Honey Brined Smoked Pulled Pork Food

PULLED PORK

Steps:

• Video: Watch Alton make this recipe
• Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6-quart Lexan. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.
• Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.
• Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex gloves during the application.
• Preheat smoker to 210 degrees F. Place butt in smoker and cook for 10 to12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing as desired.

CIDER BRINED PULLED PORK

Steps:

• In a large plastic container or food safe bucket, combine all of the brine ingredients and stir until the salt and sugar crystals have completely dissolved. Be sure the pork is almost fully immersed in the brine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, but no more than 12 hours.
• When ready to cook, start your smoker going at 225 degrees F and preheat, lid closed, for 10 to 15 minutes. While the grill gets up to temperature, remove the pork from the brine and set on a large cookie sheet with raised edges. Do not discard the brine liquid. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel. Using a meat injector, inject the pork with some of the remaining brine about every two inches across the entire roast. Pour about 6 cups of the remaining brine into a pot and bring to a boil to kill any raw pork germs and discard the rest.
• Now that the meat is brined and injected, it is time to rub. Rub the Sweet Rub liberally onto your pork butt, using your hands to massage the rub across every surface of the meat.
• Put the pork directly on your grill grate, fat-side up, and cook for 3 hours, mopping with your reserved brine every hour after the first hour.
• After 3 hours, the pork is going to have taken on as much smoke flavor as it can, so it is time to turn up the heat! Transfer your roast to a large disposable aluminum foil pan and pour about 1 cup of the brine liquid in the bottom of the pan. Increase your grill temperature to 250 degrees F, and cook for 6 to 8 additional hours, or until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat (but not touching bone) registers 195 to 200 degrees F. If the pork starts to brown too much, you can cover it loosely with aluminum foil. I usually put foil on after the pork has been on for 6 hours or so, but that is personal preference.
• Once your pork is up to temperature, remove it from the grill and carefully transfer it to a large cutting board or serving dish and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. Pour the juices from the bottom of the aluminum pan into a liquid measuring cup and separate any fat that rises to the top. Now it's time to pull the pork into lovely shreds. You can use your hands, Bear Paws, or whatever method you like Discard the bone and any lumps of fat, including the cap. Season the pulled pork with additional rub (if desired) and moisten with the reserved pork juice.
• Serve on buns with BBQ sauce, if you like! Freeze any leftovers in labeled gallon freezer bags. Will keep in the freezer for at least a month for your future use.

BOB'S PULLED PORK ON A SMOKER

Steps:

• Place pork shoulder in a large pot and add enough apple cider to cover. Combine white sugar, brown sugar, salt, paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Mix about 1/4 cup sugar rub into cider; reserve remaining rub.
• Cover pot and refrigerate for 12 hours.
• Prepare smoker to about 210 degrees F (99 degrees C). Add enough wood chips to smoker.
• Pour cider brine into the water pan of the smoker; add onion and about 1/4 cup more sugar rub. Spread remaining rub over pork shoulder. Transfer pork to the center of smoker.
• Smoke pork until very tender, about 8 hours. Monitor hickory chips and liquid, adding more wood and water, respectively, as needed. Transfer pork to a large platter and cool for 30 minutes before shredding with forks.

HONEY BRINED SMOKED PULLED PORK

Steps:

