Since starting this blog, I’ve done a lot of stuff like steak au poivre, grilled lobster, etc. But today I want to get back to barbecue basics with simple, tasty pulled pork! (I also realized that I’d never posted a photo of my own pulled pork sandwiches.)
This is one of the best barbecue meats to start out with. It’s about the most forgiving piece of meat you could choose, and it can take both high heat and low heat to get it done pretty well. The first time I ever did pulled pork was by cooking it indirectly on a charcoal grill. I used wood chips, and it probably cooked at about 350 degrees, with the pork in the middle and fire on both sides.
There are a couple of different cuts you can use to make pulled pork. I use Boston butt roasts, as they’re easy to find around where I am. You can also use a picnic roast, or, if you want bigger, a whole shoulder. The picnic and butt roasts are both parts of the whole shoulder, just cut into smaller roasts.
As with any barbecue, people will tell you there are right ways and wrong ways to do pulled pork. It’s best done however you like it! However, some tips I’ve figured out over time for myself include:
- A mustard slather does seem to help produce more bark (bark is the crust on the outside formed by the rub)
- Commercial rubs often have way too much salt, but this can be cut down somewhat by adding turbinado or brown sugar to the commercial rub. I tend to like putting together my own rubs to stay away from it being too salty; I just like the control of what’s going on the pork.
- Though indirect grilling does a great job, low and slow cooking with wood smoke is really hard to beat!
- Sliced pork is fine, if I need to take the pork off sooner than I like, so it can be done at 185 F, but 195 F to 200F is the sweet spot for how I like the pork to turn out; moist but easily pulled apart by hand!
If you have been thinking about trying barbecue but are afraid to try it, get a Boston butt roast and try it. For one thing, it’s a pretty cheap piece of pork. For another, if you just pay a little attention to fire control, you almost CAN’T mess this up! Here’s a simple rub that’s very good:
2 Tbsp coffee
2 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp turbinado sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp black pepper
2 tsp cinnamon
Just slather on some cheap yellow mustard, then sprinkle this rub liberally on all sides and throw it on the smoker. Once it hits 195 or so, put it in foil for 30 minutes or so, then pull it with your hands, 2 forks or bear paws, then stand back so the stampede to the food doesn’t trample you!
Interesting rub recipe. Any ideas on a substitute for the coffee though, not a big fan. Also, I’m really a big fan of ginger, any ideas of a rub using it.
Mark, don’t substitute… Try it once, and you’ll find that there’s not a “coffee” taste from it at all. It’s more a texture and kind of an earthiness from the coffee. It’s like the Javacue sauce; there’s coffee in there, but the flavor is so different that you wouldn’t know it.
This is an interesting rub recipe. Looks good!
My husband competes in BBQ contests, and has won awards for his pulled pork. It’s hard to get him to try something new, but for a new taste just for us I may have him give this recipe a try! Thanks for sharing it!
Kristen, what team does your husband compete as? I know how he feels about not switching things around.. it’s tough to do when you put a lot into testing out a rub for comps, even when, as we’ve had to admit, it’s not working for us!
The name of his team is the Smoketastic Four. They just do things here in the Kansas/MO area right now. Like you, they are just experimenting and hope to go to bigger competitions in the future
It’s a lot of fun, isn’t it? It is a ton of work though too!
Kristen, I’ll watch for them in the Bullsheet to see their wins! Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it, especially when you get a walk… Even with no money, you just can’t keep from smiling the rest of the day.