Ribfest favorites: Pulled pork

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Get some white bread and pickles, because the pork is done.

Traditional barbecue has always aimed to take gnarly, ill-favored cuts of meat and make them special.

Pulled pork is no different. Starting with pork butts - which, despite the name, come from the shoulder of the pig - a day’s work turns them into a pile of savory, moist meat.

You could mimic this process in an oven, and it would be tasty, but not smoky. It will also make your house smell like pig heaven.

Riddled with fat and sinew, there’s a good reason the pork butt goes for $1.29 a pound.

Take two bone-in pork butts, about 15 pounds total. Slash them a two or three times a side, in the meaty parts, to open them up a bit.

Coat the meat with spices. You can stick to salt and pepper, or use a barbecue rub. Many barbecuers make a big deal about the composition of their rub, but I find the glory in the meat. (My basic rub is an eighth cup each of salt, sugar, chile powder, granulated garlic, cumin and ground coriander, plus a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Sometimes curry finds its way into the mix.)

Then you want to cook the meat at about 275 degrees for about 14 to 16 hours, until it’s 185 to 190 degrees inside, and it’s done. (The thermometer, at right, shows this fellow needs to edge up a few more degrees.) Then you let it rest for an hour and shred it. Carefully, because it’s hot.

Did that seem too simple? Because that’s all there is to it.

It helps to have the right equipment. I use a popular home barbecue rig called the Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker. It’s fueled by charcoal, and wood chunks - I use hickory and oak - add to the flavor. I fire up the charcoal and put the meat on at about 8 pm, then let it smoke. Another chimney of charcoal is added around midnight. I turn the meat, and then I go to bed and let it cook through the night.

In the morning I open the cooker to insert the temperature probe of my remote thermometer into a hunk, and close the lid again. The meat was “done” - fine to eat - by midnight. It wasn’t barbecue until the internal gnarliness and fat broke down and flooded all its fibers with savory juices. The long cooking soaks smoky flavor into every strand.

The ridges are from the grates, as the meat starts to soften as it cooks - but there’s no mistaking that glossy crust.

It’s shredded, or “pulled,” so that the crunchy exterior is distributed throughout the resulting pile of meat. Children may gather around the tray like cute little vultures, pecking at the bits they like best, until you chase them away with a broom.

Remaining fat and gristle is removed. At my house, it’s seasoned with salt dissolved in cider vinegar and pepper flakes, as at left.

The gorgeous result is savory, moist, and satisfying, the antidote to all the dried-out pale pork ever foisted on your palate. It freezes well, too, so you can make a ton of it and not let it go to waste.

Do it in the oven if you like. You want it to be a moist heat, so if you do it in the oven, add a water pan. You will also need patience.

I have been thinking about what the finished product might taste like if you marinate it in a garlic and citrus mojito for a few days before cooking. The crusty parts would be unbelievable. Hmmm.

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