I recently talked about how I have a fear of ribs—and how I overcame that fear with the help of Mike. It was a formative day. While I'm afraid of ribs, I'm completely disinterested in pork. When I'm grilling, I make steak. Chicken. Fish. But never pork. Honestly, it's never on my radar.
But Mike told me that he makes a killer pulled pork on his grill that I had to try. He swore it was foolproof. He swore it was delicious. He swore that it was the kind of recipe that was going to make me give a damn about the other white meat.
He was right. What's even better: Mike says pork is super-forgiving. You can't really screw it up. I'm in.
The method he uses here is attainable for basically any grill user, but it requires that you set up your grill like a smoker. (We used a 22-inch Weber Master-Touch) The only thing you need to know beyond that is that it takes a LONG TIME—if you want to eat this for dinner, you'd better start it in the morning. Everything else after that is painless.
Here's how he does it:
Step 1: Oil
Start with a pork butt or pork shoulder—we used a picnic cut, which has a bone in it and the skin on (admittedly, kind of gross). We asked the butcher to take the skin off (because, ew), but we left the bone in. Mike says it helps the meat stay together. He covers the whole piece with a little vegetable oil.
Step 2: Salt
Sprinkle the meat with a healthy coating of coarse salt, which not only adds flavor, but also helps keep the meat really juicy.
Step 3: Rub
Cover the pork generously with salt and a rub of your choice. (As I've said before, there are tons of good store versions, but making your own is pretty simple.) Mike's recipe comes from AmazingRibs.com: It's called Memphis Dust. It's a mix of white and brown sugars, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, ground ginger, onion powder, and rosemary powder.
Step 4: Grill
Place them on your strategically set-up grill. The process is arduous, but I'm convinced that our cheater's method would totally work: Place a tray of water inside the grill (which keeps the meat moist), turn half your grill off and the other half on low, and place the ribs on the off side. Mike might not sanction this incredibly lazy version, but we at Delish won't judge.
Step 5: Remove
The meat will take 10 to 14 hours, depending on the size. But if your grill ends up running really hot, pork can totally handle it—if it's done more quickly and you need to wait a little bit before eating, Mike says you can put a towel in a cooler, put the pork on a dish and place it inside, cover it with foil, and leave it there—it'll stay warm for a while.
Step 6: Shred
Transfer the pork to a cutting board and shred it. (DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO EAT because the meat will start to dry out.) If the meat starts to get dry, Mike suggests adding a little melted butter and water to bring it back to life. Apply to sandwich, use barbecue sauce at will, and glory in the fact that you give a damn about pork.
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