pulled pork.

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this week boone and i made plans to have some friends over for dinner. awhile back there had been an incredible deal at the groc… pork shoulders for .99/lb! i got a 5lb monster and had been saving it for a dinner party. honestly, when you buy that much meat you either need to be feeding a football team or a giant posse of pals. the thing is, i’m kind of skittish about cooking beef or pork… i will do it, but it’s so intimidating. luckily, my dad sent us this easy peasy recipe and boone was really into it.

since it was still warm out and we had this easy recipe we went with mississippi/memphis style pulled pork, baked beans, coleslaw and sweet tea vodka. what’s better than eating bbq on the patio, i ask you? nothing. we’ll start with boone’s BBQ and move on to the sides later.

the good news about this recipe is that you can do it in a smoker overnight, or in your over in 3 1/2 hours and you can make it in advance and freeze it if need be.

Pulled Pork
*5(ish) lb pork shoulder (makes approx. 12 sandwiches)
*2 med. onions
*4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
*1 bottle dark beer
*3 tablespoons Olive oil,
*3 teaspoons cumin, garlic powder
*salt & pepper
preheat your oven to 275 and then put about 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a dutch oven or really large, oven-safe pot. place this dutch oven on the stove on medium heat until hot. while the oil is heating up, sprinkle your shoulder generously with salt and pepper then rub it with 3 teaspoons of cumin and the same amount of garlic powder. once the oil is hot, brown your meat on all sides. (it works best if you don’t move the meat until it picks up easily and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.) once the meat is brown, then take it out and set it aside.

add your onions and garlic to the pot and saute’ until they’re limp then add the entire beer and then put your meat back in the pot. you may need to add some water at this point because you want at least 1/2 inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot, but the beer may be enough. you’ll want to check this, just in case.
cover it and place the entire pot into the oven and let cook for 3 1/2 hours, or until the meat falls easily off the bone (it will smell like heaven!) Once finished cooking, you can take the meat out of the pot and let it cool, then pull/shred the pork like this
. If you want to use the liquid in the bottom of the pot as part of your sauce (and I highly recommend this) then you’ll want to skim the fat off the liquid in the pot. Once you’ve gotten all of the fat, return the pulled pork to the pot. Warm the meat back up, cover in your favorite BBQ sauce and serve with warm hamburger buns.

*the first photo isn’t mine. i was stupid and forgot to take a photo of the actual sandwich.. but the rest are!