Serves 8 Generously
1 7-8 Lb. Pork Butt with Blade Bone
½ Cup XVOO
½ Cup Southwest Spice Rub
2 Tablespoons Coarse Sea Salt
2 Cups Homemade Chicken Stock or Canned Low Sodium Chicken Broth
For Soft Tacos serve with Creme Fraiche, Black Bean and Roasted Corn Salsa, Tomato-Green Chili Salsa, Corn or Flour Tortillas, Cheddar and Jack Cheeses, Sliced Jalapeños, Pickled Jalapeño, Fresh Cilantro, Pickled Corn Relish, Yellow Rice Pilaf
Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Mix the XVOO and the spice rub together to make a paste. Rub this mixture all over the pork butt. (Use a good size pork butt. The bigger the piece of pork butt, the longer the cooking time and the more tender the meat. A 7 to 8 pound Pork Butt with the blade bone is about the biggest you will find at the grocery. Cooking it for six hours, slow and low, resulted in a tender, moist, flavorful roast.) Sprinkle the meat with the salt. Place meat, fat side up in a large roasting pan and pour in one cup of water and two cups of chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. Cover the meat with a sheet of parchment paper and cover with heavy duty foil sealing the edges of the pan with the foil so no heat escapes. (The reason for the parchment paper is to keep the foil from touching the meat. A long slow cooking method with the foil directly touching the meat will transfer whatever part of the foil touching the meat onto the meat. This is not good.)
Place the pan on the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and roast for six hours without opening the oven. After six hours, remove the foil and parchment paper, turn the heat up to 375ºF and roast for 30 minutes. This final roasting will crisp up the top of the pork butt.
Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes. Using two forks shred the meat. Pour some of the Au Jus from the pan over the meat.
Hints and Tips: If you are not going to use the whole piece of meat immediately leave the rest of it in large chunks, cool completely, cover and refrigerate. Leaving it in large chunks will keep the meat moist until you are ready to use. These chunks of meat will last for several days in the refrigerator.
Pulled Pork
Pulled Pork and Accompaniments for Soft Taco
If you don’t want to spice it up with the spice rub, use salt and pepper only. This is a good idea if you are not going to use the whole piece of meat for soft tacos. Leaving off the rub will make the meat more versatile and can be used in other recipes. For example I use the left over pork in my marinara sauce. I certainly would not want southwest flavors in that.
Alternately you can do this exact recipe on a Charcoal Grill or Gas Grill. If you are grill proficient then you know how to build a fire with charcoal and how to keep it at temperature. Same with a gas grill. If your not a grill aficionado then just proceed with oven cooking.