I was asked to transform a boneless pork shoulder into pulled pork. Yeah, I can work with that.
Trimmed, trussed, and dry-brined. Bit sloppy with the twine, but I'm not too concerned. Thought about rendering that pork fat but I still have plenty from cooking the last round of bacon.
Once the IT cleared about 140 or so, took the temp up from 225 to 275...
I should take video sometime of dragging a knife-point across bark like that. *Skritch, skritch, skrittttttccccchh*
Underside, naturally, gets a bit more "glazed" than "crunchy" so extra care needed to not leave deliciousness stuck to the grate (so close to perfect on this one).
I let it rest some hours in a small cooler, and then went at it with fork in each hand, until proper shred consistency. Even with a fairly long cook, the dry-brining keeps it delightfully moist. Picked up some interesting sauces & seasonings at a recent Beer, Bourbon, & Barbecue event, so I will definitely be trying them out on pork sammiches.
Since I was using up pellets on the pork, I figured I'd smoke some chicken breasts (just a very light slather of mustard) and hot Italian sausages, too.
Chicken, shredded:
- incorporated into a pasta dish with pine nuts, torch-blistered cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a Gorgonzola cream sauce
- or else made into a smokey chicken salad with homemade mayo
Hot Italian sausages:
- egg breakfast sandwich
- or else (a near approximation to) gumbo with wild rice and the last of some duck
