Monday, March 18, 2013

Southern Style Pulled pork

That guy I married loves bar b que. After ice cream it's his favorite food. It makes sense because he's had some of the best bar b que in the world (and now so have I! ) I knew quickly after we got married that I would have to up my repertoire in bar b que cookery. And so I have. I'm not a smoking-wood chip soaking-grilling master, but I can make a dang good pulled pork sandwich. And I'm proud of it.
The pork is rubbed down with a bunch of spices, and left to rest. Then it's cooked at a low temperature for several hours in a shallow flavorful bath until the meat becomes tender enough to pull apart. The pork is served plain or topped with a slather of your favorite bar b que sauce. Adam has given this pulled pork two thumbs up and asks me to make it all the time - which is a big deal. I serve it on a bun, along side funeral potatoes and a big green salad. If you have a crowd to feed in the near future give this tasty pork a try.


Southern Style Pulled Pork
Ingredients:

Dry rub:
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon cayenne
4 pound shoulder pork roast

Cooking Liquid:
2 cup apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1/2 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

To Serve: 
6 soft hamburger buns 
Bbq sauce

In a small bowl combine dry rub ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pat pork roast with a paper towel to remove excess moisture and rub the spice mixture onto the meat. Take plenty of time to work it into the meat covering the entire surface. Place the pork into a large bowl and cover to rest in the refrigerator over night. The next day preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a dutch oven whisk to combine the cooking liquid ingredients. Place pork into the dutch oven (the liquid should only go up about a quarter of the way, the meat should not be submerged completely.) Place the dutch oven into your preheated oven and cook for 4 to 5 hours, basting with liquid every hour until it's easily pulled apart with a fork. Remove from dutch oven, remove the fatty pieces, shred coarsely, and serve.

*Pork can be made in a crock pot if that's what you prefer. Cook it on low for 8 hours until the meat is tender and can be pulled apart.

* Do not mix bar b que sauce in to the cooked or cooking meat. It's against all things good and holy in my opinion. Use the sauce as a condiment.

* If you need to feed more than 6 people get a larger roast. Be sure to double the ingredients, however you may need to use two dutch ovens (or crock pots) to cook.

*This meat is slightly spicy if that's not your thing half the cayenne pepper

*If you can't find (or don't want to buy) liquid smoke, that's ok simply omit it but know that you'll be missing out!

*This meat is very hard to screw up if you need it to cook longer or have people coming and going and it needs to keep hot, leave it in the dutch oven/crock pot at a low heat and it will be fine.



1 comment:

  1. I'll have to give this a try! It looks great! Have you perfected a BBQ sauce recipe...? Those store bought ones never tickle my fancy.

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