No Smoker? No Problem!

Herbs and spices

I've been very happy to have a grill in my life again. But I do miss smoking my meats... and a smoker isn't an option, we just don't have room. That, and if we move soon as we plan to, I don't want to deal with any more large items than I have to. The First Reader is happily in concurrence with this.

So what to do? Well, I can get a lot of flavor out of a dry rub and a long, slow roast. I usually do my pulled pork in a slow cooker, but it's just not the same, and after a few encounters recently with really good BBQ, I wanted something that had more flavor. While it's not the deep smokiness of the real thing, it's plenty good as it is, and much more accessible to those who can't have a smoker for whatever reason.

Ideally, this would be started the evening before, but I was putting a rush job on it to have it done between lunch and suppertime. It came out well, but could have used another hour in the oven and the flavors would have been even better with an overnight cure in the rub. Next time...

Pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and cornbread.

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The roast with dry rub on it. The garlic cloves are already in.

See the nice crust you get after a long, slow roast.

The amounts on the dry rub can be fiddled with, as can the ingredients in it. You will want the sugar, salt, and onion, everything else is variable. We served the pulled pork on buns, with beans and cornbread, but I also like it with greens or coleslaw rather than the double bread. The beans were very good this way, really elevated the tinned version to tasty. I should try making them from scratch, but I didn't have time on this day. That's another process that has to begin the day before if you are soaking dry beans!

At the doneness stage, where a fork put in the meat can flake it apart. See the garlic cloves?

Baked beans done with the drippings, so much flavor!

Pulled pork with BBQ sauce on it. Not too much sauce.