Nicely done, Steve.
How did that coal based blasting abrasive work out?
Steven Raichlen has a great rub formula that is excellent on it's own and is easy to tweak to your liking.
Raichlen's Rub - An All-Purpose Barbecue Rub (Especially Good On Pork)
printer-ready version
Makes 1 cup
- 1/4 cup coarse salt (sea or kosher)
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sweet paprika
- 3 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic flakes
- 1 tablespoon onion flakes
- 1/2 to1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
From:
http://www.bbqu.net/season1/108_4.html
A few comments/notes from me:
- I recommend kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), as it's "less salty" per volume versus sea salt. You can always add salt at service time, you can never take it away.
- I use granulated (the stuff with the texture of sand not the fine powder) rather than flakes for the garlic and onion, seems to form a better, albeit 2-dimensional, bark.
- To prevent clumping, dry the brown sugar by spreading it out on a sheet pan (cookie sheet) and put it in the oven at the lowest temp setting with the door cracked. Takes about 20 minutes, stir it once or twice. Let it cool, break up any lumps and add to rub.
- You can easily customize the flavor of this base rub by going up or down on the garlic, cayenne, onion, salt or adding things like ground cumin, thyme, rosemary, mace, oregano, marjoram, ground bay leaf, dry worcestershire powder, etc. With the exception of cumin, go easy though (like 1/8 to 1/4 tsp per cup of rub) as they really come through. I grind the leaf spices in either a whirly blade coffee grinder or a mortar, depends on how much I'm adding.
- If you're not afraid of it and have it around, a 1/2TBS of MSG (Accent) or 1TBS of dry soy sauce powder per cup of rub will boost it up quite a bit.
Buy a big shoulder and coat the heck out of it, you're going to shred it, so having a thick layer of rub on a piece of meat that's 8" thick isn't a big deal. Save a little bit of rub too, sprinkle it in when you shred and toss the pork.
And, don't worry, pork shoulders / boston butts are very forgiving. About 1.5 hours per lb at 225-250F, look for an internal temp of 180-185, pull it off, wrap in foil let it sit for an hour or two wrapped in towels or in a empty ice chest. Throw it in a bowl and shred it. If it's too dry, toss a stick of butter in along with some water.