Ingredients
- One 6-8 lb Pork Butt
- Little Lu's BBQ Sweet Heat Rub & Sweet Hog Rub
- Apple Cider Vinegar / Apple Juice
- French's Yellow Mustard
Smoked pulled pork is one of those classic barbecue staples with several regional variations. This Perfect Pulled Pork recipe will show you how to smoke a pork butt low and slow for meat that is so juicy and tender you can easily shred it.
PRO TIP: Be sure to cook your pork shoulder low and slow, between 200°F and 250°F until the meat is fall off the bone tender (usually when it reaches an internal temperature between 195°F to 205°F). By then, all the inter muscular fat has dissolved leaving the meat extremely juicy. Test the meat by either using a probe or your finger. If the pork feels too “springy”, it's not tender yet! There should be a slight indentation in the meat when it is cooked just right.
Second Pro Tip: Cook your pulled pork with the fat cap up. This will give you gorgeous bark as the fat cap renders down, and those beautiful diamond cuts will shine through.
To get things started you want to go ahead and start that pit up. We recommend starting at 200 and slowly ramping up to 250 over the course of the first 3 hours. This gives the meat and muscle tissue time to warm up, without becoming to tense by throwing the meat on right at 250. You very well can start right at 250 if you'd like, but we've seen the best results going at 200 and ramping up to 250 over a 3 hour period. Once you have your pit going, it is time to trim the pork butt, season it up, and get it ready!
One a pork but there shouldn't be much trimming, all you really want to do is trim any low hanging fat and meat off just to make sure the pork butt is nice and uniform. Any hanging fat or meat will burn up fast, and the name of the game is to cook as evenly as possible. Once you've got a nice, uniform pork butt, you want to cut some diamonds into the fat cap. This will allow you to get the rub you want to use all the way down to the meat and through the fat cap. Once this is done slather the butt in mustard as a binder, and then take your Little Lu's BBQ Sweet Heat and use that as a base layer for your pork butt. Next you want to use Little Lu's Sweet Hog as a top layer, creating a perfectly sweet pulled pork, with a slight kick. Now that the butt has been rubbed down, let it sit out for 30 minutes to sweat while that pit reaches 200F.
Once that smoker hits 200 degrees, it's time to get that pork butt on the pit! Over the first 3 hours we won't be doing much but occasionally spritzing with Apple Cider Vinegar or Apple juice as it dries out, and slowly raising that pit temperature to 250 degrees. Do NOT spritz too early or you will rush that rub away and cause the bark to not set in. When internal temperature hits 145°F, remove butt, place in pan fat side up, and add a bit more seasoning and drizzle with honey. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and get it back on the pit. Now you will let the pork butt cook until it reaches an internal temperature of about 195 degrees. Once the pork butt hits 195 internal, take it off the pit, and let it rest in a cooler, wrapped in aluminum foil, and a old towel or two for a period of 1-2 hours.
Finally, throw on some''hot'' gloves (I like cotton gloves with a nitrile glove pulled over them) remove the bone and hand pull the pork, placing aside any large pieces of fat. Serve on a beautiful sesame seed bun, with Kinder's BBQ Sauce!
Instructions
- Start your pit, and get it to 200 degrees
- Trim the access meat and fat off your pork butt, and slice diamonds into the fat cap
- Rub French's yellow mustard all over as a binder
- Rub Little Lu's BBQ Sweet Heat as a base layer, and Sweet Hog as a top layer
- Get the pork butt on the pit
- For the first three hours spritz lightly as the pork butt dries out
- When the pork butt hits about 145 internal, put it in a pan with more rub, some apple cider vinegar or apple juice sprayed on top and cover with aluminum foil. Place back in smoker
- Cook until it reaches 195 internal
- Rest in aluminum foil and a couple old towels in a cooler for 1-2 hours
- Take pork butt out, pull it, and serve on buns with Kinder's Barbecue Sauce