I love barbecue. I love ribs, chopped BBQ, smoked chicken, smoked hot links. But one of my favorite kinds of BBQ is a really good pulled pork sandwich.
Now, there are really two ways to make pulled pork: True BBQ in a smoker (which is great, but a lot of work and tends to be a bit dry), and slow cook it with spices and BBQ sauce and vinegar (which is tender and moist, but generally missing that great, smoky flavor). However, I've tried to bridge the two with some help from my friend, Liquid Smoke.
I used a "picnic" pork shoulder, and this was my first attempt at this (and mostly, I made up the recipe), but it was really really good.
5 or 6 lb bone-in picnic shoulder (we'll remove the bone, so if you can get it already de-boned, go ahead).
-1/4 - 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
-1/4 - 1/2 cup water
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-3 - 4 cups ketchup/BBQ sauce/any combination
-4 oz liquid smoke
-1/2 cup or so maple syrup (preferably real stuff)
-1 medium onion, sliced into reasonably fine rings.
you want enough liquid to cover the whole shoulder, which is why the measurements are somewhat vague.
put all ingredients into crock pot, set on low. Let cook for 10 hours or so. You should not be able to pull a large chunk out of the pot without it falling apart. When it's that tender, turn off the crock pot, pull out all the meat to a platter and, using 2 forks, shred it to strands. Put it all back into the pot of liquid after it's shreaded and put the crock pot to "warm." Let it just sit in the warm juice for as long as you like. It'll just get better with time.
Serve on soft rolls with sides of cheddar cheese and pickle chips.
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