Michael Mina's Pulled-Pork

Here is a delicious and flavorful way to make your next pulled pork sandwiches.  The meat can be prepared a day in advance.  Here we will be using a pretty cheap cut of meat, which is a pork “butt” or also known as a pork shoulder.  It has tons of fat on it, but don’t be alarmed and if you are like me, you might feel the need to trim.  Try to hold back because that fat is going to make the pork very moist so it will just melt in your mouth.

Rub the meat with the dry rub the night before and allow it to marinate over night in the refrigerator.  Then you are going to roast it in the oven for about five hours.  Now while I was pulling the meat apart I did have to discard some pretty big chunks of fat, but for the most part there was really hardly any left.
Serve this with the coleslaw with apples and cranberries I posted a few days ago.  This is the perfect summertime fare! (I made this for our winery and paired it with our release of the Contra Costa County Zinfandel, it was very, very good).

Michael Mina’s Pulled Pork
 
From Esquire Magazine
This is a dish you can make a day ahead with no hassle; just reheat it with some of your favorite barbecue sauce and serve it on plain soft white rolls. (You don’t want a real serious roll that is going to interfere with the flavor of the meat.) Because it can even be served at room temperature, I bring this to our tailgates before 49ers games. A little extra barbecue sauce or hot sauce and maybe some mustard, and you’re all set.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 tbsp kosher or coarse salt
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (found in spice section)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 boneless pork butt, about 3 pounds
• 1 1/2 cups apple juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 package plain soft white rolls or other bread

 Tip: You can buy bone-in or boneless pork butts. Both have their benefits: Cooking bone-in will contribute some flavor (and increase the cooking time slightly). But if you have your butcher take out the bone, you can rub the spice mix into the incisions where the bone was removed — a great way to get the flavor deep inside the meat.

Instructions

Mix brown sugar and dry spices together in a small bowl. Rub all over pork, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for as long as you have time for (as little as 1 hour or up to overnight). Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lay pork on a rack insert fitted inside a roasting pan. (The rack should be high enough so the entire spiced butt is sitting above the cooking liquid.) Pour in apple juice and water, cover pan tightly with foil, and slow roast for 5 hours. Remove foil and cook for another 30 minutes, until pork is brown outside and meat is very tender, basically falling apart.
Remove from oven, transfer to large platter, and allow meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While still warm, shred pork into small pieces using 2 forks or 10 fingers. Transfer to bowl for serving, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. To reheat, just transfer to shallow baking dish, bring to room temperature, and place in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Tip: If the pan drippings aren’t burned, discard fat and mix drippings back into the pulled pork, which will make it even more moist and flavorful.