BBQ Pulled Pork

The new grill.......

Let me start by saying that you will soon see lots of BBQ recipes here since my hubby just got his dream grill..... It has a smoker attached!!!! The BBQ obsession began long ago.. When my hubby and I first got together we soon realized that we both loved BBQ. So when we decided to take a month long road trip for our Honeymoon, and realized that we were going to be driving thru some of the best BBQ places on earth... Tennessee, Georgia, The Carolina's  we went online to see where the locals eat because they always have the lowdown on the best eats! Two of our favorites were in Tennessee  although we happened to be in Tennessee during Thanksgiving, that didn't stop us from getting our BBQ. We stopped at one of Elvis Presley's old haunts A and R BBQ which happens to be on Elvis Presley Blvd. We had Pulled Pork and Fried Pickles that's right I said Fried pickles. Soooo Yummy!!! We also stopped at Jacks Bar-B-Que in Nashville , where I will admit we ate at twice during our 3 day stop there. We each had... you guessed it Pulled Pork plate... are we seeing a trend here. Jack's was so good that I just ordered some of there sauce to try out with the new smoker!!  You walk into these places and you can hear the banging of the cleavers chopping the meat.. its great!! 

So we live in Massachusetts not exactly a haven for BBQ joints except the chain restaurants which in no way can compare to the places we ate. So the next best thing is to try to do it ourselves.Pulled pork has become a favorite in our house and I have a great slow cooker recipes but have never smoked it. When the smoker came into our lives I had to reevaluate my recipe, not sure if it would jive with the smoker. So we did a trial this weekend with the original slow cooker recipe sauce and as good as it was we wanted to try a new sauce.  Since this was my hubby's project he was also in charge of the sauce. He had made a great sauce the other day when he smoked a whole Chicken so I knew that this sauce would be just as good, and let me tell you he did not disappoint, it was fantastic. So  here we go folks now its just my hubby  the camera and the smoker..

BBQ Pulled Pork my hubby's version

Items needed:

Smoker

Foil Pan

Dry Rub.. We always start with a dry rub even if its going into the slow cooker.

• 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tbsp Paprika
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin

*****I taste the rub for spiciness and sweetness and add more if I feel it needs it****

• 7 1/2lb Pork Shoulder
• Pork Rub
• 1 spray bottle with water~to tame the flames if they get out of hand
• 1 spray bottle with 3 parts Apple juice 1 part apple cider vinegar~to keep the pork juicy
• BBQ Sauce , recipe follows
  

 Place shoulder in a large bowl that will fit in your fridge, rub the pork all over with rub, making sure to get in the nooks and crannies. Wrap shoulder in plastic wrap and place in fridge over night it will form a marinade Take meat out of fridge and let rest for one hour before you put it in the smoker...... Ok so we ran out of plastic wrap so I had to use a plastic bag

Light charcoal in a starter and place coals in smoker, follow instructions for your grill or smoker

We used apple wood smoking chips which we had to put in a foil packet because it was more like wood dust than chips....

  Make sure to put holes in the foil to allow the smoke to come thru

Place the wood chip pouch on top of the hot coals

Place pork onto a foil pan to avoid the fat dripping onto the coals and starting a fire like we did the first time we used the smoker....

 Making sure that the temp stays in the ideal range, which for us is 225 degrees some people like to smoke it at a lower or higher temp we found this temp to be just right. 

And this is what you get, oh almost forgot we sprayed it with the apple/vinegar mixture once every hour. 

After cooking for any where between 4 1/2 -6 hours, the meat should be around 190 degrees or so and is ready to rest for a while... We wrapped ours in tin foil and let it rest for a good 2-3 hours then the shredding began....

Ok so I could be dainty and say use a fork to shred but come on folks sometimes you have to get dirty.. The fork is good for some of the shredding but the hands are the real tools!! Here comes my hubby's fabulous sauce.....

Home made BBQ Sauce

• 2 tbs French's Yellow Mustard
• 3 tbs honey
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c apple juice
• 2 tbs Franks Red hot sauce
• 1 tsp brown  sugar
• 1/2- 3/4 Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce, we used the Brown Sugar version
• 2 tbs Ketchup
  
• salt and pepper to taste

• Whisk together and heat in microwave at 30 seconds intervals and whisk in between  
• Mix together with the pulled pork and serve on toasted buns.

Eat and Enjoy!!!!!