Mesquite Smoked Pulled Pork

Mesquite Smoked Pulled Pork

Photos by JayDi Photography

So this post has a deliciously different look than my regular posts.  It has a lot of steps, but trust me on this, it's so worth it! First, you need to plan ahead. This is not a spur of the moment, let's throw something on the grill type meal. Your wood-chips need to soak, as close to 12 hours as possible.  Gauging by the size of my pork shoulder, I knew it would take close to 16 hours to smoke it and reach an internal temperature of 195ºF.  So I prepared 4 smoke packets, to be changed every 3.5 hours, pulling the last packet in the final hour of cooking.  You'll get moist, succulent pork that is easy to shred and pull with a rich smoky bark that will be hard to resist munching on.

Take some aluminum foil, 2 layers thick (only 1 layer if you're using heavy duty aluminum) and make a little envelopes. Layer a large handful of soaked wood-chips and sprinkle a few of the dry ones on top.  (I went with Mesquite, but there are so many other wonderful wood flavours. I will certainly experiment with others this summer, even mixing different ones.)  Close up your packets and poke several holes in each.  The smoke packs are to be placed over low heat, directly over the grill. 

For the pork, I rubbed it with my favorite rub mix and placed it on the opposite side of the burners that were on.  This is what's called indirect cooking.  Your BBQ is like an oven, the heat will circulate, but because we're cooking it for so long, we don't want the flame to actually touch the meat.  Make sure that there is a drip tray or a pan to catch the juices from your roast.   This will help with cleaning up the mess.

This is what mine looked like after 14.5 hours.  I pulled out the last smoke pack and then wrapped the pork shoulder with foil for the last hour and a half.  Look at that dark bark..Mmm Mmm. Can't wait!

After all this waiting, and honestly little work once it's on the grill, I got to shred all of the tender morsels.  It just fell apart and this is the final dish we ended up with that night.  But, once you have the meat, the possibilities are endless. Sliders, coleslaw, poutine? All of them would taste wonderful with this concoction.