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| Rob's Recipes - PORK | ||
BBQ PULLED PORKDon’t be scared off by the long directions; all of this is fairly easy and WELL worth it. Also, this can all be done in one day with great results. I provide guidelines if you want to truly make this a labor of love and do the dish over the course of 2-3 days, but trust me, either way this is a fantastic meal. I am told by a friend that this dish works equally as well by using an oven as opposed to a grill and following the directions below. I have not tried it, but I trust the friend that told me so if you are more comfortable using an oven, go for it. There is almost nothing to not love about this dish! 1. It’s made with a very inexpensive, accessible cut of pork 2. Since it’s pork, the other white meat, it’s nutritious and fairly low in fat, comparatively to other meat dishes 3. There is almost nothing to not love about this dish! 4. Though seemingly time consuming, it’s easy and takes very little effort on your part. 5. It produces a ton of outstanding food that provides a variety of leftovers that only get better in the days following the preparation. 6. It’s versatile; I like to eat the finished pork with a fork right off of the serving plate. My wife piles hers high on a potato bun with onions ands makes a BBQ pork sandwich. The possibilities are endless. \ The general idea here is to slow roast a pork butt (which has nothing to do with the pig’s ass) until the meat is so tender it literally pulls apart with ease. I have made this dish with both boneless and on-the-bone pork butts with identical success. This BBQ version is for people who love tender, juicy pork and great BBQ sauce. My BBQ sauce (recipe below) is a balanced version of tangy and sweet. If you have a sauce you prefer, substitute it for my sauce as you go in the directions below. Both the dry rub and injections I describe below are necessary in my opinion as they provide a seasoning base and cooking liquid for the meat. I’d suggest trying the recipe once using my formula so that you get a feel for it, then experimenting from there. Trust me, once you’ve had this dish you’ll be dying to make it over and over again. In a perfect world, the steps below are done over the course of 24-48 hours to allow the seasonings to settle into the meat, but it all works in the course of one great Saturday too. 1 Pork shoulder butt roast 3-5 pounds. (Your choice of either boneless or on the bone. I prefer boneless. Also, I have seen the boneless tied and untied, again your choice. I prefer the un-tied version.) I suggest looking for what they call a Boston butt roast of about 4 pounds. Every super market sells these. 1 disposable aluminum baking pan sized and shaped to snugly hold the roast. I suggest finding a roast that perfectly matches a 5 pound loaf pan (11 ¾ x 5 5/8 x 3 3/16) 1 batch of dry rub, recipe below. DRY RUB1 tablespoon paprika
VINEGAR SAUCE¾ cup apple cider vinegar 1. Mix together all of the dry rub ingredients 2. Evenly distribute dry rub across and throughout entire pork roast. 3. Place roast in baking pan (if you are planning days ahead, at this point place the pork, covered into a refrigerator overnight and then proceed to step 4 the next day. If not, proceed immediately to step #4) 4. Mix together all of the vinegar sauce 5. Using a meat injector, find random, evenly distributed spots along the roast to inject the sauce into the heart of the meat. Some of the sauce will and should escape the meat and into the bottom of the pan. 6. Cover baking pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow roast to sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours prior to cooking (preferably it would be refrigerated again overnight after step 5 and cooked the next day after assuming room temperature but we don’t all have three days to wait for such an awesome dish) 7. Preheat grill to 500-525 degrees (all burners at high) 8. Place aluminum baking pan directly in the center of your grill, close the lid and allow to sear for 15 minutes 9. After 15 minutes, lower heat controls on your grill so that within an additional 15 minutes (30 minutes total cooking time) your grill is at 275 degrees. This will take some tinkering with your grill. You may have to turn all of your burners off and restart them at low, etc. Make sure to leave the grill lid closed throughout the process. 10. Roast the pork at 275 degrees for an additional 2 hours beyond the 30 minutes that has already occurred. 11. Remove roast from grill, leaving grill burning. Remove aluminum foil lid and discard all of the liquid in the pan. 12. Using two dinner forks facing away from one another, pull apart the pork into large chunks in the roasting pan and then pour approximately 2 ½ cups of BBQ sauce over the meat. 13. Cover pan again tightly with foil and cook for an additional 30 minutes at 275. 14. At this point the meat is ready. I serve it by pulling it apart into smaller, just larger than bite size pieces and placing it on a large platter, allowing people to either make sandwiches or eat as is. Serve remaining fresh BBQ sauce on the side. BARBEQUE SAUCEThis will make more than the 4 cups you need for the pulled pork which is great if you have guests who really want to mop their pork, or this is a great sauce to freeze and have on hand. This is the sauce I use for my baby back ribs each year at the 4th of July party and is also excellent on chicken and basically any other meat that lends itself to bbq sauce. This sauce is slightly spicy and not too sweet. 1 medium/large red onion chopped (If you like a thicker and/or sweeter bbq sauce you can also add 2-3 tablespoons of molasses OR 3-4 tablespoons brown sugar) 1. Over medium high heat, sauté the onion, celery and garlic until translucent (approx 5 minutes) 2. Add all the remaining ingredients, and simmer sauce, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until smooth. Puree sauce in a blender or food processor, it’s ready! |
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