Slow-Smoked Pulled Pork Barbecue

with Spicy Slaw, Four Cheese Mac & Cheese, and Cilantro Barbecue Baked Black Beans

Lunch
Dinner

My Thoughts

Sweet and smokey pulled pork barbecue, fresh from the smoker. Creamy mac & cheese with four different cheeses. Spicy coleslaw with Carolina Reaper sauce and fresh local honey, and barbecue & cilantro black beans. Does it get any more summer barbecue than that?

The How To Do It

Follow the instructions for each of the menu items. The recipes follow just after this one.

Pulled Pork Barbecue

  1. Combine the water and honey and microwave for 30 seconds. The microwave step is just to make it easier to blend the water and honey. Totally skip-able.
  2. Coat the pork shoulder with the honey and then sprinkle the now sticky shoulder with half of the dry rub. Be sure to wear latex gloves, otherwise you'll be more marinaded than the meat. Place in a baking dish with high sides (so your refrigerator doesn't get marinated too) and cover with plastic wrap. Let the whole thing refrigerate over night (or 8 hours).
  3. These next couple of steps are for smoking the shoulder, if you're using an oven skip to step 5. Soak your wood chips for at least an hour in water (or water and beer if you're like me). You'll enough to keep the smoker going for 12-14 hours. For my smoker that was enough to fill the tray 4 times. Your smoker will vary. Also, I use apple wood or cherry wood (sometimes a mix of both), but use what you like best.
  4. Fill the chip tray/hopper with chips. I add a few dry chips to the bottom of the try so the smoke starts a little quicker.
  5. Fill the water tray halfway with water and the rest with beer (you can use just water if you prefer or you could use apple cider vinegar as well).
  6. Set your smoker (or oven) to 225° and let it come up to temperature.
  7. Add the pork shoulder and get comfortable. It's going to be a while before you have to do anything else.
  8. While you are waiting for the next step, make the mop sauce (recipe follows) you're going to need it for the next step.
  9. After about 4 hours (you don't have to be too precise on the time) either spray the shoulder with the mop, or using a basting brush, baste the shoulder with the mop. If you use the brush, you may want to sprinkle more of the rub on the shoulder if it looks like it is getting washed/brushed off. Also check how much liquid is in the water tray and if the chips have burned up yet in the chip tray. Refill if necessary.
  10. Repeat step 9 until you're finished smoking the shoulder.
  11. At around hour 11-12 start checking it for doneness. Simply stick a fork in it (yes, I said it, deal with it), and if the meat pulls apart easily it's done. If not, put it back in for at least another hour.
  12. Once the shoulder is done, place it on a baking sheet and, using two forks (or get you some bear claws) pull the pork apart.
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Three Cheese Baked Mac & Cheese

  1. Heat your oven to 400°.
  2. Bring a sauce pan of heavily salted water to boil. You need just enough water to cover the pasta and we are using only half the package. In a medium-sized sauce pan, you should it will be about half full (I have no idea how many ounces but I am guessing about 1 1/2 quarts).
  3. While you are waiting on the water to boil, dice you onion and mince your garlic.
  4. Make the topping for the mac & cheese (I like to make it before I get too involved with the rest of this - the recipe follows this one).
  5. Once that is done melt the butter in a large sauce pot.
  6. Add the onions and start sauteing them until they start to soften (5 minutes or a little more) and start to become pale in color then add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
  7. Add the flour and stir constantly, coating the vegetables, until the roux (or gravy as we call it in the south) starts to turn a medium tan (I know really specific here), think a little lighter than a paper grocery bag.
  8. Once the roux is the color you want, add the cream and stir until everything is combined and you have a smooth and creamy sauce.
  9. Add the cheeses and do the same as with the cream. This time it will make a much thicker sauce. If it is too think you can add more cream (or I usually add whole milk to thin it if it needs it).
  10. Add the remaining ingredients (Worcestershire, sriracha, stone ground mustard, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper) and once again combine thoroughly.
  11. Now that you have finished the bechamel (fancy word for gravy with cheese in it), remove it from the heat and set it aside.
  12. Add the pasta to the water and cook per the instructions on the package. For me it ends up being right at 8 minutes.
  13. Once the pasta has cooked and been drained, add it to the sauce pot with the cheese sauce and mix everything together.
  14. Poor the mixture into a backing dish and cover with the cheese and breadcrumb topping and bake for 15-20 minutes. It could be a little more or a little less depending on your oven so keep an eye on it. The topping should turn a nice golden brown.
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A Slaw For All Seasons

