Slow Smoked Pulled Pork That's Worth the Wait!

Smoked pork shoulder is one of the greatest summer picnic dishes ever! Smoked low and slow for hours, the result is a moist, tender meat that falls apart in your hands and provides the perfect base for a tasty BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Here’s my favorite recipe for you to use to make yourself and in the process, wow your friends and family with your barbeque and smoking skills!

Smoking meats is one of my favorite pastimes of summer! I smoke a regular rotation of pork ribs, beef brisket, and pork shoulder or pork butt starting on Memorial Day and ending on Labor Day (and sometimes beyond that)! Smoking is a slow cooking method that is usually used to cook tough, fatty meats. By cooking for an extended time at a low temperature, the meat ends up amazingly tender and moist. And, the smoke imparts a great flavor that screams “SUMMER”!

One of my favorite meats to smoke is a large pork shoulder or butt. These two cuts are often used interchangeably but are actually different. Both come from the same area of the pig, but the butt comes from above the shoulder blades while the shoulder comes from below the shoulder blades and down to the hoof. Another name for pork butt is Boston Butt, which is my favorite. Why? Because it has more fat and marbling than your traditional pork shoulder, which makes it perfect for low and slow smoking! The end result, when smoked correctly, is a pull-apart tender meat that is great on its own with a bit of BBQ sauce, or even better on a sandwich with a potato roll, your favorite BBQ sauce and plenty of dill pickles!

Boston Butt

I ran across my first smoked pulled pork recipe about 15 years ago in a Cook’s Illustrated Summer Grilling magazine, and it’s the only recipe I have ever used because you can’t improve on perfection. It’s also one of the few recipes that I haven’t adapted to make it my own. The pork butt is cooked using a three-stage process that spans 6 hours. About 15 minutes of that time is active time – the rest is spent reading, napping, and sipping cider, beer, or wine while you wait for the finished product. How easy is that??!! The first stage is three hours in the smoker, followed by two hours in the oven and finally one hour in a paper bag (yup, you read that right – it helps to steam the meat, making it even more tender and juicy).

Served with your favorite sides (potato salad, coleslaw, mac and cheese, baked beans – you get the idea!), this quintessential summer picnic treat will be on your regular rotation once you make it! Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Slow-Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Serves 6-8)

This pulled pork recipe is from the 2006 Cook’s Illustrated Summer Grilling Magazine. I have adapted it only slightly, exchanging a homemade rub for store-bought and using a smoker box instead of a gas grill (although a gas grill will work too). These pulled-pork sandwiches are guaranteed to deliver a taste of summer and are the perfect centerpiece for a summer holiday picnic! Ask your butcher for a Boston Butt in place of a pork shoulder if they have them (they have more fat and marbling which means a more tender and moist pork sandwich!), although a pork shoulder will work too. These sandwiches pair perfectly with cider, beer, or a nice spicy Shiraz from Australia like Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet ($13) or Mollydooker Shiraz The Boxer ($24).

Ingredients

1 6-8 lb. bone-in Boston Butt (or bone-in pork shoulder if you can’t find a Boston Butt)

6-8 tbsp. of store-bought BBQ rub (our favorite is Bone Suckin’ Rub)

1 jar of your favorite store-bought BBQ sauce (we like Bone Suckin’ Sauce or Lillie’s Smoky BBQ Sauce)

3 tbsp. salted butter at room temperature

Potato rolls (our favorite are Martin’s Potato Sandwich Rolls)

Dill pickle slices (we like Grillo’s Sandwich Maker’s Dill Pickle Slices)

Directions

Prep the Boston Butt. Rub the Boston Butt all over with the BBQ rub. Wrap tightly with Saran Wrap and then wrap again in foil and place in the refrigerator for at least four hours or preferably, overnight.

Smoke the Boston Butt. Unwrap the Boston Butt and place in a disposable aluminum roasting plan, fat side up – let set for 45 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile, if using a smoker, place wood chips/pieces in the smoker box and heat the smoker to 275 degrees. If using a grill, place wood chips in water and soak for one hour. Then, place the wood chips on foil and wrap until sealed. Punch 8 to 10 holes onto the top of the foil to release the smoke. Place foil packet directly on the coals or briquettes and turn on one burner to heat the grill to 275 degrees. Once smoke forms, place the roasting pan with the Boston Butt in the smoker or on the non-heated side of the grill for indirect cooking. Smoke the Butt for three hours, maintaining the temperature of the smoker or grill at 275 degrees.

After three hours, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Remove the pan from the smoker/grill and cover tightly with foil. Put pan in oven and cook for two hours for a six-pound roast – increase the cooking time by 15 minutes for every additional pound.

Remove the pan with the Boston Butt from the oven and slide into a brown paper bag – crimp the bag shut. Let it rest for 1 – 1 ½ hours in the bag.

Make the pulled pork sandwiches. Pull the Boston Butt out of the bag. Remove the foil and remove the bone from the butt (it should pull right out without any resistance). Drain any fat from the pan. Take two forks and shred the pork, discarding any large pieces of fat. Toss the pork with BBQ sauce and set aside.

Butter each side of the sandwich buns and toast in a toaster oven until lightly browned. Assemble sandwiches using the pulled pork, topped with sliced dill pickles. Add additional BBQ sauce as desired. Serve along with any sides such as potato salad, coleslaw, or baked beans.