I have either lived in, or traveled to the major Mecca's of BBQ in this country, and some really important "grilled meat" hot spots in Mexico and South America. I like this cuisine very much!
Being me, I had to try and perfect the method, and I believe I have.
We start off with pork shoulders, or otherwise known as pork butt, and Boston Butt. I buy them from a local source that grows heritage breed Duroc hogs organically. In my opinion, the heritage breeds make such a big difference in quality, I could never go back to commercial pork again. I smoke pork over oak wood. I smoke other meats and fishes over such woods as Mesquite, Hickory. and White Alder wood, as they all have different smoke profiles. I also grew up using oak due to the fact that Live Oak is abundant in Central California where I cut my teeth in BBQ.
The process goes as follows. I start the fire and put the pork shoulders on. I use a hot smoke method that requires only about two hours smoking time. I then pull them of the smoker and dry rub them with our signature dry rub recipe (enclosed below). Then they go into a conventional oven for 8 hours at 250 degrees F (121 C) in 6 inch hotel pans covered with heavy duty foil. Thats it! nothing fancy, nothing difficult, only gooooood! make sure you use a deep, 6 inch hotel pan for the oven time, as the grease rendered is very large in volume, and will destroy your oven, and maybe burn your house down if it overflows the pan. I let it cool on the counter top for two hours, then pull it. It will fall apart easily into long threads.
As far as how to serve it? You can mix it with BBQ sauce, either homemade or store bought, or keep it dry. I can use this product for pulled pork sandwiches, or use it for tamale and empanada fillings, its wonderful as taco meat, etc. I have even used pulled pork as a foil against seafood such as scallops and shrimp. Try this out! Your friends and family will think of you as quite a hero!
Alchemy Dry Rub
1 part kosher salt
1 part ground cumin
2 parts dark brown sugar
1 part black pepper
1 part paprika
1/2 part cayenne pepper (optional)
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