Perfect Oven Roasted Pulled Pork

Combine the water, salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, and black pepper and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Place the pork roast in a large Ziploc bag (I use the 2 gallon size for mine) and pour the brine over the roast and seal the bag, squeezing out any excess air. Place the roast in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

When the brining is complete discard the liquid and pat the roast dry with paper towels. Preheat oven to 250F. Season roast with your preferred spice mix. Place the roast fat side up in a roasting pan in the preheated over. Cook for 6 hours or until internal temperature reaches 200F. Leave the roast in the oven, turn off oven and crack the oven door open. Allow the roast to cool for about half an hour.

Remove roast from oven and place on a cutting board. When cool enough to handle shred the meat with your fingers or use two forks to pull the meat apart. Serve hot with generous helpings of your favorite BBQ sauce or see the recipe for Pig Juice here on TastyKitchen.

Note: I start this the day before I am serving it. If I plan on serving it for a Saturday lunch I make the brine and put the roast in it on my lunch break from work, usually about 1 or 2pm on Friday. Later that night (about 9 or 10pm before I go to bed) I take it out of the brine, season it, and put it in the oven programmed to turn on at 1am. When I get up at 7am I take it out of the oven, wrap it in foil and then wrap it in towels and place it in a cooler until I’m ready to shred and serve.