The Birthday Butt.

This weekend we are celebrating my oldest turning double digits (future post).  It has been a busy weekend of cooking and cleaning in preparation for the festivities.  Both of our families live here in B-Town and we pack the house in for every birthday party.  April is a VERY festive family birthday month.  We have partied non stop since the beginning of April. 

Now it's my turn.

I have served the same birthday menu for the last ten years (give or take some bad attempts at straying from the norm).   Let's just say the time Skip tried to grill for 30 people our back deck nearly caught on fire. 

We don't do that anymore.

Here's what works for me that doesn't burn the deck up.

Barbecue pork
Chicken Pasta Salad
WM Potato Salad
MarytheKay's Killer Salsa
Chips
Veggie tray
Fruit tray
Lemonade
Cherry Limeade by Kelly's Korner
Cake
Ice Cream

The BBQ pork is one of my absolute favorite things to make.  It has changed over the last ten years and I finally feel like it is near perfection.  I had fun yesterday taking step by step photos of the process.  This is a meal that you can serve to three people as easily as thirty. 

I LOVE that about pork.

For my birthday parties I buy two really good size Boston Butt Roasts.  Why, butt?  I don't know.  It's really a shoulder.  I guess some guy wanted to be funny and named it BUTT so he and his buddies could snicker every time they said it.

"I said butt."  hee hee

Good times.

I rinse them really well after I open the package and place them in my covered pan.  I have used a crock pot and a roaster, but I really love how it turns out slowly cooked in the oven.  That is my favorite method.

Look how cute they are snuggled up ready for bed.

Next, I slather on all the seasonings in this picture.  I cover it all with a HUGE pile of brown sugar.

Night Night, butt.

"I said butt."  hee hee

This is the type of meat that you want to cook VERY LOW and REALLY SLOW if you want the perfect finish.  Here is a look after 3 hours at 250 degrees.  Look at all the yummy seasonings and the juice. 

Take the time to baste the meat and put it back in the oven for several more hours.  You might want to repeat this process several times during the day.

This meat took exactly nine hours before it was falling apart tender.  Look how it peels off just with the touch of a fork.  You don't have to work hard with this if it is done right.  It falls apart naturally when finished.

Just shred the meat.  This particular batch made 22 cups of shredded meat.

Discard the bones and waste.

In your roasting pan you should have lots of juice and crud.  Just scoop out the crud and put the meat back in the juices and stir around to absorb.

At this point you can put it back in the oven at 175 degrees to let the shredded meat really blend with the spicy sweet juice.

I don't cook it and serve it the same day, but you totally could.  If you don't, just put it in the fridge and slowly warm it up the next day.  VERY LOW and REALLY SLOW applies to warming the meat, too.  I warmed it at 200 degrees for 3 hours.

Spicy.  Sweet.  Tender.  Juicy.

PERFECTION.

Enjoy!!