Lexington-Style Pork Shoulder with Red Dip

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt), 8 pounds
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons coarse black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 5 chunks hickory wood

Before you cook

• Trim the shoulder's fat cap to a quarter inch and leave the bone in place.
• Season the shoulder all over with the two tablespoons each of salt and pepper.
• Let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Whisk the vinegar, water, ketchup, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and hot sauce in a saucepan.
• Warm the dip over low heat just until the sugar and salt dissolve, then take it off the heat.
• Refrigerate the dip for at least 3 hours, or up to a week, so the flavors marry.

Steps

1. Fire the smoker to 250 degrees Fahrenheit with hickory chunks on the coals.
2. Place the shoulder fat side up and smoke for 5 hours, feeding wood for the first three.
3. Baste the shoulder with a half cup of the dip and close the lid.
4. Baste again every hour for the rest of the cook.
5. Continue until the shoulder probes tender throughout and reads 200 degrees Fahrenheit at the center, about 4 hours more.
6. Rest the shoulder loosely tented for 45 minutes.
7. Pull off the outside brown, the crusty exterior meat, and set it on a cutting board.
8. Separate the rest of the meat from the bone and fat.
9. Chop the inside meat and the outside brown together with a cleaver into coarse, irregular pieces, not shreds.
10. Moisten the chop with the remaining dip to taste and serve with red slaw made from the same sauce.