Pulled Pork Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 – 12 hours
- Total Time: 41 minute
- Category: Pork
- Method: Low & Slow
- Cuisine: BBQ
Description
Pulled pork from a pork butt is a great recipe for BBQ newbies and experienced pitmasters alike. If you want to try your hand at smoking a large hunk of meat that will take 8 hours or more, give this receipe a try. Pork butts are huge and forgiving slabs of meat. If temperatures get away from you for part of the cook, you can recover. If you forget to do something along the way, you can recover. A pork butt is the type of meat where you can make mistakes along the way and still wind up with excellent tasting food.
I also recommend smoking a pork butt if you just got a new a smoker. It’s a great way to “break your smoker in”. The long cook will give you plenty of opportunities to really learn how your smoker works. Best of all, pork butts are not expensive. You should be able to score a 10 lb. butt for less than $25.
Ingredients
- 1 pork butt
- Your favorite BBQ rub (I recommend going with something savory with a hint of sweet; Mississippi Grind is my current favorite for pork butts but you can use whatever you have on-hand and it will turn out great)
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 aluminum pan
- Aluminum foil
Instructions
- Get your smoker up to temperature. Any temperature between 225 – 275 degrees F will work.
- Prepare your pork butt by removing hard pockets and excess fat. Score the remaining fat left on the fat side of the butt with a knife (like hashtags or a tic tac toe board).
- Slather the pork butt with mustard or mayonaise to give the rub something to stick to.
- Season all side of the pork butt. It’s OK to go heavy with the seasoning.
- When the smoker is up to temperature, place the pork butt inside the smoker. Place the butt fat side up if you’re smoking with a stick burner. For everything else, place the butt fat side down.
- Spritz the pork butt every 2 hours with apple cider vinegar.
- After the butt has reached 165-175 degrees you can speed up the cooking and tenderizing process by placing the butt in an aluminum pan. Slice the stick of butter and place small all over the top of the butt. Sprinkle some more rub onto the butt. Cover the butt in the aluminum pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. Seal it tightly.
- Continue smoking until the pork butt gets to at least 203 degrees F internal in the thickest part.
- Remove from the smoker and let it rest for at least 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, put on a pair of sanitary heat protective gloves because the pork butt will still be hot! Using your gloved hands, pull out the bone from the pork butt (it should easily slide out) and hold it up like a trophy! Then begin to shred the pork butt with your hands. Sprinkle more of the rub onto the meat and mix it in well.
Congratulations, you now have fantastic shredded pork!
Keywords: barbecue, barbeque, BBQ, pork, pork butt, Boston butt, picnic shoulder, pork shoulder, shredded pork, learn how to barbecue, how to bbq right, low and slow, smoking meat, bbq smoker
