Pulled Pork

Ingredients

• For the brine:
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 2 quarts cold water
• About 1 cup of your favorite dry rub
• 1 pork butt
• Hickory and apple wood chunks, or other smoking woods of your choice

Directions

1. Shave the fat cap down to 1/4 inch thick, and remove any firm chunks of fat from the pork butt. Combine the molasses, salt, and 1/2 quart of water in a saucepan; set it over medium heat and stir only until the salt has dissolved. Transfer that mixture to your brining container, pour in the remaining water, and stir it together. Lower in the pork butt so it is fully covered by the brine, then refrigerate it for 12 hours.
2. Lift the pork butt out of the brine, then blot it dry with paper towels. Coat every side generously with the dry rub. Cover the rubbed pork butt in aluminum foil, and return it to the refrigerator for another 12 hours.
3. Take the pork out of the refrigerator as you get the smoker going. Bring your smoker to 225 degrees F. Once it is holding that heat, put in the wood chunks, then add the pork butt.
4. Let it smoke until an instant-read thermometer pushed into the pork registers 190 degrees F, about 14 to 16 hours.
5. Take the pork off the smoker and leave it to rest until it has cooled a bit, at least an hour. Use your hands or 2 forks to pull the meat, then serve.