I did a pork shoulder yesterday for pulled pork sandwiches. I made a different dry rub and used a wet rub. I wish I could describe how good it turned out.
Dry Rub Ingredients:
Brown Sugar
Turmeric
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Mustard Powder
a touch of curry powder
Paprika
I mixed that up, worked it into the meat, wrapped it up and let it sit for a day in the fridge. The next day, I took it out, and on all but the fat cap, I put the wet rub over the dry rub.
The wet rub was dijon mustard mixed with jalapeno honey that my friend made. I then put another dusting of the dry rub on the whole thing and put it in the smoker. Cooked it for a bunch of hours until it had a solid smoke and thick bark, then spritzed it with more apple juice and wrapped it up in foil and put it in the oven for a few hours on 225 to finish because I have ADHD and had completely lost interest in fucking around with the smoker any more.
For the sandwiches, I made cole slaw and a rough Carolina sauce. Basically, ketchup, garlic, crushed red pepper, apple cider vinegar, bring it to boil, turn it off and refrigerate.
For the sandwiches I just used some Kaiser rolls. Put some sauce on the top and bottom bun, some pickles on the bottom bun, the pulled pork, topped it with slaw, slammed the top on.
It was fucking beautimous.
*** Update ***
I went ahead and made two sandwiches for you all so you could see. The lengths I go to to please you.
Jerzy Russian
Hmm, food porn without any actual pictures. On the one hand, the post loads faster. On the other hand, porn without pictures.
Ken
It’s like those radio commercials for restaurants where they add sound effects of silverware clinking and people going “yum”.
anon
i hope all you liberals in red states are happy now!! you gave all your census counts and tax dollars to corrupt state govts !
joel hanes
I will not pretend that my own cooking is even on the same planet as Cole’s.
I’m a duffer.
That said: I found that my own pulled pork gained a certain something when I started to use smoked paprika for half or more of the paprika, and added a little ground ancho
raven
Richard Pryor “Heart Attack”. “That’s what you get for eating all that PORK”!
Poe Larity
Now for the hard part, make it CKD friendly.
John Cole
hunh
debit
@anon: parody or serious? I can’t tell.
JPL
Yum
Mnemosyne
I got super into my Instant Pot during quarantine. I even made an English-style Christmas pudding in it during the holidays. (It was more like a steamed carrot cake, but very tasty!)
anon
sick and tired of the smug liberals living in blue enclaves in red states. You can take the Florida out of Miami but you can’t take the Miami out of FLorida!
Meyerman
Damn, that sounds good.
weasel
Been missing your food posts! Good eats help get through troubled times. Thanks for all that you do
Betty Cracker
UCLA and USC are joining the Big Ten? The fuck?!?
Elizabelle
I wish you could share it. Yum.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: It boggles the mind that UCLA and USC could agree on anything. Especially sports-related stuff.
Omnes Omnibus
Food porn or doom porn. Such choices.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Holy cow, that sounds good
Wag
Holy shit that sounds amazing.
I did a Vietnamese style pork shoulder on Tuesday with fish sauce, garlic, onion, ginger, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil done in an InstaPot. Served with lettuce wraps and rice noodles, it didn’t suck at all.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
My cooking would fall under either category.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I can see that.
randal m sexton
Did you use regular paprika or smoked paprika? I really enjoy using Spanish smoky paprika these days.
-r
BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Money, apparently.
West of the Rockies
Sounds fantastic, sir. What time should I arrive?
CaseyL
Thanks, John. I sometimes think I eat vicariously via your cooking.
Spirula
I wish I could describe how good it turned out.
I dunno, you pretty much did to those of us that love to cook.
Tinare
That sounds amazing.
Brachiator
Having lunch at a pretty good Thai restaurant for the first time since the pandemic.
It’s too warm to eat outside. Fortunately the ventilation is pretty good.
I am a pretty bad cook, so I needed a break from myself.
ETA. That pulled pork sounds great.
Miki
@Wag: Recipe, please (how much, how much, how prepped, how long, etc.). My aged AC keeps me from turning on the oven this time of year, and I have neither a grill nor a smoker, but I do have and do love my IP.
TIA.
jeffreyw
POIDH
piratedan
@Betty Cracker: strictly CREAM…. all about money, and it seemingly has yet to dawn on all of these financial wizards that the most profitable college sports events include the little guys, otherwise you’re nothing more than a de facto minor league system.
Wag
@Miki:
Dice one onion, eight cloves of garlic, shred 2 inches of fresh ginger. Sauté in the Insta pot in sesame oil. Once caramelized add for pork shoulder (cut into pieces) then add 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, quarter cup fish sauce, quarter cup water, as well as 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce. Seal the Insta pot cook on high heat for 90 minutes. Release the pressure. Remove the meat and shred it. Well shredding the meat take the liquid that was cooked. Put it through a fat separator then add the liquid back to the Insta pot. Boil the sauce down until it coats the back of a spoon. In the meantime, take a large fry and pan and hit sesame oil and browned the cooked pork until crispy. Add the reduced sauce and served as a lettuce wrap with rice noodles. Top with Julian vegetables of your choice. I personally like jalapeños, pickled carrots and cucumbers, and cilantro
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
???
