Sorry, I couldn't help it……
The Missus has been wanting me to make pulled pork since She had the Pulled Pork Hash at Nate's. I'd been wanting to use my meat injector (now that just sounds wrong), so I bought a bone in 7 1/2 pound butt Friday on the way home from work.
So before going to bed I had a chance to….ahem…play with my butt.
I basically used Slap Yo Daddy's Bone In Pork Butt recipe as a guide, making some adjustments for our taste. First thing's first, the injection sauce:
1 Cup Apple Juice
1/2 Cup Turbinado Sugar
3 Tb Kosher Salt
1 Tb Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tb Rib Rub
3 Tb White Vinegar
1 Tb Ghost Pepper Louisiana style Hot Sauce
I decided to name my butt, "Ben Dover"…….
For obvious reasons……
I reserved a half cup of the liquid and injected the rest in a 1 1/2 inch grid pattern over the pork. I then used about 3/4 cup of my rib rub on the butt.
I then tucked Ben in for the night…..
I got up at 5am, got my act together, got the smoker going. At six I put Ben into the smoker.
I kept the pork as cold as possible before smoking, which creates a better smoke ring……..I also kept the fat cap on, laying it fat side down.
After five hours things looked good…..
The butt was hitting about 160. Because the Missus had promised folks at work pulled pork, I needed to finish up fairly quickly, so I went with the Texas Crutch like Slap Yo Daddy recommends. I used a double layer of foil and poured this mixture over the butt – SYD uses butter, I did not, I did add the leftover injection mixture though.
6 ounces beer (in this case Tecate)
1/2 cup leftover injection liquid
1/2 cup tubinado sugar
2 Tb Ghost Pepper Louisiana style Hot Sauce
I left things alone for 2 hours then started checking the temp. After 3 hours it hit 195 and I removed it and let it sit for an hour.
I poured off all the fat and liquid, which had some nice fat since I left the fat cap on the pork. I removed all the liquid and used two forks to pull the pork. I had a taste and basically used the technique from my Oven Kalua Pork recipe to reintroduce some fat/liquid into the pork. I also added about two tablespoons of Maldon Sea Salt; I had cut down on the amount of salt in my rib rub, so this was a necessary step.
The flavors were quite nice; it really didn't need any sauce. In the end, The Missus got Her veggies and pulled pork, Her coworkers got their pork, and I got a pretty decent sandwich.
Da' Boyz also made out. Whenever I smoke, i'll do something for them. This time around I saw Beef Knee Bones on sale at Zion Market and bought a bunch. I smoked these up so Frankie has a once a week treat.
I guess everyone wins when I play with my butt???
