Pulled Pork Rub Dry Rub Recipe
Mix together the following ingredients in a mixing bowl:
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. When you have finished the dry mixture its time to get it onto the meat. First you should coat the meat with either yellow mustard or olive oil. This helps the spices stick better to the meat.Covering the pork shoulder with mustard before adding the dry rub
  2. Next liberally coat the meat with the rub mixture, no need to massage the spices in – thoroughly coating is enough.
  3. Pork shoulder smothered with mustard and dry rub
  4. When all of the sides have been rubbed its time to wrap the meat in plastic foil (or place it in a reusable contained) and keep it in the fridge until about an hour before the meat is ready to go on the grill. I usually rub my meats 24 hours before it goes on the smoker but even just 2 to 3 hours is also ok.
  5. Fire Time Prepare your smoker and get your tools ready. I use a home built smoker we dubbed “Ugly Betty” – and yes, she truly is ugly. Our smoker uses charcoal but that is simply a personal preference. I am sure gas works just fine if you prefer it. The perfect temperature for smoking pulled pork sandwiches is 225°F (107°C). I like to use hickory wood for smoke flavor; while heating your smoker soak about 3 handfulls of wood chips in water. Sprinkle the soaked wood across your coals just before the meat is ready to go on.
  6. Pork shoulder takes a while to cook – figure roughly 1 to 1.25 hours for each pound of meat. Therefore a 5-pound shoulder piece will take a little over 5 hours. Place the meat in the center of the grate and let it smoke, making sure the temperature doesn’t vary too much from the 225 degree Fahrenheit sweetspot throughout the cooking time.
  7. About one hour before your meat is finished place the meat inside some aluminum foil, this step is not necessary but it will prevent the meat from taking on too much of a smoked flavor. The meat is finished once it hits an internal temperature of 200°F (97°C), not a moment sooner. Remove the meat from the smoker and let it rest inside its foil pack for at least 30 minutes. The meat needs this time to redistribute all the juices which may have leaked out during the smoking process.
  8. After 30 minutes, open the foil packet and start pulling the meat. The easiest way to do this is to cut the piece of meat in the middle and using two forks gently shredding it. The individual pieces should simply come apart.
  9. Stack the meat on a hamburger (or even better hoagie) rolls, drizzle with your favorite BBQ Sauce and enjoy.
  10. Perfect side dishes for this meal included cole slaw, smoked corn on the cob and french fries. Serve some more BBQ Sauce on the side and enjoy! One final tip: Put some cole slaw right on top of the meat in the sandwich – it’s heavenly!
Recipe Notes

One quick note on dry rubbing with yellow mustard – don’t worry, there won’t be a flavor overload from the mustard as the taste will mostly vanish during the smoking process. What the mustard will do however is make a very lovely meat surface and work great to hold the dry rub mix close to the meat.