Small Gatherings|May 2015|Smoked Pulled Pork Sliders

For this month’s small gathering we hosted family and friends for some good ‘ole Kansas City Bar-B-Que, smoked pork sliders and ribs.  Dave is the official griller/smoker in this house but on this particular day he had an obligation away from the house for several hours.  If you have ever smoked meat you understand that it is an all-day process and according to the hubby depending on the quality of your smoker can require a large amount of attention/intervention.  Much to Dave’s unhappiness our smoker is on the low end of the spectrum which means we have to babysit the charcoal fire every hour, all day long.

The night before smoking day, Dave applied his go-to rub (recipe below) to the pork, covered it in foil and refrigerated it for about 12 hours.  The next morning before he left, he started the pork in the smoker and tutored me in the process.

First, I had to make sure this fire did not go out which meant I had to continually add charcoal.   I also had to throw on a few pecan and cherry wood chips every so often.  According to Dave’s smoking bible, “The Art of Smokology” by Chef Richard McPeake, wood chips add a taste dimension to your finished product.  So far not too hard, but very messy!

Next I had to slather this hunk of pork with the mop (a basting sauce used to add moisture during the cooking process)every so often and monitor the internal temperature.  We were shooting for an internal temp of 165 degrees before we wrapped the pork in foil with additional mop and continued cooking.

Fortunately for me Dave came home before we had to wrap this beast in foil because I was not quite sure how I was going to do that by myself.  This was a LARGE (and very hot) piece of meat.  We cooked the meat for an additional four hours, about 12 hours in total before it was taken off to cool.  Once it was cooled, the pork was hand pulled and the “finishing flavors” were added.  The next day, about an hour before we served it, the pork was put back on the smoker to add the final touch of smoke.

The process is lengthy but if you enjoy pulled pork it is worth it.

Here is the rub Dave likes to use:

Pulled Pork Rub

“The Art of Smokology” by Chef Richard McPeake

½ cup Chili Powder

¼ cup Paprika

1 TB Kosher Salt

1 TB Ground Cumin

1 TB Ground Poultry Seasoning

1 TB Superfine Sugar

1 TB Garlic Powder

Combine all ingredients and blend well.  Liberally cover all sides of the pork, wrap the pork in foil and refrigerate for 12 hours.

In the next post I will share the fun dessert we had!