Pulled Pork

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Show: Good EatsEpisode: Q

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (136)

Cook Time:
11 hr 0 min
Level:
Easy
Yield:
8 to 10 servings

Times:

Prep: 20 min
Inactive Prep: 13 hr 0 min
Cook: 11 hr 0 min
Total:: 24 hr 20 min

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Ingredients

Brine:

8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses
12 ounces pickling salt
2 quarts bottled water
6 to 8 pound Boston butt

Rub:

1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
1 teaspoon whole coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon paprika

Directions

Video: Watch Alton make this recipe

Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart Lexan. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.

Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex gloves during the application.

Preheat smoker to 210 degrees F. Place butt in smoker and cook for 10 to12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing as desired.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Pulled Pork
joel acworth, GA 11-03-2009
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One of his best
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

It's amazing that many of the reviewers skipped the brining and/or the smoking and then think that they made this recipe. ... Not doing these steps will produce a drastically different result. I've been making this recipe for years and it turns out great every time. You've got to pull apart the pork and mix the bark with the inner parts of the pork to get a proper salty/sweet balance. If you must use smaller butts than what is recommended alter the brining and cooking times.Read more
recipe Pulled Pork
Eric Council Bluffs, IA 09-18-2009
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Great Recipe
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

A little bit salty the first time but not too salty, used recipe exactly as written. I will use the recipe again maybe just... a little bit less salt in the brine this time. Also, I am going to double the rub recipe because the way it is written is stretching it for an 8 lb. butt. Also it took about 13 hours (12hrs. at 210 deg. / 1hr. at 300) for an 8 lb. roast. I think this time I will smoke it in my VWS for 3 or 4 doses of smoke and finish it in the oven (50% cherry and 50% hickory) Playing with the brine, rub and cooking time/temp. is all I need to do to make it that much better because other than that it was awesome and everyone at my party loved it. I don't like bbq sauce so I left it "naked" and let others add sauce as they pleased.Read more
recipe Pulled Pork
Don Germantown, WI 09-10-2009
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Easy, Delicious, and a great way to spend an entire day.
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Great recipe for a beginner to get started with smoking meat. In the brine for about 12 hours, then up promptly at 4:30 am to... fire up the flower pot smoker. Smoked over Hickory for about 4 hours, then finished up with a mixture of Sugar Maple and Beechnut. Smoked for a total of about 11 hours at 210?. The flower pot smoker does a great job of holding a consistent temperature for a long period of time. I checked it every half hour, but didn't touch the temp controls most of the time. Outside temp ranged from 57? in the morning to 76? in the afternoon.Read more
recipe Pulled Pork
Carol Jackson, MS 08-26-2009
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Pulled Pork....pit toooey
Rated: 3 stars out of 5

I have made a lot of pulled pork and decided to try this method. This was the first time to brine it so I followed the... directions exactly. I won't be brining again. It makes it way too salty for us. My smoker didn't work so I used the gas grill on very low heat and 3 rounds of smoke. It was very tender & in the future will be even better without the salt bath.Read more
recipe Pulled Pork
Nicole Woodbury, MN 08-16-2009
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My first time making pulled pork
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I made a 4 lb butt roast and cooked it for about 7 hours int he oven @ 225 and let it rest an hour. I covered it for 1/2 the... cooking. I had it in the brine for close to 20 hours. BTW- a cup of salt is 9 oz in wt (not 8 like some think) (I did a search) so 1-1/3 cups is what I used. The only meat that was a tad salty was the meat on the edges. Otherwise it wasn't salty at all. The rubmade it very tasty and it smelled great. I added some water to what was left in my pan (thick sludge) and added to my pork so it will stay juicy. I made 2 homemade BBQ sauces from Emeril's recipes, one that is cooked with onions, garlic, etc and has tomato paste, spices, cider vinegar, & brown sugar and one that was made with cider vinegar, ketchup, mustard, molasses, br. sugar and spices. I added honey to both to sweeten them up and made them a day ahead. I like both of them. The cooked one was thicker. I served the pork on onion buns and added some french fried onions to the top plus the sauce. I tried one with coleslaw, but didn't like it that way. My coleslaw was too watery. I will be making this again for my son's birthday party in a couple of weeks.Read more
recipe Pulled Pork
Debbie Chilhowee, MO 08-13-2009
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No space for doing the brine? No problem! Still really good!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

For a special event, I needed to do 10 pork roasts. Since there was not room in the fridge for me to do the brine step, I... then added 1&1/2 T. of Kosher salt and a handful of brown sugar per rooast to the dry rub mixture. I just rubbed the roasts, double wrapped them in foil and roasted them in the oven at 210 for approx. 8 hours or till falling apart. I drained the juices, separated the fat and then aded back some of the drippings as needed for flavor purposes. Very tasty! Thanks, Alton, once again for another great recipe! Love your show!Read more