pulled Pork
I make a lot of pulled pork, it's pretty cheap, it's not very complicated, freezes well, it's great in our Bizarre-B-Q recipes, and pretty much everyone likes it. It can be a little slow and hard to predict. Like most BBQ it's done when it's done and rushing it ends badly for everyone. If I'm having a big party with a schedule I'll either make it the day before or plan for it to be done at least 4 hours before the party starts. It will take between and hour an 90 minutes per pound, plus you need to leave about 2 hours for resting and a decent chunk of time for pulling before you serve. I tend to be pretty picky when I'm pulling a pork butt so I'm a little slower than some.
I prefer a bone in Boston Butt myself, but some people will use a picnic cut. Use whatever you prefer. Because a Boston butt is so big you'll want to use a lot of rub. I use Dirty Apron All Purpose Rub, but Rib Rub or Chicken Rub can work too.
You will need a smoker for this, I generally use apple wood since it's easily available from an orchard near my house. Any hard wood works though. I also recommend a probe thermometer (for your meat) insulated grilling gloves, heavy duty tin foil, and a cooler. A remote thermometer (for the smoker) can be a good option and vacuum sealer is a great for leftovers.
Ingredients:
- 1 8-10 pound Boston Butt (or more, I can fit 6 in my smoker and I almost always fill it)
- Dirty Apron All Purpose Rub
- Dirty Apron Original BBQ sauce
Directions:
- Set up your smoker and get it up to about 250 degrees.
- Liberally cover all sides of your Boston butt with All Purpose Rub
- Get your butts onto the smoker and keep the lid closed. There's a saying in BBQ: If you're lookin', you aint cookin'. Low and slow is great, but if you open the lid and let heat out it's going to take a while to get back to cooking temp and it's going to take longer for your food to cook. I check the temperature every 15 minutes or so on my remote thermometer to make sure it stays around 250. I'm fine with anything from 225-275.
- Keep smoking until you get to an internal temperature of about 190 degrees. If you're monitoring your internal temperature during the smoke you will hit what's referred to as "the stall". At around 160 or 170 the temperature inside your butt will just stop going up. Sometimes it even drops a bit, do not turn up your smoker! The is not only normal, it's a very good thing. At this temperature the connective tissue in the butt is breaking down. As always with BBQ, there is no way to know how long it will take, an hour or more is normal. Every cut is different and there are a lot of factors that go into it. Just have faith in the process. Eventually the stall will end and you will be rewarded for your patience.
- When your butt gets to about 190-205 you will feel like your temperature probe is sliding into jello. That's when it's ready to come off the smoker. Wrap it in a double layer of foil and rest it in the empty cooler for about 2 hours. If you don't have a cooler put it on a tray the oven.
- After about 2 hours you will still probably burn your bare fingers, but you can pull the butt at this point. How finely you shred it and what you use to shred it are up to you. I tend to use my fingers and my general rule is if I'm not tempted to put it in my mouth, then it goes in the discard pile. If I'm planning to vacuum seal and freezer the butt I will leave it in pretty large pieces. If I'm serving right away I pull it a little finer. I don't go super fine with it since it dries out faster, and I like a little texture to it.
- There are so many ways to serve pulled pork so just do whatever you like. On a bun with coleslaw and/or pickles? Sure! On a plate with some sauce on the side? Yep! Straight up? You got it! I usually have a few options buffet style and let people do what they like.