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Pulled Pork prepared with Rod's Rub Original |
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THE BEST PULLED PORK EVER!
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Ingredients
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| ROD’S RUB ORIGINAL |
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Pork shoulder, 12 – 14 lbs |
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Plastic gloves, if available |
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About 10 - 12 hours of cooking time |
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| Start with a good cut of pork. Most professionals and backyard gurus will choose a whole pork shoulder or Boston butt. Finding a whole shoulder can be hard; however, if you live near a Costco you should be in luck. Not only do they have great cuts of meat they carry de-boned, whole shoulders. |
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| Use a liberal amount of ROD’S RUB ORIGINAL and massage into meat. Coat the entire shoulder, even the ends. When you are done rubbing, wrap the pork shoulder tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove the meat from the refrigerator and let the meat reach room temperature before smoking or grilling. This should take about an hour. Note that putting a cold piece of meat on the grill or smoker will cause it to burn. |
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| PREPARE THE SMOKER OR GRILL - raise the temperature to 225 - 250 degrees. Keeping the temperature in the correct range can be a challenge. Use a remote thermometer to monitor the consistency of the temperature. Using a remote thermometer will prevent you from having to sit next to the grill or smoker all day. |
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| THE SMOKE - selecting a type of wood for the smoker. There are several types of wood used for smoking, with each species creating a different flavor in the finished product. Hickory is probably the most commonly used. We often use fruit woods to add variety to our pulled pork. Soak the wood chips at least 30 to 45 minutes, overnight is better. When the meat is ready to smoke, take a few handfuls of chips and place inside the smoker/grill (if you are using a gas grill you can use a smoker box and place on top of the grates). The chips will smolder, producing smoke that will flavor the meat during the cooking process. The smoke produces a pink color on the outer inch of the crust. This outer inch is called the “smoke ring”. To increase the smoke flavor, add more wood chips during the smoking process. |
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| MEAT PLACEMENT - Unwrap the meat and do one last dusting of ROD’S RUB ORIGINAL before placing it on the smoker. The meat should be fat side down on the grill for the first 2 hours then flipped with the fat side up for the remainder of the cooking time. Cooking time is 1 to 1½ hours per pound. |
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| Maintain the temperature in the smoker between 225 and 250 degrees. If the smoker temperature is higher than 250 degrees, the meat will cook too quickly and dry out; any lower than 225 degrees the meat will take too long to cook. If charcoal or wood chips are added, spritz the meat with apple juice from a spray bottle while you have the smoker or grill open. This will add moisture and a fruity background flavor to the meat. |
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| REMOVAL - With 2 hours of cook time remaining, remove the meat from the smoker and spray the meat generously with apple juice. Seal the meat with heavy-duty aluminum foil, place it back on the smoker, and cook it for the remaining 2 hours. Using a thermometer, check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat. When the internal temperature reaches between 170 and 180 degrees, the pork is ready. Cooking the meat beyond the USDA guideline of 160 degrees renders out the fat and tenderizes the meat. |
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| FINAL STEPS - Remove the meat from the smoker and let stand inside the foil for another 15 to 30 minutes, this will help the meat stabilize and seal in all of the wonderful juices. To pull the pork, remove the foil and use two large forks or your hands and start pulling the pork. If you would like chopped pork, pull the pork first and begin chopping. After the pork is pulled, generously spritz the pork one more time and dust ROD’S RUB ORIGINAL into the pork then mix together with your hands. I use plastic gloves to pull the meat and to mix the meat with the apple juice and rub. |
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| SAUCE - some people like sauce and some don’t. I like to leave the choice to my guests and serve some different types of sauces on the side as oppose to mixing it in. Sauce can add a lot of flavor, but the meat should be rich in flavor with the great ROD’S RUB ORIGINAL, apple juice and wood smoke chips. |
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