Nutmeg Disrupted

July 13th, 2013 marks Meal Exchange’s fourth annual National BBQ Day (TM), a nation-wide celebration of locally sourced foods.

Members of the Food Bloggers of Canada have teamed up with National BBQ Day to feature BBQ recipes from across Canada.  Each week leading up to National BBQ Day on July 13th, they will be posting recipes from FBC members that will offer up tons of culinary inspiration for your BBQ. Be sure to stop by and check out what fellow Canadians are cooking up in backyards across the country.

Want to be part of the national conversation? Host your own BBQ and register your event for a chance to win a  Napoleon BBQ Grill

To kick off the series we are featuring my 16 Hour Slow Smoked Pulled Pork.

I am very lucky to have a few very nice butcher shops in the area so finding top quality cuts of meat is very easy.  The meat of choice for my weekend cook, pork butt. After doing a bit of research it is a good choice as it is a bit forgiving, though I was very confident walking into it.

 

 

The first step in the process was to get the meat into a brine. I went with a straight forward recipe of sugar and salt with a few add ins

 

 

Brine:

2 cups of brown sugar

2 cups of coarse salt

3 heads of garlic, sliced in half

2 large yellow onions, sliced in half

3 bay leaves

1 red chili pepper

In a large pot I combined half the water with the salt and sugar and stirred over medium heat until the sugar was dissolved. Do not bring to a boil unless you have ample time to allow it to cool.  I added the rest of the water and stirred to mix fully.

 

Place the pork into a large container. I used a stock pot as it had the depth I was looking for. Add the onions, garlic, chili pepper and bay leaves. Cover with the brine. To weight down the pork I used a small plate and a mason jar filled with water to hold the butt under the surface of the solution. Place in a fridge for up to 24 hours.

 

 

When ready, remove from brine and place on a wire rack. Using paper towel blot the surface of the meat.

Next we prepare the rub.

 

 

In a bowl combine:

1 cup of brown sugar

3 tablespoons of onion powder

2 tablespoons of dry mustard

1 heaping tablespoon of black pepper

1 tablespoon of paprika

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of dried dill

2 teaspoons of chili powder

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Mix well. Rub down the entire surface of the pork.

 

Now you are ready to smoke.

First off, make sure you have enough propane on hand if you are using a gas smoker. Nothing would ruin the experience more then half way through the night you run out of gas and have to finish your meat in the oven.

Now you need to get the smoker nice and hot. You are looking at a temperature of around 225 degrees.

Apple and cherry woods chips were used and water was the liquid of choice.

 

 

All in all the pork spent 16 hours in the smoker. 190 seems to be the magic number for super tender meat. It was pulled out of the smoker when it hit 190 degrees.

 

After a 30 minute rest it was pulled by hand.

The bark was sweet and spicy that added wonderful flavor to every bite.

 

The meat was juicy and tender with rich a deep smokiness I have never had before. It truly did melt in my mouth.  You can decide to mix some sort of sauce into the meat, though, when I tried it I thought it took away from the flavor of the meat. And maybe coleslaw is good on those pork loin slow cookers sandwiches but it is NOT needed with this pork.  It truely can stand alone with nothing else. It is indeed mouthwatering. And worth the time it takes to prepare.

I hope you enjoyed the first post of what will be a fantastic look at BBQ from across Canada. Be sure to check out the entire series. And if this has inspired to try wood smoking I would love to hear from you!  We look forward to seeing what you are going to grill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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