No onion??
No hickery salt??
Roger Moore
@Jerzy Russian:
The correct term for that is “erotica”.
Miki
@Wag: Thank you!
Will you marry me?
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: Well we stopped being the Big (only) Ten a long time ago. So why the fuck not?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Gravenstone: I’ve always called the Big “Ten” as the conference that couldn’t count.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
The sooner big money college sports dies the better. I don’t object to sports, but the big money has completely corrupted the whole thing.
Gravenstone
I feel like I’m not keeping up my end of the food porn. Was only planning to make my semi-monthly braised short ribs with mushrooms. Which then becomes beef and noodles for lunch for the next week or so.
Mike E
@raven: classic Richard
It’s been years since I did a pork shoulder in the crock pot but here in Cackalacky we have a variety of BBQ sauces that do the job quite well…all the ingredients aforementioned, in various levels of spicy. Turns out amazing without setting anything on fire!
Elizabelle
@Wag: Sounds delish. Thank you.
Do you recommend a particular brand of fish sauce?
Glidwrith
@Wag: Would you post the recipe? I’m going to do a pulled pork this weekend, but not satisfied with my current recipe.
ETA: oops, and that’s what I get by being so eager, I don’t read through the thread. Thanks, Wag!
Wag
@Miki:
i’ll have to ask my wife. ;)
Wag
@Glidwrith:
See my comment @32
BigJimSlade
Sounds and looks delicious! Though I think I would keep the Cole slaw to the side. Maybe if I tried a few this way, though, I could be won over.
danielx
Smoked a whole brisket last weekend, and let me tell you that extended smoking on a Weber grill is a pain in the ass…but worth the effort. Seven hours of smoking on the grill, wrap in foil, in the oven for five more hours at 250.
To die for.
And reading and writing about food is much more fun than reading or commenting about the decisions of those black robed Torquemadas, needful though it is.
TaMara
Sounds yummy, but what is this jalapeno honey you speak of….must have. *drool
Betty Cracker
A lady I used to work with gave me a unique recipe for pernil. Y’all ever heard of it? It’s roast pork shoulder or Boston butt, Puerto Rico style. You can make it in crockpot. So good!
Spanky
@Betty Cracker:
RUN PETE! RUN!
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I’m so glad that all of the schools I’ve either attended or worked at weren’t part of the sports-industrial complex. NCAA Div III sports is far healthier for institutions.
(Caltech, as I’m sure you are well aware, has a basketball team that once had a losing streak measured in decades. Somehow, the university has survived…)
docNC
What’s the cole slaw recipe? It looks delicious.
Mike in NC
Supreme Court just ruled 6-3 against pulled pork.
prostratedragon
Public service announcement: Cherry season is underway in the Chicago area.
mrmoshpotato
@Jerzy Russian:
LOL!
Cole: Fine! Here’s a picture, you ungrateful bastards!
Sounds awesome, John. Thanks for the rub recipes.
debbie
@ BillinGlendaleCA:
Penn State made 11, so now it’s The Big Thirteen. Gee, that sounds lucky…
karen marie
Pictures are nice but I want an internet where that sandwich can be slide through the series of tubes onto my plate.
prostratedragon
@Betty Cracker: Holy shit, the negotiations are actually taking place! I spoke satirically about the BiG East title game between Michigan and Louvain, but it looks like we’re headed there. Admitting Penn State really was a portent of doom.
prostratedragon
@debbie: Don’t forget Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland.
CaseyL
The photos made me drool. And I’m not even hungry!
Kropacetic
Personally, I like pornographic literature. For when I want to take my time.
Keith P.
@Elizabelle: It’s hard to go wrong with Red Boat
MomSense
@Kropacetic:
This is an under appreciated comment!
Kropacetic
@MomSense: That was already more appreciation than I needed or expected. Haha, thx.
wvng
@West of the Rockies: I live just on the other side of WV from John, so surely I should be the one invited?
oatler
Read The Guardian! “Yotem Ottolenghi’s Aubergine Ambuscade with Agave Ribbon-Candy for Summer Picnics”
Sure Lurkalot
@Mnemosyne: I got into the Instant Pot too! But for my birthday this January I got a Staub dutch oven and that’s a whole new adventure!
Neldob
I am with you in spirit. Sounds mighty fine to this ancient vegetarian.
cain
Fairly standard spices for a rub – I actually also add za’atar. Gives it a good kick. :)
Amir Khalid
Greetings from July. For some reason, I find myself unable to take part in a discussion of pulled pork.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@danielx: You need a Spider-22 – converts a standard Weber kettle grill into a pellet grill set it and forget it smoker. https://www.spidergrills.com/products/spider-kettle-grill-pellet-adapter
JMG
Today’s my birthday. Dinner was crab cakes, direct from Maryland, corn on the cob, salad, Now it’s strawberry shortcake with real biscuits!