• Combine the hot water and the salt (brine ingredients) in a 54-quart cooler. Stir until the salt dissolves. Stir in the vegetable broth and the honey. Add the ice and stir. Place the pork in the brine, fat cap up, and cover with cooler lid. Brine overnight, up to 12 hours.
• Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry thoroughly. Rub the butt(s) with the vegetable oil. Then add your favorite rub mixture (I included recipe for mine above). Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to sit in fridge at least 3 more hours. Then remove and rest at room temperature for 1 more hour while you pre-heat the grill to 250 degrees F.
• Using a smoker, place pork over indirect heat in smoker with hickory wood, (if you have one, insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the pork, and set the alarm for 165 degrees F. If you don't have one, you will have to use a stick thermometer every hour after about 10 hours.) Close the lid and cook for at least 4 hours.
• After 4 hours check the pork; if the surface is golden brown, cover with aluminum foil tent and continue cooking. Once the butt(s) reach 165 degrees F (about 14 hours), remove from grill, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 1 hour. Shred then add favorite bbq sauce. (The best brand is Sven's Sizzlin Sauce, but if you can't find that Famous Dave's Sweet and Zesty will work as well.).
• For my homemade Carolina Style bbq sauce (also good as a marinade):.
• 5 cups cider vinegar 5 tbl kosher salt 2 ½ tsp cayenne pepper 1 tbl + 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes ¾ cup brown sugar.
• Combine and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 6 hours to let flavors blend before using. I usually make it just before I load the meat into the smoker. Then add this sauce to moisten the shredded meat about 1 cup at a time until meat is wet enough to your liking. (About 3½ to 4 cups per 10 pounds of meat for me, you may not like as much or more, here's a hint: taste often until it's the way you like it.) Then you can add some of the store brand sauce of your choice, to "kick it up a notch", if you wish.
• Then, I usually finish it by adding a little more of the dry rub. Feel free to experiment with this one, you may or may not want to add any more once the sauce is applied.

SMOKED PULLED PORK

Steps:

• Soak your hickory chips overnight.
• Mix together all ingredients except the Boston Butt. Liberally coat the pork with the dry rub mixture, really rubbing it into the meat.
• Place your charcoal grates at the lowest setting and your food rack at the highest setting in your grill. Pour charcoal in the grill and light. Once the coals are ready, move all the coals to one side. Place a pan of water on the other side. (An old aluminum pan from a pan of rolls works well -- something disposable).
• Place the meat on the cold side of the grill, fat side up. Add hickory chips to the charcoal and close the lid.
• Add more chips every 20 to 30 minutes. Add charcoal as needed, being careful not to let the fire die.
• Continue to smoke the pork for 9 hours. If you prefer not to have a crispy outside, you can wrap the meat in heavy duty aluminum foil for the last three hours of cooking.
• Remove from the heat and "pull" the meat. This means to separate the meat from any fat, gristle or bone, pulling the meat into strips suitable for sandwiches.
• Toss the meat with a vinegar hot sauce. (Optional).
• Serve with barbecue sauce on a hamburger bun.

BEGINNER'S PULLED PORK

Steps:

• Combine sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl.
• Using a fork, prick pork all over.
• Rub sugar mixture over pork, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8-24 hours.
• Unwrap pork and place in slow cooker.
• Spread barbecue sauce evenly over pork, cover, and cook until pork is tender, 9-11 hours on LOW or 5-7 hours on HIGH.
• Transfer pork to large bowl; let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces discarding excess fat; cover to keep warm.
• Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using a large spoon.
• Season with salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar to taste.
• Toss shredded pork with 1 cup braising liquid; add more liquid as needed to keep meat moist.
• Serve on buns with pickle chips and more barbecue sauce.

SMOKED PULLED PORK

Steps:

• Mix the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Massage the mixture all over the roast. Allow the roast to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.
• While your roast is resting, light the charcoal for your grill and soak 2 handfuls of hickory chips in water. You'll need enough charcoal for a medium hot grill , about 350 F to 450°F For a 22 inch Weber, that is about 30-40 briquettes. In addition, you'll need a method of lighting additional coals to add during the cooking process to maintain the temperature of the grill.
• When the coals are ready, divide them in half and push each half to opposite sides of the grill. You'll cook the roast in the center using indirect heat. You may also place a small pan in the center, between the coals, to catch the drippings. Add water to the pan to prevent the grease from smoking if desired. Drain excess water from hickory chips and place chips directly on charcoal.
• Grill the pork butt until the meat is very tender but still juicy, about 185 F to 190 F, turning every hour or so. Grilling time will be 5 - 6 hours, so you will need to add additional hot coals to the grill at least once during the process.
• When done, remove the pork from the grill and cover loosely with foil. Let rest for 30 minutes.
• Warm 2 cups of your favorite prepared barbecue sauce, or make your own.
• Pull the pork into shreds using your fingers or two forks. Combine pork in a large bowl with enough sauce to moisten. Mix well and serve on toasted buns topped with your favorite coleslaw.