Remember last week when we were talking about company recipes? This is one of those recipes. I’ll never forget the first time I had this *perfect* pulled pork. I was a guest in someone’s home and this was their company recipe. And true to company recipe fashion, I immediately fell in love with it and begged for the recipe. This pulled pork is SO yummy and flavorful and tender, it just melts in your mouth. And it really is *perfect* for company because everyone I’ve ever made this for has just raved over it. You have to try it, at least once. Really. You will be hooked. :)

 
Let’s pick out the perfect pork shoulder for your perfect pulled pork. The best piece of meat for pulled pork is a 4-7 lb whole boston butt.

 
Make sure your pork shoulder has a layer of fat on the bottom:

 
And it should also have a bone going about halfway through it. (It doesn’t go all the way through. Just halfway.)

Now, if you notice, my pork shoulder is 7.91 lbs. I got a big one because I wanted to feed 6 people *and* have tons and tons of leftovers. Normally I hate leftovers, but I LOVE this leftover. People always want some to take home with them and it *just* as yummy heated up the next day. Just pop it in a 350-375 degree oven for about 5 mins. You’ll know when it’s done because the whole kitchen will start smelling so good and your mouth will be watering and you just won’t be able to wait any longer before you yank it out of the oven and put it on a plate. It even freezes really well, although we never want to freeze it because we always want to keep eating it for the next couple of days. lol.

 
After you pick out your perfect pork shoulder, you may want to pick up a few other items while you’re out..

You’ll need a 3″ deep roasting pan that’s big enough to hold your pork shoulder so that there is at least 1″ of extra room on all sides. Of course you may have a nice roasting pan at home that you can use. Lucky. I don’t, so I just pick up one of these babies at the grocery store. Disposable, yet oh so dependable. You’ll also need something LARGE to brine the roast in. I use a 2 gallon ziploc bag. And the last thing is a digital thermometer with an alarm. You don’t *have* to have one of these, but I find this an *extremely* useful piece of equipment in my kitchen. The thermometer stays in the meat, in the oven while the digital reader sits outside on top of the stove. You set the alarm and it will go off when the meat has reached the desired temp. I LOVE it because I don’t have to constantly keep checking on the roast. I just put it in and forget it! :) You can pick one of these up pretty cheap (less than $20) at the grocery store (and almost anywhere- Target, Walmart, Linens-N-Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc). And you can use it for everything- chicken, steak, burgers, etc. I love it for baking chicken because you know exactly when the chicken is done and it doesn’t get dried out. :)

 
So! Now that you’ve got all your equipment, let’s start out by making the special dry rub that makes this pulled pork so perfectly seasoned and savory.

Dry Rub
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together well and store in an air tight container.

 

This smells absolutely divine. Cover it and set it aside for a sec.

 

Now for the brine - A brine solution gives the meat the extra moisture it needs for a long, slow cooking process so you don’t end up with tough, dried out meat.

Brine Solution
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 qts cold water
3 tbsp dry rub mix
2 bay leaves

Add salt to cold water and stir very well until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then add the brown sugar and dry rub and stir well to combine.

 
Rinse the pork shoulder in cold water and place in a 2 gallon ziploc bag (or a container big enough so the shoulder is completely covered in brine solution).

 
Carefully pour in the brine solution. When you get towards the end, slosh the brine solution around and make sure all that yummy dry rub seasoning gets poured in. :)

 
Now you heard me mention bay leaves earlier. If your neighbor doesn’t grow these fresh in her garden, like mine does, (heh heh heh) you can get these in the spice section of your grocery store. They are *perfect* for seasoning roasts. If you’re using the dried kind, 2 leaves is plenty. But since I was using fresh, I grabbed a whole handful (5-8 maybe) of the fresh ones right off my neighbor’s plant. :D Michele, if you’re reading this, I heart you and your beautiful garden.

 
So! After you’ve got your pork all covered in brine, go ahead and throw in your bay leaves.

 
And refrigerate for at least 8 hours. I like to clean out a spot in my door and keep the pork there because it seems to be the best place to keep the shoulder completely covered in brine.

 
At least 8 hours later…

 
Preheat oven to 225, remove the pork shoulder from the brine solution and place in the roasting pan.

 
Pat the skin dry with paper towels. I remember reading once why this was an important step, but I forget what it said now. Just take my word for it, kay?

 
Ohhh baby now the good stuff! Generously, generously, cover the WHOLE thing in your dry rub mix.

 
And massage it into that skin real good. Be sure and get it up under any flaps you may come across.

 
It should look like this when you’re done massaging. You should also still have plenty of dry rub mix left- and that’s okay. We will be using it later! :)

 
Make sure the fat layer is facing UP and stick the thermometer into the thickest part of the shoulder, but not touching the bone.

 
Place uncovered in a 225 degree oven on the middle rack. Resist the urge to use a higher temperature.

Set the alarm on the thermometer for 200 degrees. We don’t want to take it out of the oven until the center of the shoulder reaches at least 200 degrees. The first time I made this, I was like what?? 200 degrees?? Are you kidding?? Isn’t a roast usually done at 170 degrees?? Won’t my meat be tough and dried out?? But here’s what I found out. The pork is finished to the point of being sliceable at 170 degrees, but to get that tender, falling apart shredded meat, the ideal internal temperature should reach at least 200 degrees. And it’s still just as tender, juicy and flavorful because of our seasoned brine solution.

Now, cooking at 225 degrees, this shoulder will take between 1.5 to 2 hours per pound to cook. As it happens, this 8 lb shoulder took 13 hours, so a little over an hour and a half per pound.

Here’s how I normally do it… The morning on the day before I want to serve this, first thing when I get up, I prepare the brine solution and let the shoulder brine all day in the fridge. That night right before I go to bed, I season the shoulder with the dry rub and put it in the oven and let it cook overnight. The alarm has never woken me up the next morning, I’ve usually already been up a couple hours before it goes off. And I am not an early riser. (yeah, yeah I can hear ya’ll laughing at how much of an understatement that is)

When the alarm goes off and the shoulder has reached 200 degrees, turn off the oven and let the roast cool for about 2 hours before removing from the oven. Turn off the alarm, but keep the thermometer in the meat, so you can monitor the temperature. If the bottom of the pan is dry (or crusted with dried spices) then cover the pan with foil to retain internal moisture of the meat during the cooling period. Mine still had lots of juice in the bottom this time, so I didn’t have to cover it.

After a couple hours, when the temperature drops to 170 degrees or slightly lower, remove the shoulder from the oven.

Place on a large, clean work surface such as a cutting board, and remove the large sheet of crusted fat on the top. Using two large forks, begin pulling the meat apart. It will fall apart *very* easily and it should not take you long at all to pull apart this whole roast.

Now remember how I said that a 4-7 lb roast was best, but I ended up getting an 8 lb roast? Well, that was just fine and dandy, but my meat wasn’t as seasoned as it normally is with a smaller roast. But that’s no problem cause I had plenty of dry rub mix left! So take a few taste test bites, then generously sprinkle the shredded meat all over until your heart’s content. Be really generous with the dry rub and really mix it in good. This seasoned meat is fantastic. Keep taste testing along the way. ;)

Our favorite way to eat pulled pork is on hamburger buns. We pile ‘em high and let the meat overflow onto our plates and eat that with a fork. :)

But it really doesn’t matter how you serve it because it won’t be on the plate more than 3 seconds anyway. ;)

Having a Labor Day get together with friends & family this weekend? Go ahead and knock their socks off with this slow roasted, seasoned and savory pulled pork.

Have fun and enjoy!

This pulled pork is so delicious, it earns two pages in my recipe book! ;)