The Pulled Pork Experience

My in-laws had their fortieth wedding anniversary on Sunday.  To celebrate they held a small potluck dinner with a few friends and family.  They were concerned that they wouldn't have enough meat dishes so they asked Mrs. Bugbear and I to bring a meat dish.  Mrs. Bugbear decided that I'd make pulled pork.  I've made pulled pork two or three times since I bought the smoker in June.  This time I thought I'd experiment a bit and make my own BBQ sauce.


Here's the recipe:

5-7 pound pork butt (shoulder)
2-3 cups of Mesquite Wood Chips

Rub:

2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

BBQ sauce:

2 cups ketchup or 2 cups of homemade chili sauce blended
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp of molasses
1/4 cup pickled walnut juice (subsitute Worcestershire sauce in equal amounts)
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 pickled walnuts crushed
2 cups of red onions chopped
1 tbsp of dry mustard mixed to a paste with 2 tsp of water.
Hot sauce of choice to taste (Piri Piri is quite good but a bit salty, tabasco works too)

Prepare the rub and apply to the pork butt refrigerate for about an hour.  Soak the wood chips for about 1/2 hour.  Pre-heat the smoker to about 220-250F and place the wood chips in the smoker.  Once a good smoke is being produced place the pork butt inside with the fat side up.  Smoke until a leathery coating forms on the pork but (between 4 and 6 hours) remove the pork butt from the smoker, place on a broiling pan and cover with tinfoil.  Place in oven set at 220F until the internal temperature of the pork butt reaches 185F.  Remove the pork butt from the oven and let the stand for an hour and then shred.  Mix with about a third of the BBQ sauce.

The BBQ sauce can be prepared while the pork butt is resting.  Place all the ingredients except the ketchup in a medium sauce pan.  Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes, then add the ketchup and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve the shredded pork on whole wheat sourdough bread.