All that is gold does not glitter...

Servus,

Pulled pork.

Pulled pork is a type religious ecstasy - when done correctly, it blocks your external awareness and expands your mind in a form of euphoria. Anyone who has experienced this will readily agree.

You may say that this is extreme in its description but once you have a bite of that meat, you close your eyes, all other input is blocked out, and your thoughts are filled with only two things: how delicious it tastes and that you need more. Much more.

All you need is:

Heat
Meat
Time

Now, a helping of previous experience makes a world of difference but it really isn't necessary. Everyone started solo once and unless you made a grave error, the meat turned out fine.

Lets get to the photos, shall we?

Here is the beast, bound. 5.1 kg (11 pounds for you non-Metric types)



This is a boneless pork shoulder, which means that they destroyed the poor thing getting the bone out. That's why we bound it with butcher's string. You can use a bone-in shoulder but most people agree that it takes longer.



We then smeared it with mustard and covered it with Raichlen's Basic Barbecue Rub. Wrapped in plastic wrap, it marinaded for something like 12 hours.



During the lull in the action, I prepped the grill using the Minion Ring technique and got everything ready so that all we had to do was place the meat, light the fire, and close the lid.

20 hours later...



Final stats:

End temp meat: 90'C
Internal grill temp: 105'C

So, in foil and in the warmbox...



Tara wanted to help.

So, after an hour of terrible waiting...



A meteorite is born!



Here's the "pulled" part of the event. If the meat is done right, you should be able to separate the pork with a fork using a vigorous pulling action.





So, this is what you end up with. The meat is hot and juicy and has this wonderful smoked twang. I have difficulty describing it...



Even Kali (the portent of Satan) could not resist the aroma of fresh pork!



So, I had some friends over because as my mentor Dave would say "spreading the word about good barbecue is doing God's will" and your average German has never experienced anything like this. Watching them pack away 3 and 4 (! I only had two...) sandwiches and seeing their eyes roll back into their skulls with pleasure was worth the 20 hours sacrificed to make this.

And that's how I see this - spreading the Good News to the uninitiated.

Take some time and make barbecue. I assure you that it will be time well spent.

I bid you Peace,
Jake