Prep Class & Recipe: Oven-roasted Pulled Pork

You honestly cannot make Brunswick Stew without a good pulled pork - it's at the core of the recipe. However, versions have been made that use pulled chicken or slow cooked shredded beef brisket - feel free to substitute those if pork is just not your thing. Because of the weather here in San Francisco, I don't get to fire up the grill with my smoker unit as often as I'd like, so I've come up with a version of pulled pork that can be done more easily in the oven. Unfortunately, the process is still a 2 day affair, but the advantage of the oven version is that almost all of that time is unattended. This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 3 days before being used to make my stew recipe.

Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork

Ingredients

7 - 9 lb. boneless pork butt (butchers often call it "Boston Butt")

Brine

1 gallon of water

1 cup of soy sauce

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of Kosher salt

1/4 cup of hot sauce

Rub

2 tsp of liquid smoke

1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp Kosher salt

1 tbsp ground black pepper

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tbsp ground white pepper

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground mustard

2 tbsp brown sugar

Directions

Whisk together the brine ingredients until sugar and salt are fully dissolved. Using a fork, poke many deep holes all over the meat. Place the meat into the brine and cover. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Remove meat from the brine and pat as dry as possible with paper towels. Rub liquid smoke and Worcestershire sauce into the meat until it is well absorbed. Mix all dry spices together thoroughly. Coat the meat completely with all of the spices ensuring all adhere to the meat. Place the meat into a deep roasting pan and place into the oven. You will need to cook approximately 1 hour per pound of meat. Every two hours, use a spoon to take the juices that have collected in the pan and pour them over the meat. Cook the meat until it reaches an internal temperature of approximately 185 degrees. Remove from oven at that point, cover with foil, and rest for an hour.

Once rested, use two forks to pull meat apart into shreds in the roasting pan, allowing the meat to soak up the juices in the pan. You can serve immediately with your favorite BBQ sauce. Or, save it for my Brunswick Stew recipe coming soon.