How often do you think about making pulled pork but don’t know how to find the perfect recipe?

Well, we have had pulled pork a dozen places, but nothing is as good as this home made version – and we have never had any complaints, on the contrary people love it and we are often asked if we can make it for different occasion.

Don’t give up beforehand when you go through the recipe – it takes approximately 4-5 days to translate the raw ham into the perfect pulled pork, but it is definitely worth the time! And if you get a properly sized ham, you will have food for 4 people for at least a week!

On the pictures below, there are two hams, but the recipe is only for one! And no matter the size of the ham, the smoking hours are the same, but we recommend that you order a good large ham at your butcher.

 

Ingredients (30 servings)

1 large ham (these are approximately 22 pounds each)

1/4 cup grainy mustard

1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1 cup rub

 

Tools

Water smoker

Charcoals

Nut tree

Thermometer

If you have gotten a whole hindquarters like shown on the picture above, you can begin by removing the tale and tale bone.

Then you need to remove the skin, but not the fat (picture below).

Spread out the mustard and worcestershire sauce followed by the rub. Place the ham in a dish and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 24 hour (preferably 48 hours).

When the ham had marinated for at least 24 hours, you can begin to prepare the smoker.

Place a small number of hot coals on top of a full charcoal chamber of unlit briquettes. Use the bottom vents to control the amount of air entering the cooker, to keep the fire burning low and steady. The unlit fuel catches fire gradually throughout the cooking session, resulting in long burn times of up to 18 hours, depending on weather conditions. This is called the Minion Method.

Place some wood on top of the charcoals (preferably nut tree).

Fill the water pan with water and check regularly (every 6th hour) to make sure that it doesn’t dry out.

Place the ham in the water smoker and put on the lid. Try to keep the temperature around 230F at all times. It is important that it don’t get below 210F at any time during the smoking process. If you have trouble keeping the temperature up, you can add a few charcoals at a time.

Smoke for approximately 18 hours 🙂

After 18 hours you can remove the ham from the smoker. Place it so it can rest for about an hour before you begin to pull it. The resting time has two purposes, 1) to prevent the meat from loosing valuable juices, and 2) to avoid that you burn your fingers during the pulling process 🙂

How delicious does that look!?!?!

After 18 hours of smoking you know that the meat is perfect, if you can remove the key bone in one grip, without any meat hanging on to it.

With the key bone removed, you are now ready to pull the meat. Use your fingers to pull the meat into small bite-sized chunks.

Looking at the picture below, you can se how the smoke has gone all the way into the meat, and not just stayed on the outside. This is due the long smoking process.

Now you have made the famous pulled pork – how hard was that? So now, you don’t have any excuse to take short cuts, as we often experience people do, when they either boil the meat or cook it in the oven in a roasting bag (shame on you)!

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (30 servings)

1 large ham (these are approximately 22 pounds each)

0.8 dl grainy mustard

1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

2.5 dl rub