As part of Vultureback, I like to share some of by culinary creations from time to time. With Super Bowl 50 just a few days away, I’ll be making some Pulled Pork to have on sandwiches or heck, just to stuff in your face to fight off the tears from football being over.
For starters, make sure you find yourself a nice big Boston Butt. For those not in the know, they refer to the shoulder of a pig as the butt. No idea why. Also, be sure to find one with a nice layer of fat on it, this will be important later in order to complete the journey to Pork Valhalla.
Next, when you get that big piece of beast home, you will want to put a nice spice rub on it. For me, I just shamelessly ripped off this recipe from Extraordinary BBQ. Seriously, check those guys out, they have some pretty great ways to make a guy overweight. Before you put that rub on though, be sure to make some shallow slices on that fat cap I discussed earlier. Once you have done that, put that rub all over the meat. I typically let the shoulder then rest a night to really soak in that rub.
After a rest for the night, get that pork out and get ready to smoke it! Don’t have a smoker? Not sure what I can do for you. Go here for some recipes on how to cook this without using smoke. Me, I’ve got a smoker. I use a mixture of applewood and hickory smoke, but whatever floats your boat here. I also smoke my butt at 225-250 degrees for five hours. What I’m looking to achieve here is a good smokey flavor, along with some nice bark on the butt as well. Check on the butt every hour or so, being sure to spray it with apple juice to keep it moist, as well as sprinkling more rub on it as well.
Once five hours are up, I take my butt out and then wrap it in tin foil to get it to tenderize. At this point, I also insert a probe thermometer. I’m looking to get an internal temperature of 200 degrees right on the nose. At this temperature, the pork will fall apart beautifully and be as tender as can be. To get to 200 degrees, it’ll take a while. A long while. We’re talking many hours here if your butt is five pounds or more. Your patience will be rewarded.
Once the beast finally reaches 200 degrees, take it out of the oven and then let it rest. If you start ripping it apart like Kam Chancellor ripping out a ball, it’ll become pretty dry. Not good. So let it rest for an hour so those juices redistribute. Once that’s done, pull it however you’d like, I usually just use some forks. Then, serve! I’ll take mine on a bun with a bit of sauce and some coleslaw on top please.
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