BARBECUED PULLED PORK

PULLED PORK, ALSO CALLED PULLED PIG OR sometimes just plain barbecue, is slow-cooked pork roast, shredded and seasoned, and then served on a hamburger bun (or sliced white bread) with just enough of your favorite barbecue sauce, a couple of dill pickle chips, and a topping of coleslaw.

Our goal was to devise a procedure for cooking this classic southern dish that was at once both doable and delicious. The meat should be tender, not tough, and moist but not too fatty. Most barbecue restaurants use a special smoker. We wanted to adapt the technique for the grill. We also set out to reduce the hands-on cooking time, which can stretch to eight hours of constant fire tending in some recipes.

There are two pork roasts commonly associated with pulled pork sandwiches: the shoulder roast and the fresh ham (see figure 19). In their whole state, both are massive roasts, anywhere from 14 to 20 pounds. Because they are so large, most butchers and supermarket meat departments cut both the front and back leg roasts into more manageable sizes: The part of the front leg containing the shoulder blade is usually sold as either a pork shoulder roast or a Boston butt and runs from six to eight pounds. The meat from the upper portion of the front leg is marketed as a picnic roast and runs about the same size. The meat from the rear leg is often segmented into three or four separate boneless roasts called a fresh ham or boneless fresh ham roast.

For barbecue, we find it best to choose a cut of meat with a fair amount of fat, which helps keep the meat moist and succulent during long cooking and adds considerably to the flavor. For this reason, we think the pork shoulder roast, or Boston butt, is the best choice. We found that picnic roasts and fresh hams will also produce excellent results, but they are our second choice.

To set our benchmark for quality, we first cooked a Boston butt using the traditional low-and-slow barbecue method. Using a standard 22-inch kettle grill, we lit about 30 coals and cooked the roast with indirect heat, adding about eight coals every half-hour or so. It took seven hours to cook a seven-pound roast. While the meat was delicious, tending a grill fire for seven hours is not very practical.

In our next test we tried a much bigger initial fire, with about five pounds of charcoal. After the coals were lit, we placed the pork in a small pan and set it on the grate. The trick to this more intense method is not to remove the lid for any reason until the fire is out three hours later. Because you start with so many coals, it is not necessary to add charcoal during the cooking time. Unfortunately, the high initial heat charred the exterior of the roast and the interior was still tough and not nearly "fork-tender" when we took it off the grill.

Next, we tried a combination approach: a moderate amount of charcoal (more than the low-and-slow method but less than the no-peek procedure), cooking the pork roast for three hours on the grill and adding additional coals four times. We then finished the roast in a 325-degree oven for two hours. This method produced almost the same results as the traditional barbecue but in considerably less time and with nine fewer additions of charcoal.

As with ribs (and all barbecue), we find it helpful to let the finished roast rest in a sealed paper bag for an hour. The meat reabsorbs the flavorful juices. In addition, the sealed bag produces a steaming effect that helps break down any remaining tough collagen. The result is a much more savory and succulent roast. Don't omit this step; it's the difference between good pulled pork and great pulled pork.

As with all barbecue, pork roast benefits from being rubbed with a ground spice mixture. However, because the roast is so thick, we find it best to let the rubbed roast "marinate" in the refrigerator for at least three hours and preferably overnight. The salt in the rub is slowly absorbed by the meat and carries some of the spices with it. The result is a more evenly flavored piece of meat.