Another request on my family trip in Napa this year was my pulled pork. I usually make it every summer in Nantucket, but with COVID, 10 people traveling to Nantucket was impracticable (especially with the newest member - my baby grandson). So this year, I went out to California for a change. However, there were still sliders!!

My son is a perfectionist and likes to find ways to improve my recipes (which can be maddening at times but frequently the dish does turn out better) and this was an opportunity to tweak my recipe.

I have used Ree Drummonds pulled pork recipe for years - this is some of hers and some of mine. I must say it was the juiciest and most tender version I have ever made. How was this recipe different from the other times that I have made it? I doubled the amount of spice that I put on the meat, doubled the time that the rub sat on the meat, lowered the temperature that I cooked it at, and cooked it three hours longer. Best ever. We had enough left over to make carne asada the next night so stay tuned for that recipe!

Ingredients

1 10 pound pork butt - bone in (new for me!)
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp paprika
4 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
6 onions
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (we used
2 dozen slider potato buns or sourdough rolls

Instructions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Pat the pork butt dry with some paper towel. Tear four long pieces of saran wrap and criss-cross them on the counter top making sure that they are long enough to enrobe the pork butt. Place the pork butt in the middle of the saran wrap and spread the dry mixture over the entire pork butt (turning it over to fully coat).
3. Wrap up the meat and place it on a sheet pan in the refrigerator for 12 hours (this will allow the dry rub to really flavor the meat). Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
4. Slice the onions along the circumference and lay on the bottom of a roasting pan with some depth (for the liquid). Place the pork butt on top of the onions and cover the top with aluminum foil.
6. Cook in the oven for 8 hours at which point you can remove the foil and cook for 2 more hours.
9. Remove the pork from the pan and let it rest. Pour the juices into a sauce pan and bring it to a rolling boil - reducing by 75%. Slowly add the bottle of BBQ sauce to your reduction making sure to heat it thoroughly.
10. Chop up the onions up to use as a topping, grab two forks, & pull the pork apart into shreds! YUM!!

Serving and Sides!

To serve, set up an assembly line with stations for buns, pulled pork, chopped onions, BBQ sauce, and sides! We served this with our potato salad and chili lime coriander cole slaw. You could also pickle some onions and add those to it - or put the cole slaw directly in your burger for some crunch!

TIP: Get some little cardboard serving dishes like the ones on the right (the ones they give you at food trucks or with hot dogs). They’re super cute and since this meal gets pretty sloppy - they catch a lot of the mess!

Potato Salad Recipe:

Potato salad is our new favorite summer dish to get creative with! Buy some small red and yellow potatoes and wash them well. Next cut them in half and boil them for 10 minutes or until tender when poked with a fork. Strain them and put them in the fridge. Once they’ve cooled you can add any vegetables you want. This time we added some celery, red pepper, green beans, onions, and chives. Then you toss it with your potato salad dressing (ingredients below - which only need to be whisked together. Serve with coarse Himalayan salt and fresh coriander. Recipe yields around 6 servings.

Potato Salad

2-3 pounds of little red and yellow potatoes cut into halves (or as many as you like)
Optional toppings: coriander, celery, red pepper, green beans, onions, and chives.