My husband and I started watching the MasterClass series during quarantine, with shows ranging from Thomas Keller’s cooking techniques to vegetable and herb gardening with Ron Finley. They’re very well done, easy to follow, you can watch them on the tv or a computer or phone, and you can skip around from class to class as you like. When we watched barbecue pitmaster and James Beard Award winner Aaron Franklin’s classes, of the Franklin Barbecue fame, my husband wanted an immediate Instacart order for some large pork cuts like pork shoulder butt and baby back ribs so we could try our hand at the recipes.

These cuts of pork are actually quite economical. They have a lot of fat marbling and therefore usually need a slow cooking method. I’ve made pork stews a bunch with the pork shoulder cut but nothing compares to how delicious it was after hours of smoking it on the grill. Apparently there are bone-in and boneless cuts of pork shoulder butt but Aaron Franklin recommends bone-in and by the time it’s done smoking on the grill the bone just falls right out, completely clean.

We served it alongside some fresh baked honey cornbread and Annie’s biscuits so you could make sandwiches out of it. You can do it buffet-style and put out different mustards and barbecue sauces so that everyone can choose their own level of spiciness. After one bbq pulled pork sandwich though I grabbed a fork and just dove in for more meat and sauce by itself because it was so tender. Absolutely a winner, and it can serve a lot of people or provide you with leftovers the next day. Just heat a 1/4″ of water in the bottom of a saucepan and add the meat drizzled with a little more water for moistness, cover and let steam, stirring occasionally, until warm, about 8 minutes.

Franklin Barbecue’s Smoked Pulled Pork Shoulder

Recipe influenced by: Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue, A Meat-Smoking Manifesto

Hands On Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: about 7 hours

Serves: 6-8 (depending on size of the pork shoulder)

Ingredients:

• Bone-in Pork Shoulder
• Canola Oil
• Seasoning Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
• BBQ sauce(s) of choice

Directions:

1. Remove pork shoulder from packaging and place on baking sheet or tray. Coat lightly with canola oil. Season with freshly ground black pepper and seasoning salt. We use the Santa Maria Seasoning.
2. Prepare gas or charcoal grill for indirect heating. If using a charcoal grill, you can add vineyard cuttings or a wood of your choice for smoking. Heat grill to 270-325°F. Use the vent on the cover to adjust the temperature, open is hotter, closed is cooler.
3. Place pork on grill, fat-side up, away from the heat source, to allow for the indirect heating. Put cover on grill and check once every hour for 5 hours. As the pork begins to char on some sides, pour a small amount of apple cider vinegar to those areas to keep it moist and replace grill cover.
4. After 5 hours, or when the fat-side area splits, remove the pork from the grill and place on a large piece of foil. Lightly coat the entire pork with a mix of ½ barbecue sauce to ½ apple cider vinegar. Then wrap pork tightly in a single layer of foil, shiny side down. Place back on the grill in the indirect heat and replace grill cover. Cook 1.5 to 2 hours longer.
5. Check with a meat thermometer until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 200°F throughout. The thermometer should go in without resistance when done cooking.
6. Remove from the grill and let stand in the foil for 15-20 minutes. Remove the large bone (it should come out very easily). Use two large forks to shred the meat.
7. Serve with warm cornbread and biscuits and extra barbecue sauce.