I went to see Primus on Friday for the first show of the Green Naugahyde tour. Since this is not a music review I will simply say that Primus is awesome. But out of Primus some inspiration was born. When Les Claypool stepped off stage for a moment for a wardrobe change and came back wearing a pig mask it made me think of the album Pork Soda, which made me think of the pulled pork I was planning on making for Sunday football. So I decided to dub my pork, Primus Pulled Pork and the rest is now leftovers.
To give credit where credit is due I borrowed heavily from Nibble Me This. I am still an armature at smoking so… I did what I do best; learn from someone else but find a way to make it mine make it mine.
Primus Pulled Pork
6.5 Lb Picnic Pork Roast with bone in (the Boston butt is the bottom of the pork shoulder the picnic is the top)
1 C apple juice
Billy Bones Competition Dry Rub
Some uncured bacon…(more on this later)
The 6.5 Lb roast waiting for some loving.
I took a Cajun injector and pumped as much apple juice into the roast as I could. I think I got somewhere between ½ - 1 cup in it before it started leaking. Then I rubbed in some Billy Bones all over the roast. I put it in the fridge for about 12 hours to do its thing.
While the roast was chillin’ I got to work prepping my Big Green Egg. I cleaned it out and put a batch of fresh coals inside. I also started soaking 3 fist sized mesquite wood chunks and 1 hickory in some water. Now the waiting game begins.
I wanted the pork to be ready for football so expecting it to take about 1.5 hours a Lb I knew I would have to get a late start. At about 2330 I woke up from a power nap to go fire up the Egg (the soaking wood chunks were added before firing). I also took the roast out of the fridge to start warming up to cooking temp.
By 0030 I had the egg, with the plate setter legs up in it, holding fairly steady at 240 degrees. I wanted 250 but I was willing to take what I could get at almost 1 in the morning. I draped the Bacon over the top of the roast, because everyone knows that bacon goes well with pork roast.
I then placed placed it in the roasting basket and put it in the egg. I think I watched it until about 0130 to make sure the temp was holding. Then I went to bed. Not an easy thing to do, to have that much faith that it was going to hold steady but I was tired and I can sleep any where, at any time for any reason.
I checked the Egg at 0630 and it was still holding steady. I woke up again at 0900 and checked it and it had dropped about 20 degrees. I made some adjustments to get the temp up and took the roasts temp. It was sitting pretty at 170 after 8 hours. At 10 it finally hit my target of 190 internal temp. I pulled it off the egg, wrapped it, put it in an insulated grocery bag and let it rest for about an hour.
This is the roast right after coming off the grill and getting wrapped up. One of the strips of bacon seems to have not made it out alive.... I wonder where it went?
It then got pulled out of the bag and pulled apart with a few forks. It was falling off the bone. I used some Bone Sucking BBQ to finish off the BBQ if anyone wanted a “wet” pulled pork.
Rustic Faux Gourmet Cole Slaw
½ cabbage shredded
3 medium carrots shredded (I used 1 white, 1 orange, 1 purple)
½ onion grated
¾ C Mayo
2 T Sugar
2T White vinegar
1 T Dry Mustard
Fresh Ground Himalayan Smoked salt
Fresh ground pepper
I am not sure what the word rustic conjures up in your culinary vernacular but in mine it translates in to this; I did not have the right equipment to shred the cabbage so I cut it as small as I felt like cutting it….
Mix the plant matter together.
Mix the spices, vinegar and mayo in a separate bowl. When thoroughly mixed add to plant matter. Stir. Refrigerate.
Serve with some cornbread and the pork. Invite and army over for dinner or be ready to eat pulled pork for a month.
Guinness Black Lager went well with this
