Pork Stank has been one of our top selling pork rubs since we added it to our site several years ago. It was created for us by one of our customers who has a top notch competition barbecue team and a successful barbecue catering  business on the side. This is a flavorful all-purpose pork rub and is more sweet than hot, like many great pork rubs. This 16-ingredient pork rub has won several competitions in both the pork butt and pork rib categories. We tested this with our barbecue guru, using a pork shoulder. We tasted it without any sauce in order to get the full flavor of the pork rub. It was perfect.

 

Pulled Pork, Pork Shoulders and Pork Butts

If you're not familiar with a pork shoulder there are two halves, the "Boston butt" (also called the pork butt) and the "picnic ham".

The "butt" comes from the top half of the shoulder, from the the back of the pig near the spine through the shoulder blade. Butts normally weigh between 4 and 14 pounds and typically have shoulder blade bones in them although some butchers will remove the bones and sell these as "boneless butts". Calling it a butt seems odd since it comes from the front of the hog. But make no mistake, this portion of the hog  provides the tastiest meat for pulled pork sandwiches.

 

When and How to Use

When it comes to using Pork Stank as a pork rub you can apply the rub in advance with some people liking to apply it 8-24 hours before smoking. The truth is that the majority of the rub's molecules are too large and will penetrate less than a 1/2" into the meat during this time. A good pork rub is meant more as a surface treatment for flavor and to create the bark. I like to apply the rub just before cooking in combination with a thin layer of oil (olive, canola or vegetable oil all work well), as most of the flavors in the rub are oil soluble. Spread the rub generously on the thicker portions of the shoulder.

You want to maximize the flavor when smoking large cuts of pork butts because these roasts have a great deal of meat compared to the available surface area. You need to get the most out of your rub. You need to work as much of the Pork Stank into the meat as it will hold. One trick we did learn from our time working with the competition barbecuers was to add two tablespoons of Pork Stank to one cup of apple juice to spray on the meat while it is smoking.

Once the pork butt hits 150 to 160°F, the moisture from inside the meat starts to move to the surface and begins evaporating which cools the surface of the meat. This is the what starts drying the exterior and helps form the bark.

 

Where Else You Can Use It

Some competition and backyard barbecuers like to inject their pork butts with a marinade. This marinade is usually concocted with 1/4 cup of their rub and 1 cup of warm apple juice and they inject it deep into the meat. You can do this but most of these competition barbecuers don't do this when cooking at home for friends and family as the cut is moist enough on its own that injecting tends to cover up the pork's natural flavor.

In addition to pork butts and pork ribs our Pork Stank is equally delicious on ham and pork chops.

 

What's In It

Our Pork Stank is hand blended from turbinado sugar, salt, paprika, demerara sugar, grains of paradise, onion, garlic, yellow mustard, chili powder, brown mustard, black pepper, rosemary, marjoram, clove, and allspice.

 

Helpful Hints

If you are looking for more pork dry rubs we have several more to choose from -  Memphis Style Pork Rub, Kansas City BBQ Rub, Deep South Dry Rub, St. Louis Rib Rub, North Carolina BBQ Rub and for something a bit out of the ordinary try our Barbacoa Rub a Mexican style pork rub.

 

Read More

The 11 Secrets to Smoking BBQ Ribs
How to Make Your Own Rub
Create Your Own Dry Rub for Ribs Using 4 Tips from BBQ Restaurants
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