Tonight I mourn the end to these leftovers.  This pork roast was so good, I was tempted to go bury the last slice in the garden.  You see, this pork was so magically delicious that I think it might morph and grow into some sort of super herb under the soil.  Alas, we’ll never know, I hadn’t even completed my super herb thought before it was swimming in my belly.  At this point, the least I can do is go sprinkle the ashes from the grill used to cook this masterpiece all over the garden as a sign of respect.  Am I exagerating?  I think not.  This is the most delicious pork roast I have ever set a flame to.  The crust created by the dijon, garlic, balsamic and herbs lock in a lot of moisture and compliment this pork well.  Am I overselling this recipe a little?  Perhaps I still have my pork buzz going, but don’t you owe it to your grill to give it a shot?  I think so, let’s get to it…

Ingredients

Pork Roast (I used a pork sirloin roast with bones)

4 tablespoons dijon mustard

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

Kosher salt

Ground pepper

Directions

1. Remove the pork roast from the refrigerator and let warm to room temperature on the counter for about 30 minutes.
2. Light the grill for indirect grilling. If using a charcoal grill, light an entire chimney full of coals and let burn until there is white ash on the top coals.  For a gas grill, light half of the burners to high and leave the other half unlit.
3. Whisk together the dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar.
4. Add in the rosemary, garlic and thyme, combine well and then set the mixture aside.
5. If using a charcoal grill, pile all of the lit coals to once side of the grill and put a drip pan under the grate on the cool side.
6. Rub the pork roast all over with Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
7. Sear the pork roast on all sides on the hot part of the grill.
8. Once the pork roast has been seared on all side, move it over the drip pan on the cool side of the grill.
9. Smear the mustard, vinegar and herb mixture all over the pork roast.



10. Close the lid and grill the pork roast until it reaches an inner temperature of about 145 degrees.
11. Remove the roast from the grill, place on a platter and loosely cover with aluminum foil.
12. Let the roast rest for about 10 – 15 minutes before carving.  Seriously, leave it alone, let it rest!
13. Carve slices and serve!

If you have some time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to brine the pork roast prior to grilling.  I didn’t think that far ahead and it still turned out juicy and delicious.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I need some quiet time to reflect back on this beautiful piece of meat.  Oh Roast, you were gone so fast I hardly knew ye…sniffle.

When I think of barbecue, I think of pulled pork sandwiches.  The fact that the meat has been cooked long enough to allow it to literally be pulled apart by hand is a signal of the time and attention someone put into cooking that for me.  One day, I too will have a legitimate smoker built out of an old refrigerator or something, but my wife would move out if I start one mor project!  So for now, I have to smoke my pulled pork in my gas grill.  It’s ok though, it’s actually a lot easier to set up.  When grilling meats like pulled pork over a long period of time, maintaining a constant temperature is key.  Using a grill with a 3 to 4 burner system makes this pretty easy.  Let’s take a look at how easy delicious pulled pork sandwiches are to make on a gas grill.

Ingredients and Materials
1 bone-in Boston Butt (I like to get about a pound for every person I am feeding)
Wood chips, enough to make about 4 or 5 smoke pouches
2 tablespoons Paprika
2 tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Chipotle Powder

Directions

1. Soak all of your wood chips for at least 30 minutes, that will give us time to get everything set up for the grill.
2. Mix together all of the seasoning to make our rub.  You can use other ingredients here, that’s just my favorite combination for grilling pork.  Use the same ratio of Paprika and Dark Brown Sugar, but use a teaspoon here and there of whatever you think sounds good.
3. Once all of the rub ingredients have been thoroughly mixed, rub it all over your Boston butt (for some reason, I still giggle saying or typing those words).  Make sure you cover the entire pork roast with the rub.

   

4. Allow the pork to sit on the kitchen counter for about 30 minutes while we get everything else going.
5. Heat the grill for indirect heating.  I’ve talked about this before, your grill may have a thermometer, but don’t trust it.  Use an oven thermometer like I discuss in this post.  For a 3 to 4 burner grill, light the 2 outside burners on high heat and place the oven thermometer in the center of the grill.  Our goal here is to maintain around 325 degrees.
6. While the grill heats up and our pork roast is getting aquainted with it’s rub, assemble 4 to 5 smoke pouches.  We will need about that many to keep the smoke going for the duration of the cooking time.  Once you have the first ready, go ahead and place it over the hot part of the grill and close the lid.
7. Once the first smoke pouch starts to smolder on the grill, it’s time to start cooking.  Place the pork in front of the oven thermometer in the middle (cool part) of the grill.  Here’s a photo of our setup (this was after a few other smoke pouches had done their thing, but you get the point):

   

8. Now here’s the easy part, turn the oven thermometer so that you can see it through one of the holes on the side of the grill and just close the lid.  We are going to let the rub, fire and smoke do it’s thing for a long time, so just leave it alone.
9. Look through the holes on the grill periodically to see if you are still in that magic 325 degree range.  Adjust the burners accordingly.  Also, once you start to see the smoke slowing down on one smok pouch, just add another.  You’ll probably end up adding a new pouch every hour to hour and a half.
10. After about 4 hours, check the temperature of the pork roast by inserting an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the roast.  We are looking for a temperature around 190 – 195 degrees.  You will notice that the meat starts to pull away from the bone and you can wiggle the bone more and more as you get closer to 190 degrees.  At 195 degrees, the bone will pretty much pull our of the meat with little effort.
11. Once your meat has reached 195 degrees, remove the boston butt (pork roast) from the grill and place on a platter to rest.  You will need to give it a good 30 minutes or so before you can even think about handling the meat on the inside.  After about 15 minutes, I like to cut it in half to help the middle cool off.
12. Once cool enough to handle, begin to pull the meat apart using your fingers and/or 2 forks.  This is why they call them pulled pork sandwiches!  Pull all of the pork apart and place the meat on a separate platter.

That’s all there is to it!  You just smoked a pork roast or boston butt on a gas grill.  Toast some good buns, add a little of your favorite barbecue sauce and serve with some homemade coleslaw.  This is the way God intended us to enjoy swine, pork cooked so slow and low that it just pulls off the bone.  Pulled pork sandwiches are always just a few hours, some wood chips and a little love away from your dinner plate.  Heaven on a bun…