VunderBob's Experimental Shredded Pork Butt

VunderBob's Experimental Shredded Pork Butt
From: VunderBob

4-5 lb Boston Butt roast
1 bottle of your favorite beer
Pork rub (recipe below)
Vinegar based BBQ sauce (recipe below)

This recipe is a modification of the way I've done shredded butts in the past. Usually, I do them in a dry slow cooker and let them roast, which is fine and I'll do it again that way in the future. (If you do, or do it in the oven, the key is to slow roast at 225-250 degrees Ammurkin, allowing 2 hours per pound to reach 200 on a thermometer)

I wanted to try using beer this time, and the roast steamed instead. Cover the roast all over with the rub, and put it in the slow cooker on a grate, and turn the thing on. Pour the beer in, avoiding the roast, and until the beer is just below the roast. Let it go all day. Since the cooking mechanism is steam, the butt will not reach 200; I quit at 190, and it took about 2 ½ hours per pound to reach that.

In the meantime, if you're not a lazy slug like me, mix up the vinegar sauce and let is sit in the fridge while the roast is going. I wait to the last minute and boil.

Once it's done, take it out of the slow cooker, and shred the meat with 2 forks. Or cheat, and use a grinder on the coarsest setting. Pour the vinegar sauce over the meat, and mix well. Tradition is to serve on the cheapest white bread or buns with a dollop of coleslaw in the sammich; I eat this stuff by itself because I'm on a low carb diet.

Memphis Style Pork Rub

4 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons celery salt
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper, coarsely ground
2 tablespoons cumin powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons dried sage
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Crush the bay leaves and combine all ingredients. Keep what you don't use for future efforts.

Vinegar-based Eastern NC BBQ sauce recipe

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon (or to taste) Frank's Red Hot sauce
½ tablespoon ground mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Several tablespoons liquid smoke

Adjust the sugar, cayenne and smoke to levels that you feel you can handle. Ideally, make the sauce a day or two ahead of when you cook the pork and stick it in the refrigerator – that gives the sauce time for the flavors to meld. That said, I've never done that. I mix all of the ingredients, and heat until it just barely boils.