I make pulled pork for a couple of reasons. It's my wife's favorite BBQ. It's high up there on the list for me, as well. It makes for great leftovers -- it's finger food, plus we've got Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza on the menu this week now. And it's easy. Seriously. You don't need a smoker; if you're used to grilling, you'll have almost everything you need already. I'm a charcoal guy. So if you're using gas, more power to you, but you might want to get help somewhere else.
Shopping List
Bone-in Pork Shoulder Roast
Your Choice Dry Rub
Charcoal
Wood Chips
Newspaper
Matches
Beverages/Books to Pass the Time
Tools
7+ Hours to Grill
Charcoal Grill
Tongs
The Meat
Depending on where you are located it's either a Boston Butt, a bone-in shoulder roast, or Picnic Ham (if you're in Boston, strangely enough). I tried to get mine at Fareway. Then at Hy-vee. Neither had any (fresh or packaged) so I went to Wal-mart. They had a few to choose from and since I was cooking for two I grabbed the smallest (least expensive) with the thickest side of fat. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but you need a thick layer of fat on one (and only one) side of the roast because once you place it on the grill it won't be moving for 7+ hours. Putting it fat side down will keep it juicy.
The Night Before
After bringing the roast home, I cut open the package and laid it out on a metal cookie sheet. Then I patted it dry with paper towels (careful not to let any paper towel stick to it). This is where the personalization comes into play. After drying the roast, I massaged a dry rub all over it. The rub that Becky and I have taken to is called Kansas City Sweet and Smoky. I got the recipe for the rub from Steven Raichlen's book How to Grill. (Totally worth it for the recipes alone. Side note: I haven't reproduced the rub recipe here because I'm not sure how copyright works on that kind of thing. Just google around for one.) Just like our award-winning Newlywed Chili (no joke) we like our BBQ on the sweet side. The dry rub consists of a bunch of different dry herbs and spices, but the powerful ingredient is brown sugar. Pour a quarter cup or so of the rub onto the top of the roast and massage it in. I dried the roast for this reason, so get your fingers dirty. After I got done with the top, I poured some into my hands so I could rub it on the sides. After I got the sides rubbed, I flipped it over to rub the bottom. Then I flipped it back over to make sure the fat side is down.
The other piece of prep work to do the night before is to soak the wood chips. Technically speaking, wood chips only need to be soaked for an hour prior to smoking, but I'm not much of a morning person. I get up between 6:30 and 7 on the day I'm smoking, which is not enough time to give the wood chips their full hour under water. So, I've decided to start going overnight with them. I used one of Becky's 9x13 pans with a lid, dropped in the wood chips, and drowned them with water.
Put the top on the 9x13 of wood chips and wrap the meat and cookie sheet in plastic wrap. Put both in the fridge for the night.
Showtime
On the morning of the smoking session, I get up around 6:30. The first thing I do is start some charcoal. Light up around 35-40 coals in the chimney. Greatest invention ever, as far as I'm concerned. Charcoal on top, newspaper on the bottom. Light the newspaper and in around 25 minutes I've got perfectly-charred over charcoal. The key to the chimney is patience. Early on, I made the mistake of dumping the coals into the grill before they were ready. They need to be charred over -- no black.
After getting the charcoal lit, I tend to the grill. I use a 22 1/2 inch Weber kettle grill. To smoke the roast we're using indirect grilling, which means that I need to keep the charcoal separated into two groups on either side of the grill. There should be no charcoal (and thus, heat) directly underneath the meat. I have two rails I use to hold the coals, but Weber also sells baskets, or you don't need either. You can just pile up the coals on either side.
I also have a top grate with sides that fold back for smoking. This way, when you need to add more charcoal (once per hour) you just flip the sides up.
Heat
What I'm doing when I use indirect grilling is turning the grill into an oven. By keeping the lid on for prolonged periods, I'm giving the meat the opportunity to heat up inside out. This is the difference between Barbecuing and Grilling. Because we're smoking the roast, our main goal is a long, steady temperature between 225 and 275 degrees Fahrenheit. The more consistent I can keep the temperature, the better. Because taking the lid off the grill will let precious heat (and smoke) escape, the only time to take lid off is the one time per hour that I add more chips and coals. The easiest way I've found to keep an eye on the temperature inside the grill without taking the top off is to slip a meat thermometer into one of the top vents. Arrange the lid so that the vents are directly over the meat and drop the thermometer in. It won't fall through. Now I can keep any eye on the temp, without losing heat.
It took me a few tries to get the vent positions right to keep it around 250. I keep the top vent just open enough for the thermometer to fit in. I keep the bottom vent open about the same amount. The vent positions will vary depending on location and how much oxygen is getting into the grill. I have also noticed that any changes I make to the vent (opening for higher heat or closing for lower heat) take about 10 minutes to really take effect.
Fire in the Hole
Once I've got the grill set up for indirect heat and preheated to 250 or so, it's time to throw the meat on the grill. Put it right in the middle, between the two piles of coals. Now is when we start smoking. I flip up the sides of the top grate and drop a couple scoops of wood chips onto each pile of coals. It's a good idea to have a pair of longer tongs that are strictly for "dirty work" -- moving charcoals, picking up wood, messing with grates. Then have a more compact pair of tongs for food handling. (Don't ever use a "fork." The last thing you want to do when grilling or BBQing is poke holes in the meat so the juices drain out.)
Pork after one hour under on the hood:
Keeping the Fire Hot
Approximately once an hour more coals and wood chips need to be added. I would suggest adding less than ten coals per side; however, the problem is that twenty coals are a bit tough to get lit in my chimney. That small number of coals leaves empty space which makes it hard for the chimney to work. I usually end up with around thirty coals in the chimney. It only takes fifteen or so minutes to get these coals going. I like to set a timer for 35 minutes after I add coals.
I say approximately because it depends on the heat. If the grill is maintaining its temperature well, I hold off on the coals.
Are We There Yet?
Smoking takes time. The roast in these pictures took a little under eight hours. There are a couple ways to know when the pork is done. The easiest (and most foolproof) is by giving the shoulder bone a tug. When it slides (and I mean slides) out without any fight from the meat, your roast is ready.
It looks burnt. It's not. The dry rub has merely formed a crust. ("But doesn't 'crust' mean burnt?" It doesn't. Good question, though.)
The job is not done yet. What's next is important: let the meat rest. (Or as one of my friends from home would say, "Let your meat loaf.") Use your big grill spatula to move the meat from the grill back to your (washed) cookie sheet and bring it inside. Let it rest. Give it five or ten minutes. It's still slowly cooking, and needs these few minutes to catch its breath.
Now, pull the bone out. Throw it away, mount it on the wall, put it in the freezer (that's where my first one is, for keeps), do whatever you want with it. The fun starts now.
Putting the Pull in Pulled Pork
Forget the knife (seriously). I put in 8 hours of work on this bad boy so I wouldn't have to do any cutting. This meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. That's how I know it's done. Dig in with a fork and start pulling it apart.
Time to Eat
While I've got the grill set up for indirect grilling, I took some baking potatoes, poked holes, and threw them in the middle of the grate for the last hour of cooking. Perfectly baked, with smoky flavor.
There it is. Smoked, pulled pork. Enjoy!
