Wood-Smoked Backyard Barbecued Pig
This is serious, slow-cooked Southern barbecue—the kind on which pit-masters stake their reputation—in miniature. The pork shoulder, the cut used here, is the entire front leg and shoulder from a hog, meaning it’s a fairly large piece of meat. It’s often broken up into two cuts: the upper half of the shoulder, also called the Boston butt or pork butt, and the lower, arm-half portion, which is also (rather sweetly) called the picnic ham or shoulder. For this preparation, though, ask your butcher or farmer for the whole shoulder with the bone in and skin on. It is the best you can make at home short of going whole hog (literally), digging your own pit, and basting the thing with a rag mop. To make it, you will need access to aged hickory wood, a wood-fired grill with a hood, and, if your grill is small, a secondary grill for heating coals—or read up on digging that pit. Preparing the pig is an all-day party in itself, so set aside plenty of time for cooking and tending the fire, not to mention a cooler full of beer or (my dad’s choice) a bottle of Jack Daniel’s for the pit-master.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 10 to 12
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
About 1 hour before cooking, rinse the pork, pat dry, and place in a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Combine the brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl and stir to mix. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork and let sit until the pork comes to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Step 2
Meanwhile, prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill and split 10 to 12 pieces of hickory wood into small pieces. Place a piece of the hickory on the coals and place the grates about 12 inches above the fire. Let the coals burn to gray ash with a slight red glow and push them to one side of the grill to create areas of direct and indirect heat (see Know-how, page 151).
Step 3
If the grill is large enough, stoke the fire at the end farthest from the pork, and push the cooler coals to the middle to cook the pork at the opposite end over indirect heat. If you don’t have the space to do this, you may want to maintain a hotter fire in another small grill or starter chimney to ensure a steady supply of coals. The coals and wood should never flame.
Step 4
Set a disposable drippings pan below the grates and beneath the pork. Place the pork, skin side up, over the drippings pan. Cover the grill and cook slowly over low heat for 7 to 8 hours, turning one-quarter turn every 30 to 40 minutes and adding more coals as needed. Cook until the meat is fork-tender (see Know-how, page 172) and falling off the bones, and an internal thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the shoulder reads 190°F.
Step 5
To maintain a low and steady temperature of 250°F to 300°F, you will need to add coals from the hickory wood and charcoal to the fire every 30 to 40 minutes. If the shoulder starts browning too quickly, the coals are too hot.
Step 6
Transfer the pork from the grill to a cutting board and let rest, loosely covered, for about 30 minutes. Remove most of the skin and reserve for making cracklings (see below). Using a fork, pull off the meat in large chunks along with some of the crispy skin and fat. Discard the bone and extra-large pieces of fat and serve warm with Say’s Vinegar Barbecue Sauce.
On the Side
Step 7
Years of tradition demand that this barbecue be served with, at the very least, Roxy’s Grated Coleslaw (page 260), Mess o’ Greens (page 245), Creamy Potato Salad (page 266), and Salt and Pepper Skillet Cornbread (page 57), but when it comes to pulled pork, the more sides, the merrier.
Know-how: Making Cracklings
Step 8
Rather than discarding the skin, use it to make crunchy, salty cracklings, which are perfect for munching solo or garnishing soups and other dishes.
Step 9
Before cooking, remove the skin from the pork and place on a piece of wax paper or foil. Place in the refrigerator to air-dry for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.
Step 10
When ready to cook the cracklings, preheat the oven to 400°F or prepare a hot fire in a charcoal or gas grill and let the coals burn to gray ash with a slight red glow; if using a gas grill, heat the grill on medium. Or pull the skin from the cooked pork and proceed as follows.
Step 11
Cut the pork skin into 1-inch strips and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Season all over with sea salt and place in the oven or on the grill until all the fat has rendered and the skin is crispy, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven or grill and drain on a brown paper bag. Break into crispy pieces and serve over salads, rice, or grits.
Know-how: Testing Fork-Tender Meat
Step 12
I test braised pork and other slow-cooked meats for doneness with a fork. When the meat pulls apart easily with just a fork—making it what I call fork-tender—it’s ready to go. It’s an easy way to test for doneness, but you want to catch the meat at the right time so it doesn’t get overcooked, tough, and stringy. I usually check every 15 minutes after the first suggested cooking time. I find that the leaner, pastured meat I get from the farmer’s market usually takes less time than the grain-fattened meat I get at the grocery or butcher.
