Pulled pork is great. This recipe is great. If you have any reason to make pulled pork, use this recipe. It is actually super easy and will make you feel like a rockstar because it can all be prepared a day before your party so you can hang out and celebrate with all your friends... and it really is the world's best pulled pork.
It consists of 3 parts: pulled pork, cole slaw and an amazing homemade barbecue sauce.
Pulled Pork
Ingredients:
5-10 lb Pork Roast, shoulder or butt, both are good.
1/4 cup paprika (if cooking in oven, you can use smoked paprika)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 Tbs kosher or sea salt
1 Tbs fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 sprigs thyme
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3-4 cloves crushed garlic
3 Tbs olive oil
Like I said, this recipe is easy, but it takes time. In this case, 2-3 days...
Day 1:
Rinse and dry the pork roast and set on a rack on a baking sheet. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl. It should be like a paste. Take handfuls of the paste and rub it all over, and into all the little cracks and crevices of the pork. There should not be a single part of the pork that isn't well coated with the rub.
Now cover the pork and put it in the refrigerator for the night. Let sit 8-12 hours.
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| Pork roast covered in rub. |
Day 2:
If you are going all out on this recipe, fire up your smoker. If not, the oven is just as good, it just doesn't have the same smokey delicious flavor.
Smoker: Use 1 pan alder chips for first hour, add one more pan alder chips after that, then let continue cooking in smoker for about 4-6 more hours OR you can move it into a preheated 325 degree oven for another 2-3 hours.
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| Here is the smoker. The Big Chief is the best smoker out there... |
Oven: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Set pork in oven and cook 4-5 hours.
The pork will be dark when it comes out. How do you know when its done? It will be super tender and the meat should easily pull away when you go to sample a piece...
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| That looks about right... |
If you are serving the pork today let it rest at least a 1/2 hour before you try to pull it apart.
If you are waiting until day 3 to serve it, you can let it cool completely, then refrigerate until game day.
The easiest way to pull the pork is just to get in there with clean bare hands and pull it apart. Don't be shy, you can wash your hands when it's all over(Mattias). Usually the smaller the better, but I think it's good the leave some big chunks here and there.
WHILE the pork is cooking, make the barbecue sauce.
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1-2 Tbs A-1 Steak sauce (for Roy)
3-4 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until combined and smooth. You can also add the pan drippings from the pork pan if you want a little extra something in there.
Once you have the pork pulled and the sauce finished, add about 2/3 of the barbecue sauce to the meat and keep warm either in a slow cooker or dutch oven. It can cook in the slow cooker here for a few hours, it just keeps getting better as the sauce and meat cook together...
So that's the pulled pork and barbecue sauce, but what really ties the thing together is the coleslaw. It is really light and refreshing and the perfect compliment to the pork.
The Citrus Slaw
1 small head red cabbage, shredded or chopped very fine
1 small head green cabbage, shredded or chopped very fine
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup FRESH squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs honey
1-2 Tbs. grated ginger
2 Tbs lime juice
1-2 tsp Chili Garlic Sauce (sambal oelek, find it near sriracha in the store)
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
Combine all ingredients and let sit about 1-2 hours before serving. You can also prepare this all the day before and combine the dressing and cabbage 1-2 before serving.
So that's it. Serve it all together on a nice bun with some good side dishes and good friends and your all set.
Enjoy!
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