  1. Thinly slice the cabbage into very thin strips. You want them to be very thin, so you're really shaving off bits of the cabbages. That's how thing you're going for. You can also use a food processor with the slicing attachment (I actually don't know what that blade is called. I never use it.) If the strips are too long, give them a rough chop to get them to a more manageable size
  2. skin the carrot, and shred it using a box grater, or what ever shredder you have. You can also buy the carrots cut into "matchsticks" at the grocery. That usually leaves me with way more shredded carrots than I really want. One carrot is cheap and it doesn't take that long to grate it.
  3. Place all the wet ingredients, except for the oil and vinegar, in a bowl and mix the together thoroughly.
  4. Now add each of the dry ingredients, one at a time, mixing it into the mixture thoroughly. You can mix them together all at once, but you run the risk of getting lumps in it.
  5. Now add the vinegar in and mix well. The reason for adding this in here is, at least for me, is that adding it in before the mixture is mostly created seems to make the mayonnaise almost curdle. I'm not actually sure if it can curdle, but it basically forms little mushy lumps and I've found that adding it last gives a creamier result.
  6. Slowly drizzle in the oil. Kind of like with the vinegar, this is done last to make it easier to get a smooth sauce. If you dump the oil in all at once, with everything else, you'll end up whisking a lot more. The oil doesn't want to combine with the other ingredients and doing it slowly at the end just makes life easier.
  7. Combine the sauce with the slaw. I usually add about a half cup of the sauce to the slaw, but I spoon it in so that I can get the vegetable-to-sauce ratio just right. The perfect amount is the amount that you like best so add it a little at a time until it is where you want it.
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Barbecue Baked Black Beans

  1. Dice the half onion and mince the garlic cloves.
  2. In a medium-sized sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat.
  3. Add roughly half of the onions and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until they start turning translucent and soften.
  4. Add the garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Reduce the heat to medium/medium-low and add the black beans, half the cilantro, barbecue sauce, and salt.
  6. Combine everything thoroughly and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Add the rest of the onions and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
  8. Remove them from the heat and either place them in a serving bowl (pictured) or go ahead and plate them.
  9. Sprinkle on the cotija cheese and cilantro.
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Ingredients

Pulled Pork Barbecue
There are no ingredients.
Pulled Pork Barbecue
7 lbs
pork shoulder
¼ cup
dry rub
¼ cup
honey
2 tbsp
filtered water
Four Cheese Mac & Cheese
1 cup
freshly grated Gouda
1 cup
freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups
heavy cream
1 tbsp
unsalted butter
1 tbsp
all purpose flour
8 ozs
cavatappi
½ onion
white onion
2 tsp
Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp
sriracha
1 tsp
hot whole grain mustard
3 cloves
garlic
1 tsp
kosher salt
1 tsp
black pepper
1 tsp
granulated garlic
Spicy Slaw
½ med
green cabbage
½ med
red cabbage
½ cup
shredded carrots
2 tbsp
ketchup
1 ½ tbsp
honey
1 cup
avocado mayo
2 tbsp
dijon mustard
2 tbsp
hot whole grain mustard
½ tsp
hot sauce
2 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp
extra hot horseradish
1 tsp
granulated garlic
½ tsp
celery salt
½ tsp
kosher salt
½ tsp
black pepper
2 tbsp
red wine vinegar
½ cup
avocado oil
Barbecue Black Beans
15 ½ ozs
black beans
½ onion
red onion
¼ cup
barbecue sauce
2 tbsp
cilantro
2 cloves
garlic
2 tbsp
olive oil
2 tbsp
cotija cheese
½ tsp
kosher salt
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