20 Steps to a Perfect Pork Roast
- Brine your pork roast for 1 hour for each pound
- Soak wood chips in water (I prefer pecan, cherry, or apple wood over the harsher hickory wood chips)
- Start your charcoal on one side of the smoker grill – stack it liberally and fill one side
- Put your favorite pork rub on the pork*
- Double wrap the roast in aluminum foil
- Locate a small aluminum pan that will fit into the smoker grill on the non-charcoal side
- Drain wood chips and keep ready for the charcoal
- When the charcoal is white
- Put water or juice into the aluminum pan – about 1 to 1-1/2 inches
- Get roast, wood chips, and aluminum pan ready to place in and on the grill
- Lift the grill and place the pan on the non-charcoal side
- Put soaked wood chips on top of the charcoal
- Replace the grill
- Place the roast on the non-charcoal side of the grill
- Close lid and dampen down the smoker grill
- Place thermometer in top damper hole and close till thermometer is stabilized on the roast side of the smoker grill
- Attempt to keep temperature close to 250 degree F.
- Wait 2-3 hours – check the temperature every so often and dampen as needed
- After 2-3 hours, the coals will have died down a bit
- Carefully unwrap the pork roast and re-place on grill – do this quickly to conserve the interior heat
- Close the lid and keep and eye on temperature
- If temperature is too low, open bottom damper a bit
- Continue to monitor temperature – keep close to 250 degree F.
- Get basting sauce ready**
- After 30 minutes, baste the roast wit the sauce
- Continue basting the roast every 30-45 minutes
- After 8-10 hours (depending on the size of the roast) the pork should be ready to remove from grill
- To check, stick a fork in it and see if it easily pulls apart
- Place the roast in a container that you can easily pull the pork apart using a couple of forks
Tips/Notes/Comments:
- To make this for supper, start early in the morning. Waiting till late morning, noon, or early afternoon means that it won’t be ready for supper unless you eat very late in the evening.
- I recommend using leather work gloves when working with the grill. They are inexpensive and are great when handling the your smoker grill.
- Use a lot of charcoal. You don’t want to run out of fuel before the allotted time. Fill up one side of the smoker grill to the grill line and stack it carefully.
- Double wrapping the roast in aluminum foil will reduce the chances of it developing holes which will drain the juices prematurely.
- Don’t fret if the temperature goes up to 300-350 degrees, just close the damper for a while till the temperature goes down. Same goes for the temperature dropping too low, open up the dampers.
- Be patient and allow the roast to cook for many hours. You want it to fall apart. The goal is to cook it long enough while maintaining the interior juices.
- The brining help that aspect a great deal. It will be well worth the long wait.
- I use a Weber Smoker Grill. I highly recommend these grills. The Weber Smoker Grills last a long time and will allow you to not only grill meat, but smoke it too.
*Pork Rub:
- 1/4 cup Paprika
- 1/8 cup Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons Garlic Powder
- 1-2 tablespoons Onion Powder
- 1 tablespoon or more Cayenne Pepper
- 1/4 cup Coarse Salt
- 1/4 cup Brown or White Sugar
**Basting/Mopping Sauce:
There are countless varieties of basting/mopping sauces out there. You can easily make your own to suit your taste. You want the sauces to be a little runny since you will be continuously basting the roast. Here are some base ingredients that may be used for a basting/mopping sauce:
- Ketchup
- Sugar – Brown, Raw Un-processed, or refined
- Honey
- Vinegar (apple cider or rice is my preference)
- Soy Sauce
- Hot Sauce
- Chili Sauce
- Paprika
- Black Pepper
- Powdered Cayenne Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Lemon Juice
- Lime Juice
- Apple Juice
- Mustard
- Commercial BBQ Sauce
- Add water to thin if needed