Southern Style Pork Butt with Sweet Potato Mole and Mississippi Delta Pork Hot Tamales

YIELD: 1 pork roast

1 blade pork roast (pork butt)

For the brine:
2 qts. water
¼ cup corn liquor (moonshine)
¾ cup Blue Lake honey
½ cup salt
For the broth:
4 qts. water
1 ham bone
2 carrots, rough chop
3 onions, rough chop
1 tsp. cayenne pepper, fresh
for the mole rub:
1 cup cocoa
1 cup pecans
8 oz. Scumpernong jelly
16 oz. fig preserves
16 oz. sweet potato butter
2 onions
1 cup garlic, peeled
¼ cup chipotle chiles
2 Tbsps. cayenne
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
for the mop:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup malt vinegar
½ cup rice vinegar
2 cups molasses (blackstrap)
¾ cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. garlic, pureed
1 lb. butter
1 tsp. ginger, fresh ground
1 tsp. cloves, fresh ground
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsps. cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp. ancho chiles, chopped
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
3 Tbsps. salt
2 tsps. fresh ground black pepper
½ onion, juiced
2 fresh jalapenos
3 lemons, juiced
1 lime, juiced
4 sardines

1.    Debone butt, roast bone and reserve for broth.
2.    Cut butt in a spiral formation ending in a long, wide, “hanger steak” style piece of meat. Brine meat and cure for 24 hours.
3.    With roasted bone, combine broth ingredients and simmer for one hour and strain. Combine all ingredients of the mole and process into a thick paste.
4.    Remove pork butt from brine, smother with mole and smoke for 3 hours at 250°F.
5.    Pull pork from smoker and transfer to grill. Cook till brown and tender, mopping throughout. Chop or pull and serve.

Recipe: National Pork Board