Well I did it, I made my first"good" BBQed pulled pork. It was unbelievable! Here is what I did.

SO, the first thing is I got a big fat pork shoulder. What I didn't realize is that it is actually fairly cheap, about 7-8 pounds was a little over 12 bucks! I like that since it freakin fed me for a week and was awesome. Anyways, I didn't have a good rub so I just used Sugar, Cumin a little Cayenne pepper, Season salt and Garlic powder. Not a whole lot of either too. What I realized once it was done was that it barely mattered anyway, i'll tell you why in a bit.

So the rub is on and my pitmaster is hot, about 250 is where I was able to keep it fairly consistantly, Cooler is better. I used mesquite hardwood charcoal and Apple wood, which is key, a lite smokey flavour is best for me and is part of the reason for only needing a little rub. I kept that going for about 11 hours until I got to roughly 187 degrees with the fat side up!! The video below says 165 to 175 but I have found you need to get it cooked more for it to "pull" apart better. Either you will figure it out as you try and it will taste good no matter if you mess it up or not.

Then one of the most critical parts is to flip the fat side down and WAIT for about 25 minutes at least 45 is better. This lets the jucies settle, which is vital!!

Then it is OMG time, seriously!

The next question for me was sauce. I found out thru reading some blogs and talking to people that most use a vinegar based sauce which was new to me. After trying my favorite ssweet baby ray sauce I saw why. The pork is not "set off" by the tomato based sauce. So the next hunt is what will work for me in the sauce realm. Any comments or suggestion in this endeavor are more than welcome.

More to come...

J