Seefleur
@Elizabelle: Red Boat
Kropacetic
@Amir Khalid: Discuss all you want. If you don’t want to or can’t eat it, more for us.
Y’all subscribed to Balloon Juice Eats, right?
Martin
The state of CA is going to send us $1050 for inflation relief. That’s more gas than we’ve bought in at least the last 5 years. Gotta figure out what charity to send it to.
zhena gogolia
I am a diehard Democrat but boy the emails are like cockroaches these days. I keep unsubscribing and they keep coming back and back.
Sure Lurkalot
@Wag: I’ve never made a pork shoulder…how many pounds in this recipe? 6 qt InstantPot?
I do other low and slow/InstantPot “traditional” bbq, but I love all the Asian flavors in your recipe and could repurpose the heck out of the leftovers.
Geminid
@Amir Khalid: Greetings from still-June. Is it hot where you are? It was 92° Farenheit today in central Virginia. I was resting in the shade most of the day, but tomorrow I need to work outdoors for 4- 5 hours. I’ll knock off ~2pm.
I hope it’s a safe and happy July for us all.
Elizabelle
@JMG: happy birthday! Enjoy.
Elizabelle
@Seefleur: yes. Have heard of that brand. Thank you.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Greetings from July. Indeed.
Miki
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
My time at Caltech coincided with part of that losing streak, and some of my friends were on the team, so it was something I was acutely aware of. A friend gave me a copy of Quantum Hoops, since she thought I would appreciate it. My personal favorite story of Caltech’s sporting ineptitude, though, was related to the football team, which sucked even before the rest of the sports. UCSD was considering whether to keep their football program and finally decided if they couldn’t beat Caltech they would stop playing. Well, Caltech broke their 4 year losing streak, and UCSD still doesn’t have a football team.
raven
@Roger Moore: Remember when they took over the scoreboard in the Illini-Ucla Rose Bowl in 84?
raven
@zhena gogolia: And the fucking texts are driving me nuts!
O. Felix Culpa
@Keith P.:
That’s what I use. Good stuff.
karensky
I am so glad that my daughter and son-in-law made a delicious supper for me before I read this because I would be eating my IPad after reading!!! Mmm.
steppy
Sammiches are looking good. I have plans to smoke a Boston butt on Sunday. The dry rub recipe is a good one. I like a lot of flavors. I don’t do a wet rub at all.
Roger Moore
@raven:
That was before my time there, but it was passed down as a legacy we were supposed to live up to.
Wag
@Sure Lurkalot: 5 lb
And yes, 6 qt
StringOnAStick
@Elizabelle: I’ve heard Red Boat brand fish sauce is excellent.
opiejeanne
That pulled pork looks divine, John, and I’d rather talk about yummy food with all of you people than vent about the all stupid shit that’s happened in the past 6 days, so, last night I roasted a small chicken for supper and it was very good, and still pretty good today. Tomorrow the leftovers will become enchiladas.
We’ve started eating from our garden and it’s a real treat to have a salad made with *leaf lettuce, *radishes, and sugar snap *peas (pods and all), *zucchini sautéed with onions and mushrooms in bacon grease, and *strawberries with shortcake. Tonight I had enough extra strawberries that I made n ice cream base that will chill until tomorrow evening. The best thing about growing your own strawberries is that you can let them ripen on the plant. The ones at our grocery store are coming from San Diego and they aren’t even pretending to be ripe.
Our youngest decided that we need to have a barbecue on Saturday just for the fun of it, so I’ll marinate some chicken thighs in Huli Huli sauce, make a garlicky vegan potato salad (someone can’t eat eggs), and make everyone eat the strawberry ice cream. The youngest says she’ll bring corn on the cob and watermelon, our niece is bringing a green salad and something else, and the older daughter is going to power wash the deck before the party.
Pete Mack
Smoked pork shoulder is mostly a waste of time, I agree. I prefer smoked ribs and smoked Italian sausage. (The latter only takes 90-120 minutes!) Ribs are very much a party event, but smoked sausage is very much worth doing at any time. Smoked sausage pasta sauce is so tasty, with only ½ to ⅔ the meat. (DON’T use 1:1; the enhanced flavor is too strong, and in any case, there’re other things worth doing with the savings. Like breakfast…)
rikyrah
Jalapeno honey
The sandwiches look delicious
Great job, Cole
trollhattan
God damn.
Go off hiking for a few days to come back to this? Which is way more tantalizing than every other fucked up thing that happened whilst off grid. I think SCOTUS broke America last month, we just don’t know it yet.
Nice work, Cole. I’d be coming up the holler if I weren’t three time zones away.
docNC
Nothing personal, and Happy Independence Day to all, but there are certain corners of decent society where it’s ALL about the time. And the smoke. And the sauce.
There is no waste of time when you are creating. SO if you please, put those thoughts out of your minds, busy as they might be.
I still would love to see the cole slaw recipe, or a decent creamy one from anyone. Bring it on over on Sunday and I’ll hook you up.