Lazy Sunday Pulled Pork
Ingredients
1 very fresh bone-in pork shoulder
1 bag of Basques Hardwood Charcoal
A dozen pieces of wood for smoking (the size of a fist, cherry wood works best for this recipe)
Barbecue rub:
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- ½ cup of coarse salt
- ½ cup of paprika
- 1 tbsp. of black pepper
- 1 tbsp. of Cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp. of onion or celery salt
Basting sauce:
- 1 cup of vinegar
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- ½ chopped onion
- 2 chopped cloves of garlic
- ¼ cup of maple syrup
- 1 tbsp. of Red Hot sauce
- 2 tbsps. of tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tsp. of ground pepper
- ½ tsp. of onion salt
Method
Prepare the rub on Saturday evening. Massage 3 tbsps. of the mix into the meat to work in the flavour and the colour. Cover with plastic wrap and store the piece of meat in the refrigerator overnight.
On Sunday morning, at around 6 AM, put the pork shoulder in the oven at 275ºF on baking paper and leave it to partially cook until 8 AM. This is an optional stage, but using a traditional oven often makes our favourite recipes even more delicious!
07:30, time to light the charcoal and get your grill ready for smoking. Soak your cherry wood blocks in a water-beer mixture. When the charcoal is lit, lower the temperature of the cooking equipment to 250-275ºF.
To cool down the charcoal, smother it or spray a jet of cold water on it. Take a plastic water bottle and cut a slit into the lid to make a perfect make-shift squirter bottle! This will allow you to slow down cooking or put out a grease fire in your barbecue, for example!
Baste the meat with the basting sauce on both sides every 25 minutes and add some wood pieces to the charcoal if it is no longer smoking. If you can, place your pieces of wood around the charcoal and not on top of it; this will help them smoke for longer before burning.
Total smoke time varies, it depends on the size of the piece of meat and the temperature used. The interior temperature of your meat must reach at least 195ºF. The meat is ready when the bone moves easily. The surface of the meat should be very dark. After resting for 15 minutes in aluminium foil, you should easily be able to shred the meat using a fork.
Bon appétit!
