Let's start with the pork. What you're looking for is a bone-in pork shoulder roast or Boston butt roast. It's a relatively inexpensive, somewhat fatty cut, but that's all to the good, trust me.
The day before serving the pork, make the dry rub by combining the following:
- 2 Tbsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. ground cumin
- 2 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. dry mustard
- 1 Tbsp ground cardamom
- 2 Tbsp. black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
Rub this all over the pork, working it into any crevasses you can find and paying special attention to making sure the fatty side of the roast is well coated. Refrigerate the rubbed pork overnight.
Early next morning, prepare your grill. I'm agnostic about gas versus wood/charcoal. You have to work harder to get good smoky flavor from a gas grill, but I find that the more consistent temperatures I can get from gas are an advantage, especially if I'm doing two or more pork shoulders for a bigger crowd. The key with gas is to have plenty of well-soaked wood chips and a large capacity smoker box. The work comes in making sure the smoker box is regularly refreshed with soaked chips, to keep the smoke level up.
When, as is usually the case, I'm using a conventional grill, the key is in the set up, the fuel, and the need to periodically add fuel to maintain as steady a temperature as possible.
You want a temperature that's just below 275-300 F and indirect heat. On a gas grill, that means using the burners on one side for the heat and to fire the smoker box and keeping the meat on the unheated side. All of this, of course, with the hood down (raise it only to add chips or check meat temperature). For the smoke, I generally use cherry wood, but hickory also works well.
On a conventional grill, I use wood chunks with only a small bit of charcoal. Again, cherry or hickory are both fine. The wood chunks naturally produce enough smoke that I don't need to use soaked chips. To get indirect heat and the right temp takes a bit of practice. I start by lighting about half the fuel I think I'll need and pushing that to one side, then pile the remaining unlit fuel on top of that. The meat goes on the other side and the whole thing is covered. Temperature regulation comes from adjusting the top and bottom vents. You can use an oven thermometer on the meat side to get the temp right. Add new fuel as needed to keep the temperature as steady as possible.
Once the grill is set and the meat is cooking, the remaining ingredient is time. To get that unique, fall off the bone, texture, shoot for an internal temperature of 190F for the pork. This will take a while. For a typical roast, figure on four to five hours or more. For a larger roast or two smaller ones, 5-7 hours.
After the pork is done, let it sit on a cutting board for 15-20 minutes. You should be able to pull it apart with a couple of forks and very little effort.
Full recipe at http://ift.tt/295cLUD
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