by Jan Charles

Created on: August 13, 2010

Pulled pork is at the pinnacle of American cuisine. Rich, smoky, juicy and succulent beyond belief it’s the type of food that makes you tuck in and begin with “mm mmm!”

Die hard barbecuers also tend to keep their secrets close to the chest, so it can be a little bit tricky to get all of the elements of terrific pulled pork together in one place, without a lot of expensive trial and error. No worries though – I love to share, and I was raised around the pits.

There are five elements to great pulled pork – the meat, the smoker, the mop, the sauce and the dry rub. These five come in to play no matter which regional style of barbecue you prefer. Each one plays a significant part, and each is important in its turn. In this case we’re talking about making the best dry rub. Think of the dry rub as a marinade you’ll be using to jump start the final flavor.

Keep in mind that there are a million ways you can go with a dry rub – if it works with pork it’ll work with a pulled pork dish. However, it’s also easy to go overboard when stretching your barbecue muscles. There really aren’t too many fancy things you need to go, and if you go too far you’ll hinder the amazing flavor of the pork itself. I tend to want to leave most ingredients in the cupboard – one of the glories of pulled pork is the meat itself. I’m also a smoker girl – I don’t own a Crockpot. I AM a traditionalist there – true barbecue means low and slow on the smoke. But I also understand the limitations of the method. I have used this same dry rub for pulled pork and ribs both in the oven, and the results were also outstanding.  It certainly will work in a slow cooker.

Make sure you’ve chosen the right cut for pulled pork. You’re looking for a pork butt, shoulder or picnic roast. It’s not really from the fanny despite the name ‘butt’. That refers to the butt of the shoulder. This is relatively high in fat and connective tissue both, unlike most cuts which typically have more of one than the other.  If you find one with the bone in, even better. Meats cooked with the bones tend to have more flavor than boneless cuts.

Place your pork butt on a large baking sheet and pat it dry. In a large bowl whisk together the following:

¼ cup fine kosher salt

¼ cup freshly cracked black pepper

¼ cup onion powder

¼ cup garlic powder

¼ cup paprika –

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