What's Cooking Wednesday - Oven BBQ Pork

What I'm reading: Liars, Cheaters and Thieves, by L.J. Sellers

Thanks to Rebecca J. Clark for yesterday's post. I hope we're all treating ourselves more kindly.

I found this recipe under the label of a pork butt (which is really a shoulder of the pig, not the actual "butt"—but who cares?). I'd originally had other plans for the meat, but this looked worth a try. I'm glad I did. I did alter the cooking somewhat, but what else is new?

Oven BBQ Pork

Ingredients:

1 pork shoulder butt roast or fresh picnic shoulder, ~ 8 pounds (serves 12-10)
3 T brown sugar
3 T paprika (I used 2 T 'regular' and 1 T smoked)
1 ½ t salt
1 ½ T ground black pepper
1 ½ T garlic powder
½ c Dijon mustard.



Directions:

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. (If you're using a smaller cut of meat, you can probably use less of the rub, saving it for another time)

Pat roast dry and place on rack in a baking pan. (Note: I was going to do this in my crock pot, which has a rack, but it was too big. I don't have a rack—or a fancy roasting pan for that matter—so I quartered 3 onions and set them in the bottom of my 13 x 9 inch baking pan, which I'd lined with foil. The onions act as a rack, and impart some good flavors to the meat. If I'd had carrots on hand, I'd probably have put some of them in as well.)

Sprinkle top and sides of roast with additional salt. Brush half the mustard over the roast, then sprinkle half the rub on top. Turn the meat over and do the same thing on the other side.

Wrap the meat tightly in the foil, then place on the lowest rack in the oven and bake at 275 degrees about 8 hours. When it's fork tender, pull the meat apart using 2 forks, and put it back into the juices. The longer it cooks, the more tender it should get.

What I changed: The original recipe didn't say anything about wrapping the meat in foil. It also said bake at 250 for 9-11 hours, but I didn't get going early enough, and I've found slightly higher temperatures seem to work better up here. The recipe also said to let the meat rest for 1 hour before pulling it, but I didn't have time for that, and it seemed just fine. It makes a LOT if you use a whole shoulder/butt, so I divvied it up and froze leftovers to enjoy again.

It's definitely a Hubster-proclaimed keeper.

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