Anyone who has had my Pulled Pork knows that I take a lot of pride when preparing and cooking the shoulder or butt of the pig. Flavour knows no bounds when you’ve tasted mine! But where did this wonder come from?
The pig was a staple of southern cuisine one-hundred years prior to The Civil War. In fact, plantation owners would release pigs into the woods to graze for months knowing that they could be easily hunted when food supplies were low. These pigs were semi-wild and a bit tough, but all parts of the pig were kept and consumed. Festivals and other gatherings were created around the slaughter and roasting of these semi-wild pigs. The traditional Southern BBQ grew out of these gatherings.
I bet you thought you knew the origins of the term “pulled pork.” You “pull the pork” apart when it is totally done and properly BBQ’ed…right? Wrong.
Prior to the Civil War, the plantation owners would have these huge BBQ festivals. The slaves at the time would be given the cheap, tough cuts to prepare. Boston Butt, pork shoulder, etc. They learned to slow cook these cuts over coals. The slaves were typically so hungry that they would “pull the pork” off of the coals when the meat was done and could easily be pulled away from the roast.
Over time, the pig became a proud staple of southerners, and more care was taken to fatten and marble the pig. The southerners did not export pigs to the north, so these marbled swine became an exclusive food source to the south.