Pulled pork

Ed.--I wrote this post right after the July 4th weekend but we just got around to uploading photos today, so here you go.

Pulled pork recipe is lost to the madness that is the kitchen counter. I wrote it on the back of some piece of paper and now I can't find it amongst the chip bags and empty beer cans.


Two pork shoulders

But off the top of my head, here are the things that went into 15 lbs. of pork shoulder this weekend:

Dry rub
salt
brown sugar
paprika
black pepper
cinnamon
garlic powder
ground thyme
ground bay leaf
ground ginger
ground mustard


Dry rub


Dry rub after overnight rest

The meat got rubbed down, sat in the fridge overnight, then was put into roasting pans with 1" of apple cider/juice, sealed tightly with foil, and put in a 225F oven the next morning. 8 hours later, deliciousness happened.


Juices.


Pulling pork.

We pulled the meat out to cool, drained off all the juices and shredded the meat (awesome stress-relief exercise, that).


More pulling.

And then we made the sauce.

Sauce
Skim most of the fat off and reduce the meat juices in a wide-mouthed saucepan until it's about half the original volume or so (estimated around 3 cups final for 15 lbs. meat). Dump in 1 small can of tomato paste, mix/stickblend well and then add the following to taste (more important ingredients first, random-ass crap from the pantry further down the list)

Brown sugar
cider vinegar
garlic powder
paprika
ground ginger
black pepper
brown mustard
apple cider
smoked salt
Shiner smokehouse
random herbs and shit

Blend well, taste, add more stuff, taste again, pour over shredded pork and let the ravenous hordes loose upon it.


Sauced


Plated.

I guess I should tell you the potato salad in the above photo was also delicious. Here's how you make it: Take a bunch of fingerling potatoes, boil them in heavily salted water, drain but do not rinse off the salt. Refrigerate overnight. This allows the salt to get absorbed into the potatoes through the skin and make everything tastier.

Dice potatoes the next day and mix with the following:

quick-pickled red onion - fine dice, put in bowl with balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt and leave 20+ minutes to get rid of the burning effect from raw onion.
salted radish - get a bunch of radishes, slice them into thin rounds and lightly salt them in a bowl. Let sit about 5-10 minutes to release water, then rinse well and drain.
sour cream
a bunch of dill
minced scallions
dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste.

If you have time, let it sit a few hours in the fridge for the flavors to meld. It's way better that way.