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October 6, 2009

Tailgater shares his pulled-pork philosophy

By Mike Pound

mpound@joplinglobe.com

It’s really not that hard to whip up a big batch of pulled pork.

It’s just hard to whip up a really good batch of pulled pork. A really good batch of pulled pork is the sort of pork that just falls off the bone.

Troy Richards knows how to make a really good batch of pulled pork. So good, in fact, that he offered to served up a mess (when used in connection with barbecue, “mess” is a good thing) of really good pork at the Missouri Southern State University alumni tailgate party prior to last Saturday’s MSSU-Pittsburg State University football game.

In the interest of fair disclosure, it should be pointed out that the person who is writing this story is married to the MSSU alumni director. But that is not why the person who is writing this story is writing this story.

The reason the person is writing this story is that person really, really likes pulled pork. But the person who is writing this story never seems to be able to whip up a really good batch of pulled pork on his own. His pulled pork is never quite as tender or juicy as he would like it to be. So he decided to compare pulled-pork notes with Richards.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s get to Richards’ thoughts on pulled pork. As far as Richards is concerned, the key to really good pulled pork is that old barbecue adage: low and slow. In the barbecue world, “low and slow” is the equivalent of “location, location, location” in the real-estate world.

But Richards takes “low and slow” to an entirely different level.

“I will put the pork on at 10 a.m. Friday and take it off at 10 a.m. Saturday,” he said a few days before the tailgate at Missouri Southern.

Richards said that he tries to keep the temperature of the pork at a pretty constant 180 degrees. The low temperature and the extended time spent on the fire is the key to keeping the pork moist and tender.

For the pork, he uses a typical pork butt. The pork butt does well over long, slow cooking times because it contains enough fat to allow the meat, when cooked properly, to turn out very moist.

Richards prepares and applies a dry rub to his pork prior to placing it on the fire. And, to be fair, he will admit he has an edge in the low-and-slow department. That edge is his Green Egg smoker.

Green Eggs are, as the name implies, green and shaped like an egg. The key difference between a Green Egg and most smokers is that it is made of a thick ceramic material that retains heat for very long periods of time. Richards simply loads his Green Egg up with a combination of lump charcoal and wood chunks, lights it, places the meat on the grill and walks away. When he comes back 24 hours later, he has a mess of very good pork.

However, it is possible to make your own mess of very good pork without using a Green Egg and without cooking the pork for 24 hours.

In his cookbook “The Barbecue Bible,” for example, Steve Raichlin has a recipe for pulled pork that calls for a 5- to 6-pound pork butt over medium to medium-low heat for 4 to 6 hours. You will need to check the temperature on your grill every hour or so and will likely need to add more charcoal several times during the cooking process.

Once the pork is done, remove it and transfer the meat to a large cutting board. Let the pork sit for about 15 minutes, pull off any skin remaining on the pork and then, using your fingers, tear the meat into pieces.



Pulled pork dry rub

1 tablespoon mild paprika

2 teaspoons firmly packed light brown sugar

11/2 teaspoons hot paprika

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients and rub into pork butt. Cover pork with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least three hours but eight hours would be better.

Source: “The Barbecue Bible.”



North Carolina vinegar sauce for pulled pork

2 cups cider vinegar

11/3 cups water

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

5 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Combine vinegar, water ketchup, brown sugar, salt, hot pepper flakes and peppers in a nonreactive medium-size bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Taste for seasoning adding sugar or salt as necessary; the sauce should be piquant but not sour.

The sauce can be added directly to a pulled pork sandwich or shortly after it’s been pulled. Simply pour 1 to 11/2 cups of the sauce into the roasting pan containing the pulled pork, cover with foil and place it back on the grill for 30 minutes to keep it warm.

Source: “The Barbecue Bible.”

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