Bourbon BBQ Dry Rub Pulled Pork

MarnaMaria BBQ Dry Rub pulled pork takes the guesswork out a the entree and puts a delicious meal in your plate for a totally reasonable effort!

I always hated BBQ growing up...

Then I got smart. I grew up and learned that really, there is nothing better than BBQ.

Growing up in Hawaii, the versions of BBQ that exist here are not ones that would be recognisable at a BBQ competition. That's not to say they are bad, but just that they are not BBQ in the traditional sense. Hawaii prides itself on being a melting pot and BBQ is not exempt from this generalisation. Popular versions of BBQ in the islands include Korean BBQ, a cook your own experience complete with different cuts of meat, foreign sauces as well as the occasional but location dependant, silver vacuum tube hanging from the ceiling to remove the smoke from the grill. In fact, the craze for Korean BBQ is sweeping the country and is now more popular than ever. It's the "have to try" dining concept of the moment. And while Korean BBQ is good, it is none the less Korean not American and therefore very different than say, the picture above.

In addition to Korean BBQ there exists something that one would more expect when looking for BBQ in the islands. Hawaiian BBQ. Yes, there is such a thing as Hawaiian BBQ. Which while also very tasty, is a bit misleading in name as traditional Hawaiian BBQ Chicken is nothing more than chicken, cooked on the barbecue, a.k.a. a regular grill. And said BBQ Chicken is then normally (traditionally) served in a square, styrofoam to-go container with one scoop of white rice and one scoop of macaroni salad. That is except for those people who prefer, "two scoops rice." (That would be me, I detest mayonnaise.) Again, a fun local staple worth trying, but not the real hearty, molassesy, smoked all night, stuff. 

SO WHAT MAKES BBQ, BBQ?

Is it the method of cooking? The location of its origin? It's color? Its taste? Where did the concept of BBQ anything come from anyhow?

If you google it, it seems that no one really, "knows," but there are lots of theories. I liked this one the best from Time Magazine.

"The conventional wisdom is that the Spanish, upon landing in the Caribbean, used the word barbacoa to refer to the natives’ method of slow-cooking meat over a wooden platform. By the 19th century, the culinary technique was well established in the American South, and because pigs were prevalent in the region, pork became the primary meat at barbecues."

TO GRILL OR NOT TO GRILL

Wooden platform? Hole in the ground? Smoker? Grill? Which one makes for a true BBQ experience, both in process and in flavor. Let the divisions begin.

Many would say, it's a smoker or nothing at all. But a lot of us just don't have a smoker lying around in the backyard. (Diehards of course, yes.) So we opt for the next best thing, a grill. And I would say that a grill does a pretty mean job at getting the "job" done. Heck, you can even cheat a little bit and add a smoker box with some wood. Grills do though, add a bit of complexity to the equation. Gas, electric, wood burning? Size, airflow, material. We digress, there are a bunch of choices to make, and all one that will affect the end BBQ product.

Going the grill route? This handy, How to Choose a Grill guide will save you hours of your life and help you achieve that perfect flavor by choosing the right grill.

Don't have a grill, apartment doesn't allow it? Not in your budget? The oven can do mighty find job as well! Like we said earlier, just because you cook something on the grill, that does not necessarily make it the BBQ we know and love. So the oven it can be!

BBQ IS NOT A METHOD, IT'S AN EXPERIENCE. BBQ IS...

• going to a commonly "rustic" restaurant and the smell of cooked meat, smoke, spice, salt, sugar, and sides!
• painstakingly choosing (between) sides of baked beans, collard greens, corn on the cob, garlic bread, green beans, okra, mac & cheese, corn bread, coleslaw, ... whatever you choose.
• slathering on tons of sauce, whether it be sweet or spicy or vinegar or mustard or whatever you corner of the world does.
• choosing that right wood to smoke your meat at a low temp for a long, long time.
• selecting the choice meat and marinating, rubbing, soaking, brining, preparing it to take in those deep and warm flavors.

Whether you prefer pulled pork, brisket, chicken, ribs, turkey, burnt ends, sausage, ham, or whatever else, BBQ is almost a state of being.

BBQ is always in season and the variations are endless. Some do it smokey, others sweet. Some of our favorites and the most common include: 

• Texas Spicy
• Memphis Rubs
• North Carolina Vinegar
• South Carolina Mustard
• Kansas City Sweet

These are just to name a few! These sweet and smoky flavors are ones that can be enjoyed all year round, rain or shine, winter or summertime. There's mustard and then there's vinegar. While each corner of the United States has its own way of doing BBQ, there are some common elements that remain.

BARBECUE, BARBEQUE, BAR-B-Q, OR BBQ? WHICH ONE IS CORRECT? 

All are correct in fact, and this confusion is just really a testament to the enormity of the world of BBQ. If we continue along our already presumed hypothesis, the word Barbocoa transformed from Spanish to the English spelling, Barbecue. Further along the line, the meat roasters and cookers decided to get a little fancy and threw in a "q," giving us the spelling of Barbeque. Today we have taken it one step further and have created the abrreviations of Bar-b-q or just BBQ, as we have done here. 

MarnaMaria BBQ DRY RUB

Of all the ways to prepare your meat of choice for good BBQ, we like rubs the best. They allow for a variety of ingredients to be blended together and then literally stuck to the meat! All those flavors are ready to dive deep down to lock in layers of flavor and create complex and multi dimensional flavor profiles. 

We took all of this into consideration when creating our must try, MarnaMaria BBQ Dry Rub. We poured through BBQ contest histories, restaurant recipes, and our own preferences as well, to blend together a combination that best represents BBQ as a whole. It's smokey, it's salty, it's sweet, there's paprika, some mustard, peppers for heat and other spices and herbs to round out that BBQ flavor.

Don't miss our MarnaMaria BBQ Dry Rub and be sure to try our killer recipe below for Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork. It's also the perfect addition to make our killer MM BBQ Sauce recipe. This simple set it and forget it meal will have your family and friends pulling an Oliver Twist asking for more!

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