Dinner 5: Pulled pork shoulder (aka pork butt)

Your prowess has impressed even me, the Professor. Now you will embark upon the most challenging cook you have yet faced: an all-day cook which will require refilling the WSM with charcoal along the way. At the end of this long, slow cook will be soft, delicious porky perfection.

• 2 pork butts (aka shoulders). Look for ones with a bone well-placed to help conduct heat through the meat; at refrigerator temperature they should be somewhat firm (which indicates good marbling), rather than floppy (which means they're too lean)

• Distilled white vinegar

• Cheap yellow mustard

• BBQ rub of your choice

• Option: a length of hot links

Plus: everything shown on the What You Need page

Wash the butts with water and then with vinegar, and scrub well. Lightly rub with mustard, and then apply rub on the heavy side.

Build a fire according to the Wiviott KISS Method. You may wish to add more chunks than with previous cooks, as a pork butt can absorb a lot of smoke flavor. However, don't go overboard on one cook, scale up by one or two chunks (or equal volume) at a time and see how you like the results. Place both butts on the top grill, keeping them in toward the center without touching too much.

All vents are open for the first 1/2 hour. At 1/2 hour, close the three bottom vents by 1/3. Top vent remains completely open, as always. Leave it alone for 2-1/2 more hours.

After 3 hours total of cooking:

Refill the water pan, and flip and rotate butts. (Flip=turn top to bottom. Rotate=move outside edge to inside.)

After 5 hours total of cooking:

Light another chimney according to the Wiviott KISS Method.

When it's glowing red, take the middle and top off, leaving the top on the middle if possible. Stir the coals in the smoker, and just about fill the charcoal ring with new unlit charcoal. Make sure no unlit charcoal is blocking the vents.

Add 2-chunks of debarked wood to top of unlit charcoal, then pour the contents of the chimney on top of that. When charcoal stops billowing white smoke, about 10-minutes, add 2-chunks of wood and reassemble cooker.

Refill waterpan. Rotate butts.

After 7-1/2 hours total of cooking:

At 7-1/2-hour mark take off top and refill waterpan. Open one lower vent all the way. Poke the pork butt with a finger to see if it's starting to get done, and take its temperature with an instant read thermometer just to get an idea of how things are going. Meat temperature will most likely be in the 160° to 170° range. Pork butt internal temperature can plateau between 160° and 170° for hours, do not get impatient.

If you have the hot links, you can add them at this time. They need about 1-1/2 to as much as 3 hours, depending on how exposed they are to the heat at the outer ring; do not overcook and dry out.

After 8-1/2 to 9 hours total of cooking:

Start checking to see if the butts are done—when they are, all of the following signs should be observable:

• A meat fork will slide easily into the meat.

• The pork butts seem to actually slump upon themselves as if they can no longer support their own weight.

• An instant read thermometer will register approximately 197° (make sure the instant read is in meat/flesh, not fat).

• The pork butt bone will easily slip out from the meat.

Pork butts will take anywhere from 8-12 hours. If you are just beginning to think these signs might be true, it's not done yet and could easily use another hour or more. It's called slow cooking for a reason.

When the smaller or more done of the two is truly, indisputably done and you take it off, leave the other for an extra hour to allow comparison of states of doneness. Let rest for 10-15 minutes, pork shoulder will pull easily when warm, not at all if allowed to cool completely. Serve on cheap white buns with cole slaw.

Bob in Georgia's Sauce* (Eastern North Carolina Style)

2 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
(black pepper also if you desire)

Note: When I was at Bob's he used organic unfiltered cider vinegar and whole cayenne or Tabasco type peppers.

*This is not actually a BBQ sauce, more of an accent, and should be used sparingly--sprinkled on like Tabasco.

If you need to reheat add a little apple juice to pulled pork and reheat at 300° in a covered pan, or microwaved inside Saran Wrap. Meat does not need to be piping hot, do not dry out. Frozen meat will reheat perfectly well in this manner.