Pork Sandwich with Homemade BBQ Sauce

In the mood for a killer sandwich?  Tired of chicken?  PORK... so good.

And who knew BBQ sauce could be so easy?  I literally just pulled these items out of my pantry.

But first, the meat.  I had a 2-3 pound piece of pork shoulder, bone out and bound up.

Thanks to a little help from Tyler Florence's Pulled Pork Recipe (same ingredients, but to my liking), I was off like a chef on espresso, and so excited!  That is...
until I had to let the pork cook for several hours.  Patience IS a virtue in the kitchen.

"ay, there's the rub" - Shakespeare

1 1/2 tbsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard seed- or dry mustard
1 1/2 tbsp sea salt
Pork shoulder (anything larger than that, you might want to double the rub mix)

Mix together and pat on your pork generously.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and roast for several hours till the internal temp of the pork is 170.  Tyler wanted it falling off the bone.  Mine was boneless, so I ended up shredding/cutting mine after the fact.  It was a 2 1/2 -3 hour process.

In the mean time, get out your ingredients for your sauce.  Nothing fancy included, but it's the apple cider vinegar that is the star of the sauce.

1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup yellow mustard (use brown if you have it)
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp black pepper

While the pork is roasting, combine all the sauce ingredients over medium heat until the sugars dissolve, about 10 minutes.  Let stand and cool.

 
When the pork is done let it rest for 10 minutes.  I read a cute article in Bon Appetit about resting meat.  All the emotion from the first minute being so proud while everyone is salivating and in awe, followed by the grueling 7 minutes where you should put the knife down and finish your sauce and open your wine.   Resulting in the last 2 minutes that just take pure self control while you escort everyone to the table, get out all your sides and make sure the kids are happy.

So about those 7 minutes of sauce and wine.  Use about 1/2 cup water to deglaze the pan and get any bits from the roasting.  Let reduce and pour in with the sauce.  Cook together about 5 min.

We popped open a Syrah from Fairplay, CA that we've been holding on to a while.  I really LOVE Syrah.  So rewarding to open a wine that you've cellared at least a year.  This Syrah had the a Grenache like smoothness and perfect spice, with a little smoke and berry on the nose.

Then go ahead, the moment you've been waiting for- shred, slice, pull, tear your meat.  We did a little of all the above.  Toast your buns for that crunch factor.  Smother your meat with the sauce.

Pair with steamed artichoke and garlic mustard aioli (I'll blog on this delicious side soon) .  Voila!