Pulled Pork Sliders with Blue Cheese Slaw

TailgateJoe Dec 20, 2011 1 comment

Pulled pork Sliders with Blue Cheese Slaw

Ok, I am not gonna lie to you, to get the absolute best pulled pork you need a smoker, using charcoal and wood. Other than the obvious smoke flavor the wood imparts during the long process, there is science behind the charcoal being best suited for low and slow bbq cooking (things like dry heat and moisture in gas cooking, etc). BUT, all is not lost folks! We can definitely get close enough, and create some very tasty pork-goodness with the tools we have on hand.

The pork:

3 tablespoon paprika (the smoked version would be great but not mandatory)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoon kosher/coarse salt
1 5-7 lb hunk-o-pork boston butt or shoulder
bbq sauce
some nice soft rolls, like the fresh baked wholesale club dinner rolls, sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls, or Martins potato rolls

The slaw:
see our coleslaw recipe and just add a bunch of blue cheese

The slaw can be made while the pork is in the oven
Mix the dry ingredients together to create the spice rub
Pull out your pork, and pat it dry
Sprinkle the spice and rub your pork. Wearing rubber gloves will help the rub stick to your pork and not your hands!
If you have any rub left, feel free to leave it to the side to sprinkle later.
Put the pork in a roasting pan, covered, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Put the pork, uncovered, into an oven set to 225 degrees
Don’t even bother to check it for a few hours, it will take between 1-1.5 hours per lb to get to the desired internal temp, 200-205 degrees
Once you get a thermometer into the thickest portion of the meat and hit 200-205 degrees, pull it out of the oven and cover with foil and rest for 30 minutes.
Grab 2 decent sized forks, one in each hand, and start ripping into the pork, it should pull apart with little effort. This is where you can optionally sprinkle in some leftover rub seasoning.
pour in the desired amount of bbq sauce and toss together, keeping in mind we aren’t making soup here!!!
Construct the sandwiches with the pork and slaw and dig in!!

Suggestions and tips:

oven temp is extremely important, I have oven thermometers in each of my ovens, you would be surprised how off your oven may be.
Invest in a nice instant read thermometer, I use the thermapen and can’t recommend it high enough.
Open Pit with its sweet tangy flavor is our store bought bbq sauce of choice. If you prefer a mustard based sauce (Carolina style), check out Cattlemen’s Master’s Reserve Carolina Tangy Gold BBQ Sauce.
Sometimes I sprinkle in some extra brown sugar when pulling the pork apart.

photos: