Cooking Like A Dad – Pulled Pork On The Big Green Egg

On New Year’s Day, I decided to kick off 2013 with a tasty pulled pork dinner. That meant one thing – The Big Green Egg was waking up from a winter’s sleep.

Since Jan. 1 is usually a pretty lazy day, it seemed perfect to be smoking some meat low and slow. The final result was tasty pulled pork and lots of leftovers.

Here is the recipe.

Pulled Pork on the Big Green Egg

Ingredients

• 5.5 KG pork shoulder (bone in)
• Olive oil
• 500 ML of apple juice
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 jar of Woodsauce
• Buns (or in our case – fresh-baked whole wheat bread)

Step 1.

After you get the pork shoulder home, clean it up if need be. I kept most of the fat on it for cooking since I go through it all by hand at the end and take out the fat. Brush with oil, season with salt and pepper and wrap it up with plastic wrap. You can throw it in the fridge over night and that does the trick for me.

Step 2.

The next morning, start getting your Egg primed for a long day of cooking. I got a plate setter for Christmas that I was eager to use and make indirect cooking even better. Sidenote, if you are cooking on a cold day, get up even earlier so you can break into your frozen egg. I had to get a fire going inside and use hot water on the seal. But it worked. Once the temp is up to 250 F you are good to go.

Step 3. 

Take the shoulder that has been getting to room temp since you got up and unwrap. Place it on the Egg (I went with fat side down) and close that lid. Don’t open it again if you can avoid it for about 6 hours. Because of cold weather, I did have to open mine a few times to get the fires going again but eventually the smoking went full throttle.

Step 4. 

Go do other things for 6 hours. We went for a walk with the kids, cleaned up the house and had lunch. All while the smoke was shooting out of the Egg like Thomas the Train.

Step 5. 

Once you reach the 6 hour mark, put your apple juice in an aluminum container big enough for the pork. Put pork in the container to soak in the juice and put an aluminum foil dome over the meat so it can breath. Close lid and cook for another 2 hours. I also added in some soaked hickory wood chips at this stage for more flavour.

Step 6. 

After the 2 hours, bring the pork inside and leave to rest for 30 minutes with the foil dome still over it. The internal temp should be around 190 F. Start warming the Woodsauce in a pan.

Step 7.

Take the pork and very carefully with your hands, start pulling it apart. Take out the bone and the fat and put all of the good meat in a pan or on a plate. It should be breaking up very easily at this point. Once you have separated all the good meat from the fat, you can add the good meat to sauce on the stove and stir it up.

Step 8.

Add pork to the bread, add your favourite toppings and of course some cheddar cheese.

Step 9. 

Eat.

There you have it, pulled pork on the Big Green Egg. A great meal to start 2013.

Want to find out where you can get Woodsauce? Click here for more recipes and to order.