Since summer and barbecue go hand in hand, nothing beats a slow smoked pork butt! Smoked over apple wood for 16+ hours, this Smoked Pulled Pork is juicy, tender, and perfect as is, on a bun, in a taco, piled on a hoecake, or even just along side some refreshing coleslaw! You can use your favorite dry rub, but my personal Grubb's Sweet Heat Pork Dry Rub was specifically created for smoking pork butts low and slow to give a nice hearty bark containing all those succulent juices inside and throughout for the perfect pulled pork meal! Grab some beers for an overnight cook and relax as I walk you through a few steps to create the best damn pulled pork you will ever create! Let's get cooking!
The first thing you will want to do is get a good dry rub seasoning all over every nook and cranny of a bone-in pork butt! You could use a deboned pork butt, but why not enjoy those extra flavors cooking one with the bone still intact, plus the bone-in version is likely cheaper so do whatever floats your boat. Grab your favorite dry rub and get down and dirty with your pork butt to make sure it is well seasoned. If you are of above average intelligence and realize I know a thing or two about pork, I highly suggest trying my personal Grubb's Sweet Heat Pork Dry Rub. However, if you are dead set on using some commercial overpriced premade, over-salted, full of unknown filler rub, by all means enjoy yourself! Just do yourself a favor and click the hyperlink to make the good stuff, trust me. Once the pork butt is well seasoned, place it in a pan, cover it, and stick it in the fridge overnight so those flavors can really start to penetrate the meat and do some good other than just a fancy bark in the end.
Pull that sweet baby out of the fridge the next day and let things start to warm up just a bit while you preheat your smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Any fruit wood will do, but I highly suggest apple wood. Besides, we are going to be spritzing our pork throughout the smoking process with apple juice so why not double down on the apple flavor with the smoke too, eh? You should notice that the spices of the dry rub have penetrated the meat and a few juices have oozed out if you listened and did as I suggested instead of following what you THOUGHT was a good idea instead!
Once your smoker is up to temperature, slide this bad boy in over a tray with some water or some apple juice and apple cider vinegar. You don't have to have the liquids beneath the pork butt, but since we are cooking this so slow and long I think the extra moisture helps out in the long run in terms of tender and juicy meat. I ended up cooking 2 butts at once since pulled pork freezes so well, but I'll explain that in depth a little later.
The key to this whole recipe is maintaining that 225-250 degree temperature throughout the cook. Obviously the temp will fluctuate and vary a bit, unless you are using an electric smoker, so just try your best to get things settled and steady before dozing off on any naps. The pork really only needs the first 4-5 hours of smoke and after that you just need steady heat to finish the cooking process. During those first few hours, be sure to give it a good spritz of apple juice, maybe even a bit of apple cider vinegar mixed in, every time you add some wood or check in to see how things are going. I can't tell you a definite cook time, but typically it's about 90 minutes per pound to reach an internal temperature of 199-202 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is far more important than time so use a remote thermometer and let the smoker do the work for you. When it is all said and done and that internal temperature hits the mark, pull the pork butt from the smoker and bring it inside to rest under an aluminum foil "tent" for half an hour or so. It's way too hot to pull now and the juices need some time to redistribute throughout the meat anyway. Check out that bark, baby!
After 30-45 minutes, the juices should be redistributed so we can rip into this bad boy! Caution, it's still smoking hot so use some heat proof gloves or meat claws unless you want to see your poor fingers end up looking like the pork too. The bone should pull right out with little to no resistance, which also means you hit the right temp for pulled pork. Anything less and your pork will likely be more chunky, but too much higher and it will be stringy and almost to the point of mushy. Thermometers are our friends so use one! Anyway, remove the bone and start pulling the pork. It is all personal preference, but I try and mix the various sections of the pork butt with inner and outer layers, and be sure to get that bark spread throughout! I like to sprinkle in a bit more of the original dry rub as well to fully get that pulled pork seasoned well.
What do you think? Pretty damn amazing if I do say so myself, and I do because I'm the one writing this up! Now you might be asking what in the hell you are supposed to do with such a gluttonous pile of pulled pork? Well, the answer is simple....any damn thing you want! Eat it plain as it sits, add some Bourbon Barbecue Sauce and eat it again, put it on a bun with some sauce and slaw, fry it on a flat top griddle and make a taco, or get Southern and top a good old fashioned hoecake with pork, sauce, and slaw! Wait, you might not even know what a hoecake is so I better explain. See, a hoecake is a woman that likes to get......just kidding. It is essentially a cornbread pancake. Check your cornmeal box next time you think about it and there is likely a recipe printed right on the side, though it may refer to them as johnnycakes...same same. Either way, the possibilities are nearly endless with ways to consume this pulled pork. As I previously mentioned, it also freezes well. If you happen to have a vacuum sealer, which you should, fill a bag and smash it flat before sealing. This will lay in the freezer better and stack well, as opposed to a rounded ball of meat anyway......pro tip, eh? This Smoked Pulled Pork is a cheap and easy way to feed a large group of people with little to no fuss. It's perfect for a family gathering like a reunion, or a block party, or even for a single person to help apply to TLC's My 600lb Life reality show! No matter how you end up enjoying this amazing meat, let me know and tell me why you should have listened and used my rub after all, hehe! As always, stay classy and make delicious food.....just keep cooking!
SMOKED PULLED PORK
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