Growing up in Texas, we ate more beef than pork bar-b-que. So, "pulled" pork was not something I learned to love like the folks in Memphis, Tennessee do. However, I have become a devote to pork shoulder or pork "butt" in my later years.
This 4th of July was a perfect time to use an entire day to cook some pork shoulders while swimming, swinging in a hammock and sitting on a porch.
We cooked two pork shoulder, or pork butts, as they are known, pretty nigh on to twelve hours. To critical acclaim if I do say so. Here is how we did it. Hope you enjoy.
For pork butt or shoulder, the reason a lot of people don’t mess with it, if you really want a good result, you have to cook it for about twelve hours, sometimes even longer. I’ve seen it go fifteen hours for a really big one and/or if the fire gets too low. It takes patience, pre-planning and a long day of putzing around the house, because you can’t get too far from the fire.
Using Woody’s Cooking Sauce, (which after Katrina was hard to find because it is made in N.O. but is available now in most grocery stores here in Texas) coat thoroughly the first time by pouring it on and spreading with the backside of a spoon. Put in a shallow pan (which I think is important, as it is the way I personally prefer to do it) away from the heat. The reason I prefer a pan, is that I have used the juices as a baste before, and in a pan it tends to not dry out as it sometimes does on a grill if the fire accidentally gets too hot.
You can also use a “bullet” smoker if you like which has a water pan between the fire and the meat for cooking with indirect heat.
I baste throughout the day at two hour (sooner can interrupt the cooking in my opinion), or so, intervals with Woody’s, using a brush or sopping cloth on a handle. Toward the second half and end you can do so more frequently.
Cook over indirect heat at 210 Degrees with lots of your favorite smoking wood (which is also key). Keeping the temperature constant at about 210 - 220, which is very low, is an absolute must. I like mesquite or pecan, but it is up to you. It will have a dark outer coating toward the end of the day but continue to baste with Woody’s and use the juices to baste with before the next application of sauce if you want. Time it so the last coating of Woody’s is about two hours before you take it off the grill or long enough that it has dried completely from the surface of the meat. I used one entire jar of Woody’s on both of the butts we cooked, but have used the same amount on one butt.
If it is done right, you will have about a half to quarter inch outside darkness and then a light bar-b-que pink throughout the rest of it. Oh, yeah, baby.
Let sit for ten or fifteen minutes loosely covered in aluminum foil after you remove it. I prefer not to serve it as “pulled” pork, but to slice like a roast which might anger some Memphisians, so I apologize in advance. That is when I use the Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce. To me, the high garlic content of Woody’s and the smoke flavoring is complemented by the sweetness of Ray’s. A little bit of the juices also makes for a wonderful “gravy” to moisten it even a bit more.
As soon as I get a picture of my butts, I will share them as well. Many who partook said they had never had such fine butt before. And, I had to agree, good butt on the 4th is hard to beat.
