His Bark is as Good as his Bite

Kenny's amazing Pulled Pork

Where does a story begin?  Well, at the beginning of course!  And for this one I have to go way, way back.  Back to when my Mom was in kindergarten and she met a little girl named Norma Celaya.  My Mom and Norma have remained friends for over 60 years.  Norma's youngest son, Kenny is my age and we used to play together when we were 5 or 6.  I remember being kinda bossy with Kenny, but he paid me back in spades by mixing all of my Play-Doh colors together.
Fast forward a few years (or 40) and now Kenny is telling me what to do.  I don't mind though because he is mentoring me in the art of pulled pork, which includes proper bark color and the easiest way to remove the pork shoulder bone. 
A few weeks ago, Kenny and his lovely wife, Lucia invited me over to watch a UFC fight.  Kenny smoked a beautiful pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches.  It was a WIN/ WIN night for me... great company and awesome food!  I went home that night hooked on, UFC uhhhhhh, I mean pulled pork and inspired to pull out my cobweb covered smoker.

SMOKE EM IF YA GOT EM
Everybody knows that wars have been waged over the "best" way to make pulled pork.  To brine or not to brine?  Sauce or rub? Hickory or fruit wood?  My friend Kenny just has a natural talent in the culinary arts and he graciously and (patiently) walked me through the process.  I took copious notes, made 3 trips to the store and even then, I had several moments of pure panic.  Was my fire too hot?  Was I using too much coal?  Too much wood?  Was I going to catch the house on fire?  I put the meat on at 8:00pm and 13 nearly sleepless hours later, I was greeted with the most beautiful sight and smell.  The neighborhood dogs were going wild.
Thank you Kenny! And thanks to my Mom and to Norma because if they hadn't become friends all those years ago, I wouldn't have learned how to smoke a pork shoulder and you wouldn't be reading this.

KENNY'S PULLED PORK
9-10 lb pork shoulder (bone in)

I chose to brine my pork shoulder in a mixture of:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 gallon of water
Increase amounts according to size of pork shoulder, making sure is it completely submerged in a non metal container for 12 - 24 hours (I brined mine for 24 hours).

pork shoulder in brine

Remove pork shoulder from brine, rinse with cold water, pat dry with paper towels and cover generously with the rub, massaging it into the meat as you go.  This is what makes that beautiful exterior bark.

For the Rub: mix all ingredients in a bowl

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sea salt

4 T black pepper (ground)

2 T shallot powder (can substitute onion powder)

2 T garlic powder

2 T cayenne pepper

pork shoulder prepped for the smoker

Prepare coals in smoker and soak wood chips in water for at least 1 hour.  I used a mixture of hickory chunks, apple wood chips and Jack Daniels wood chips)

coals are ready!

When coals are ready, add water to your water bowl one inch from the top.  Put pork on the grill (fat side up) then add wet wood to your coals.  Be sure to keep your heat low and slow, adding more coals and wood as necessary to keep your smoke going.   Pork should be done after 13-14 hours.

It's done!  Look at that bark!

Let meat rest for 30 minutes and then remove bone with a pliers.  The bone should slide right out.  Shred meat with 2 forks and make sure to chop the bark so that it is distributed throughout the meat.  Serve with artisan rolls, barbeque sauce and coleslaw.  YUM!