BBQ Smoked Pork

This recipe for pulled pork was taken from the "Bobby Flay's Throwdown!" book, with this particular recipe from his competitor (who was the winner of the throwdown), Lee Ann Whippen, a decorated Virginia pitmaster. This recipe has won her many awards, and rightfully so.

This very tasty pulled pork involves a heavily spiced rub rubbed all over the pork the day before you roast it. Also interesting is that apple juice is added to the roasting pan to help impart flavors. Once the pork is pulled apart, top with your favorite BBQ sauce and slaw.

Ingredients

Pork butt:

• 1 (6- to 7-pound) bone-in butt pork shoulder, with 1/4-inch fat cap
• Wood Chick's BBQ Rub (see below)
• 6 to 8 cups apple juice
• 3 to 4 cups BBQ sauce

Wood Chick's BBQ Rub:

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet Spanish paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon taco spice
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  

Instructions

1. The night before you roast the pork, coat it heavily with the dry rub. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Remove the pork from the refrigerator two hours before cooking. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
3. Put the pork butt, fat side up, in a roasting pan with enough apple juice to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook in the oven until the exterior of the pork is mahogany colored, about four hours, adding more apple juice as needed. If the exterior is drying out, spray the pork with apple juice.
4. Carefully transfer the pork to long pieces of double-layered heavy-duty foil. Pull up the sides of the foil, add 1/2 cup apple juice to the foil, and wrap so it's as airtight as possible. Return to the oven and cook until the internal temperature of the pork is 190 to 195 degrees F, four to five hours.
5. Unwrap, let cool slightly, and pull apart to the desired consistency. Top with BBQ sauce.

Serves 10-12. Eat these.