Finishing pulled pork on the Blackstone. Easy and %@#!ing amazing pulled pork.

20 years ago I bought my first smoker and like others made my first batch of pulled pork. The next 20 years has been journey using different cooking methods experimenting and perfecting. At first I thought good BBQ required a lot of work. Every 1-2 hours tending a fire in a UDS or horizontal stick burner. Then transitioned to a BGE, propane smoker, and pellet grill. Over the years I've realized pork shoulder/boston butt is so fatty it's almost impossible to screw it up cooking.
The last few years I had been experimenting with crock pot pulled pork. Normally the problem with crock pot pulled pork is the texture it just mushy and unappealing. But throwing crock pot pulled pork on the BGE or pellet with high heat gives you a touch of smoke flavor and a great texture from caramelizing the fats on the grill. No more tough leathery bark. Awesome texture from the high heat crisping up the fats and caramelizing the sugars. I've gotten nothing but rave reviews from the people I serve it to and is not my go to way to make pulled pork now.

But... I'm always experimenting cause that's just the way I am. What I did last night. I used a boneless boston butt chopped it into grapefruit sized chunks. Liberal application of rub then left it in the crock pot all day. No need to add liquid.

Once you are ready for dinner just take your chunks of pork out of the crock put and toss them on the Blackstone. Don't drain the meat off you want it soaked in it's rendered fat and juices. Once on the Blackstone spread out the pork and add more rub to the top.



What happens is the pulled pork fries in it's own rendered fat. All the little strands of fat throughout the pork crisp up like bacon. Each bite of the pulled pork has little strands of crispy pork fat clinging to it. The sugars in the rub caramelize perfectly so you get perfect caramelized flavor without any burned taste. Soooo much caramelized flavor you don't need sauce as the pork has more than enough flavor on it's own. If you are a sauce guy no need to soak it in BBQ sauce just a little bit of a sweet or mustard/vinegar sauce will balance out the salt in the pork. But the texture is what sets it apart. All the bacon crispiness throughout the pork with each bite is what makes this method so great.

See all those little orange blobs clinging to the strands of meat? That's crispy pork fat.


If you want to try my rub ratios:
4 parts light brown sugar
3 parts table salt
3 parts smoked paprika
2 parts garlic powder
1 part black pepper
cayenne pepper to taste. (I do a 1/2 part)

I like to give it a little more brown sugar than the standard 1:1 ratio to give it a little more caramelization in the 2nd step.