The recipe comes from AmazingRibs.com. You can click here to jump over to the recipe. AmazingRibs.com is a very cool website because it's a lot more than just recipes. There's reviews of products and discussions on the how's and why's of smoking/BBQ-ing/grilling foods. The recipes include the techniques used to help you produce great results.
When I did my shopping for this recipe, I picked up a pork shoulder instead of the butt that's called for. Happily, it turned out yummy anyway!
The rub was made up of brown sugar, white sugar, kosher salt, paprika, garlic powder, ground ginger, ground black pepper, onion powder and rosemary powder.
You can't be shy when it comes to rubbing your butt (or shoulder)! Just roll up your sleeves and get right in there. A nice coating of oil helps the rub stick to your butt. It's important to rub your own butt. If you get into trouble rubbing someone else's butt, do not try to blame me! You're on your own.
Butt, I digress...here's my well-rubbed butt...(or shoulder as the case may be!)
When I did my shopping for this recipe, I picked up a pork shoulder instead of the butt that's called for. Happily, it turned out yummy anyway!
Butt, I digress...here's my well-rubbed butt...(or shoulder as the case may be!)
Before I become the butt of your jokes, I'll stop with the butt jokes.
The key to success in smoking something like this pork shoulder is a digital thermometer with a probe. The collagen (connective tissue) in in the meat needs to soften in order for it to be come tender. That begins to happen when the meat is at 170 degrees. It's not done though until it's at a minimum of 195 degrees. The digital thermometer allows you to monitor what's going on inside that hunk of meat while it's cooking. You can see the probe and wire coming out of the left side.)
(Pardon me for just one minute while I bite my tongue to keep from making another butt joke, since I'm using a thermometer with a probe.)
OK, I'm back.
Here's the thermometer monitor not long after I started cooking. The shoulder is at 46 degrees.
I chose pecan wood for the smoking. It's supposed to have a nice mellow and subtly sweet flavor. My Bradley Smoker uses these special bisquettes.
The nice thing about the Bradley smoker is that the temperature is easily regulated. For this recipe, you'll want to keep the temperature inside the smoker at between 225 and 250 degrees.
After eight hours, the pork was at 196 degrees.
I stuck a fork in it and twisted it a bit to see if the meat was tender. It started to pull apart, so it was done.
There should be a way to electronically share the scent of this smoked pork. Words don't do it justice.
That dark crust on the outside is the best part. It's called the bark and is the hallmark of smoked meat. It's chewy, intensely flavored heaven, let me tell you! I love, love LOVE it!
The pork shoulder was juicy and falling-apart tender, just as it should be. All it took was some gentle shredding with two forks...
I resisted the extremely strong urge to keep all of the bark pieces for myself and mixed them in with the rest of the meat. It really kicks up the flavor. That didn't stop me from helping myself to some of the especially yummy-looking bits as I was shredding it, though. It's the cook's prerogative! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
G.W. and I didn't even bother to get sandwich buns. We just piled the pulled pork into bowls, topped it with some of my secret recipe homemade BBQ sauce and stuffed our faces. I love being a carnivore!
This summer, I'm thinking I should find a BBQ contest and try my luck with this recipe!
My next smoker project will be a brisket. Any Texans out there have some recipe suggestions?
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