best rub for pulled pork?

E

elmatth

Guest
Since the first cook on my newly completed UDS went extremely well, i'm going to try my hand at some pulled pork this weekend. I bought two pork shoulders from Sam's Club, about 5lbs each, and am wondering what rub everyone rates the highest. I've only got experience with the small jars of McCormicks Grill Mates rib rub from wally world that I used to put on chops I would grill. Wondering if that would be fine for pulled pork, or if there is something better. Also, as i'm still too new on this site, i've got no access to the recipe section, so i'm not too sure on how to prepare the meat prior to cook time. What works best for everyone here?

I'm hoping to come close to the taste of the pulled pork sandwiches I used to get from a place called Hog Wild on the south side of Chicago. Man, were those good! Can't remember the name of the town the place was in, but nonetheless, they were good.

Now that I got off track, I'll try to re-focus. I just went out and bought a digital thermometer at the suggestion of just about everyone who replied to my previous post a few days ago, so i'll be able to moniter the temp of the meat. Any suggestions on how to prepare the meat, do I wrap the meat in foil after a time and continue to cook in the foil or do the whole cook without, when I wrap in foil after the cook how long do I wait to pull it apart, then after that, how long do I wait to serve it?

As you can see, i'm a total novice at this, so please be patient with me. I tried searching back a ways through the forum, but it seems that i'm just not finding any straight forward how-to's on this. Thanks in advance for the help!!
 
i like Bonesmokers or Paradise Ridge..Paradise Ridge is hard to find now unfortunately and I think Bonesmokers is only available in bulk at this point
 
1st off...find the "cattle call" section of the forum and introduce yourself.

2nd off...finding a spice that you like is almost impossible. I would suggest you just experiment with what ever you find in stores, markets, online, delis, on and on. What I'm trying to say is there is 1000's and 1000's of rubs.

You will find out that you need to than figure out what kind of wood smoke you want to go with your spice. Than you need to figure out your cooking methods, time, temp, foil, etc for each of your rubs and meat.

About the time you fall in love with a rub you'll stumble into a new one.

but I will go with "butt rub" cuz it was my first.
http://www.buttrub.com/
 
I think asking what rub to use is too vague. I would get something and try it. I doubt anyone here would say they used a rub and made the thing taste like crap.

Smoking itself is a bunch of the flavor. Something I liked on the butt's I did in my UKS, was to inject and rub. I injected with (all 3 butts) 3 tbs pressed garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tbs worcestershire, 1 tsp sea salt. I blended this all to a smooth mix and shot it into about 2 doz spots in the but. I then used my own mix of a garlic/pepper cilantro rub. I smoked the last one around 13 hours with hickory lump and charcoal until 190 internal and let it rest 30 min in a cooler. I like Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauces mixed with mine once it is pulled and I throw in some of the rub.

The neigbors are asking me to smoke more often because they love the hickory and garlic smell!
 
For my first rub I mixed equal parts:

Cumin
Paprika
Sugar
Salt
Pepper

And it turned out great. The rub is too strong for chicken or ribs but for pulled pork it was great. I have since toned down the salt and added a few more ingrediants. There is always some of the last batch left when I mix in the new so it sort of evolves as I go kinda like a Jamaican pepper pot.
 
Another suggestion: Plowboy Rub!!! 1st place pork at the American Royal Invatational this past weekend.
 
I like to make my own. Not my recipe, but it is the best I have found.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
ÂĽ cup paprika
Rub pork down with yellow mustard and apply rub.
 
Well, I don't have all of the bulk spices to mix my own up so i think i'll try one of the already commercially made rubs. Looks like I can find some Buttrub here locally, so i'll try that for this first attempt. I know everyone has different tastes, I was just looking for some suggestions. I'll have to run to Sam's club for some bulk spices for the next cook so I can experiment with some of the other suggestions. I don't know what I would do without this forum!!!!

Oh, yeah, thanks for the Youtube link, h20loo, that helped alot!
 
Injecting the meat sounds interesting too, of course, don't have a meat injector yet either, so that'll have to wait for next time too. My wife is going to kill me with all the time i'm spending on my new UDS! Of course, she won't be complaining when it's dinner time!
 
Injecting the meat sounds interesting too, of course, don't have a meat injector yet either, so that'll have to wait for next time too. My wife is going to kill me with all the time i'm spending on my new UDS! Of course, she won't be complaining when it's dinner time!

you don't need to spend big $ to get a decent injector to use around the house. check your supermarket for the cheepie or wallymart has them in the sporting goods (sometimes outdoors) you know how that place loves to keep you walking around it lost.
 
I think I saw one at Menards for $2.00

in the Que section...near those icky red, white, and blue cans.
 
As simple as it sounds, try a rub with just black pepper and plenty of it. Make a mop with 1/2 water and 1/2 red wine vinegar and add a little garlic powder. I like hickory for this. Serve with a vinegar based sauce for an authentic Carolina style pulled pork or use a sweet tomato based sauce if you like. This is so good and so easy!!
 
So many rubs to pick from, it's good to get a few to experiment with. I make my own when time permits but I like these ones. Spicewine Heffer Dust, Plowboys, Simply Marvelous sweet & spicy, Wolfe, D-dogs. There is also a great bbq store to buy rubs and supplies from that is owned by a couple of fellow brethern.
http://www.greatlakesbbqsupply.com/

I am waiting to get some of Plowboys bovine rub myself and a few other things when their shipment of bovine comes in...
 
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Lots of choices so try em' all in time, so far I have tried and like;
Blues Hog
Billy Bones Triple Cherry
LC's
Rufus Teague
Smokin Guns Hot

Finally getting to try Simply Marvelous today on some spares and gonna put Apple Butter sauce on them.
 
My favorite is the recipe in Smoke and Spice. Make it yourself. It's great. Email me if you would like the recipe.
 
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