Pork-a-thon: BBQ Billy's Fourth of July Pulled Pork
This fourth of july pulled pork was somewhat overshadowed by some fantastic beef ribs, but i think some of the adjustments i made from the memorial day pork shoulder resulted in one of the better pulled pork meals i've made to date. I made two modifications to my standard rub: 1) removed the curry powder, and 2) substituted freshly ground dried chipotle peppers for half of the chili powder. I also opted for applewood as a flavor boost in the hardwood charcoal mix and its such an improvement over hickory. I knew this from past attempts, but applewood is not the easiest to find last minute so for memorial day i couldn't get it.... this time around it was so much better with applewood and I'm now vowing to always use it on pork shoulder. Process-wise I did the same prep of removing skin and brining for about 16 hours in a salt/molasses/water mix:
I smoked the shoulder over a very consistant 220-240 degree smoker (loving that smokey mountain!), and i was able to smoke for 1.5 hrs per pound which i think is the right calculation. Here's a gallery of the smoking, pulling, and final sandwich making:
And now for my pork-a-thon review:
Price: I picked up two smaller shoulders from Pigasso Farms again with the same price per pound, so I'd assume this would be a $10-12 sandwich as before.
Appearance: Another good crusty exterior with some deeper pink smoke penetration this time. Nothing to complain about in this one, it looked about as good as it gets in my opinion.
Pork Solo: The rub was not nearly as rich without the curry which was a welcomed result. Plus I really liked the smokey/spice addition of the chipotle pepper (and thanks to my big sister Pam for making the rub late night on the eve of the party!). Overall it had a solid yet mild smoked flavor which i attribute to the apple wood smoke... that's definitely what i like on a pork shoulder. Bites with the crust were incredibly flavorful, though perhaps a bit on the salty side. Maybe next time I'll cut down the salt in the rub by a tablespoon.
Sauce: I didn't change a thing from last time and I'm still as happy with my carolina red as ever. Woohoo!
Cole Slaw: Lori made a slight modification to her slaw using a bit of fresh red pepper in the mix and I thought it was a really nice addition. We both agreed the next time we (and by "we" i mean "Lori") make this we'll go back to using some green cabbage as well. There is something about the mix of red and green that is missing with red only. But once again this was a fine slaw, and thanks to my brother in law David - Pam's hubby - for chopping all that cabbage!
Bun: We couldn't find brioche rolls upstate, and opted for some grocery store (price chopper!) kaiser rolls. That was a mistake. It was a dry and bland roll that somehow actually detracted from the pork. I later had another sandwich on a left over egg/butter bun and it was much better. Brioche will certainly be my ultimate roll... so next time I'm committing to searching it out.
Total Package: I'm getting closer! This was a very tender and moist pull, and the bark was flavor packed without an overwhelming richness from previous rubs. I'm convinced applewood is the right smoke flavor, and i think 1.5 hours per pound is officially the right amount of time in the smoker. We served with my grandmother's recipe for potato salad (as modified by my sister Pam), a white bean salad from Lori, and those sara foster fridge pickles. I was really happy with this meal... probably giving myself a personal rating of 8 out of 10 for the pork. I think with the adjusted slaw, removing a bit of salt from the rub, and serving on a brioche roll I'll be as close to a 10 as I can get. So there you have it... until next time!
