Pulled Pork

Ingredients

·       1 large pork shoulder, picnic or butt (5 – 6 lbs)

·       3 tablespoons smoked paprika

·       3 tablespoons salt

·       2 tablespoons black pepper

·       1 tablespoon garlic powder

·       2 tablespoons ground cumin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and then rub all over the pork until evenly covered.  Place in a thick roasting pan and cover with aluminum foil if it doesn’t come with a lid.  Leave in the oven for 5-6 hours, checking every hour after 4.  It’s ready when it literally falls off the bone or if boneless, it falls apart.  It shouldn’t be tough in the slightest.

With two forks, shred the pork and remove the bone if there is one. Squirt all over with BBQ sauce (I prefer a vinegar one) and then I like to pile high on a split biscuit and top with cole slaw.

Additional recipes:

Vinegar BBQ Sauce

The key here is to get it to taste to your preference, so here’s a basic recipe but feel free to tinker with it with some ideas below. Keep the sweet/salt/sour balance though.  You don’t want it to be too heavy in one area.

Ingredients

·       1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar

·       2 tablespoons brown sugar

·       2 tablespoons butter

·       1 tablespoon smoked paprika

·       1 teaspoon chipotle in adobe, pureed

·       1 teaspoon black pepper

·       1 teaspoon salt

Optional add ins and tweaks: Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, minced garlic, tomato paste or ketchup, bourbon

Directions

Heat ingredients in a saucepan until sugar melts.  If you’d like to thin it out a bit, add ½ cup of water. Set aside

I like Mark Bittman’s no Mayo Slaw: http://markbittman.com/spicy-no-mayo-coleslaw/