Slow Barbeque Dry Rubbed Pork Shoulder with Molasses BBQ Sauce

Slow Barbeque Dry Rubbed Ribs with Molasses BBQ Sauce

One of the best things to come off the summer barbeque is slowly cooked, tender and juicy pork shoulder. This great recipe is best cooked indirectly over smouldering a charcoal fire. The dry rub gives it a gorgeous deep dark crust which seals in the flavorful juices. I did lightly smoke this particular pork shoulder but that part is optional and I've added some notes on adding hardwood smoked flavor in the recipe barbequing instructions.

The homemade barbeque sauce is slightly sweet and tangy and pairs beautifully with the spicy dry rubbed crust. The sauce can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks or so or make it last all summer by properly bottling it according to the prescribed method recommended by mason jar manufacturer Bernardin.

• 4 to 5 lb pork shoulder roast
• Smokin' Summer Spice Dry Rub

Rub the entire outside of the pork shoulder roast with the spice dry rub and place over indirect heat on a gas or charcoal barbeque. Control the gas (or air intake on a charcoal BBQ) to maintain a steady temperature of about 250 degrees F. Slowly cook for several hours until tender and the meat begins to fall apart. In the last hour or so of the cooking time repeatedly brush on the Molasses BBQ Sauce about every 15 minutes.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR INDIRECT  BBQ

If you are using your gas grill to slow barbeque your pork, place the meat on one side of the grill and use the burner or burners on the opposite side so that it is not directly over heat. Regulate the gas to keep the temperature at about 250 degrees for slow barbequed flavor. The same technique can also be used with a charcoal grill, just keep the charcoal on one side and the meat on the opposite side.

You can add smoke flavor by soaking hardwood chips like mesquite, apple, cherry or hickory in warm water for about a half hour. A couple of handfuls will do. Wrap the soaked wood chips in a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil and poke only two holes in the foil, one at either end to allow the smoke to escape. On a gas grill,I place the foil packets in a vegetable grill pan so that the packet is not sitting directly on the gas burner. On a charcoal grill, simply toss the packet directly onto the hot coals. You can add more soaked wood chip packets as they burn out, it all depends on how much smoke favor you wish to add. Two to four of these packets should be enough for smoked pork, depending on how long you cook the pork and how much smoked flavor you prefer.



Molasses BBQ Sauce

• One 14 ounce can plain tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp chipotle powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional or to taste)
• 1 tbsp ground fennel seed
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground dry oregano
• ½ tsp kosher salt

Simmer all ingredients together slowly for about a half hour to an hour stirring every few minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens to the consistency you prefer. Remember that it will thicken slightly as it cools.