With BBQ season upon us, we have decided to share over a 3 part series our closely guarded recipe for what we consider the best pulled pork. Follow our step by step guide from the top-secret dry rub, the perfect marination technique, how to build and feed your fire, getting the right level of smoky flavour and making sure your pork comes out moist, succulent, tasty & easy to pull. Be prepared for your taste buds to explode with flavour, get out into the summer sun and get those BBQs fired up.
What you will need
Kettle style BBQ (or any BBQ with a lid, vents and thermometer)
Wood or coal
Smoking chips
Digital thermometer
Foil takeaway style trays x 2
Large sealable food bags
Tinfoil
Baking sheet
Food processer
Stage 1 - Dry Rub
Marinate your pork at least 24 hours before you want to cook it. You can keep the dry rub in the cupboard it lasts for ages, I usually make a large batch at the beginning of spring to last me for a few BBQs.
Ingredients:
60g fennel seeds
10g star anise
20g cumin seeds
20g dried garlic
20g dried chillis
50g smoked paprika
100g sea salt
50g muscovado sugar
50g granulated sugar
Keep sugars, salt & paprika aside for later.
Toast all the spices on medium heat in a large dry frying pan to help release the flavours, be careful not to let the spices burn by stirring them occasionally. Once ready, set aside and allow to cool.
Once cooled blend spices in a food processor till it is as fine as you can get it then add the sugars, smoked paprika & salt until they are well mixed.
Store in an airtight container till you ready to marinate your pork.
Stage 2 - Marinate your pork
I like to use pork butt (it’s the upper part of the shoulder) but it’s not a cut that I can get hold of so I tend to use shoulder instead.
The shoulder is a nice cut of meat that suits slow cooking with plenty of fat to help keep your meat tender and moist it pulls really nicely if you get it right.
Ingredients:
1-1.5 kg Pork shoulder
200g dry spice rub (you can add more or less to your taste)
Sealable food bags
Trim any skin off your pork and try to leave as much of the fat behind as possible.
Open up your pork joint and score the meat with a sharp knife on both sides this will help the flavours of the dry rub penetrate the meat and will aid the cooking process later on.
Coat all sides of the meat with the dry rub and massage into the meat getting into all those cuts you made earlier. Do not add oil as the salt in the rub will release oil from the pork itself.
Transfer your pork into the food bags and store in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
The food bags are great as they allow you to give your meat a good old massage while it’s in the fridge and you don’t get messy hands.
Follow us @vanlifeexplorersuk or like us on FB for the next stage of the recipe, it's a true winner and the outcome will certainly make you crave for more!