Why do they call it ‘pulled pork’ ? (serious question)
Based on the description from your recipe, it should be called ‘rubbed pork’ .
Slow cooking of otherwise tough meat is tender enough to pull apart:)
I was told that it's called that because it's so tender you don't need a knife to slice it. You can 'pull' it apart.
Pork shoulder is a hunk of meat that is laced with flavorful fat and connective tissue. That's the story of the origin of Southern barbecue. A cheap cut of meat that the slave owners didn't want, that, as the slaves discovered, when cooked low and slow, when the fat and collagens melt, the muscle fibers are made tender, moist, and succulent. Like buttah. And the process, which can take 8 to 12 hours or more, is the quintessence of Southern smoke roasting. Lazy, slow, easy, fragrant. You set up a lawn chair, sip a cup of coffee as you put the meat on in the morning, as the sun gets high, you switch to cool refreshing beer, mid-day a mint julep refreshes the palate, and as it approaches doneness, with the sun waning, you switch to straight Bourbon.
One critique is that this appears to be a tomato based sauce.
Good Christian folk know BBQ pork is supposed to be a mustard based concoction.
The stretch of South Carolina from roughly Columbia to Charleston is known as “the Mustard Belt.” The region’s distinctive mustard-based sauce originated with German settlers in the 18th century, and it’s applied liberally to whole hog ’cue smoked over open wood pits. All-you-can-eat buffets are popular in these parts, with many trays full of chopped pork and dozens of Southern sides. Columbia’s Little Pigs BBQ smokes a juicy combo of shoulders and hams, while Shealy’s BBQ in Batesburg offers an enormous buffet with smoked pork, fried chicken and side dishes galore. (Source)I can attest to the quality of the vittles from both of the above establishments.
Because you don’t slice it up. You pull it apart. Also the test of a well cooked pork butt is that the big bone can be easily and smoothly pulled out of the cooked meat which can then be inspected for penetration of smoke and for moisture on the bone. Bon Apetit!
For all the reasons given previously, but it, pulling it to shreds, historically, came about out of the lack of dentistry at the time.
It was such a hit at BBQ get-togethers, even people with teeth loved it.