LOW AND SLOW BARBECUE

I've been trying to perfect the art of barbecue. Barbecue is cooking the meat on low heat for a long time. Barbecuing is what is done in Texas and all the great barbecuing states. Here in California we usually grill. High heat for a short period of time. Normally I grill, throw a steak or hamburger,ribs on the barbecue grill and in a short time it's done.
I wanted to find out how to barbecue like I've seen on TV. Cooking the meat for hours on low heat.
I tried it the a couple of weeks ago with beef ribs. I cooked them for about 5 hours at about 250 degrees. I figured they'd either be dry and over cooked or juicy and tender. Luckily they turned out tender and juicy and delicious.
Today I thought I'd try a nice fatty pork shoulder (boston butt). I mixed up a brine and brined it over night. Any brine recipe will work. I didn't even use a recipe. I just mixed 4C of water with some sugar, garlic powder, and steak seasoning and some herbes de Provence. No particular measurement. Just add and taste as you go until you get the ratio you like. Put it all in a zip lock bag, add the pork and refrigerate over night.
Today I drained the brine and patted the pork dry. I mixed up a rub, again any recipe for a rub will work fine. Again I just mixed. Brown sugar, smoked paprika, steak seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper. Taste, if it tastes good then your good to go, if not adjust seasonings until it's to your liking. I slivered a clove of garlic and studded the roast with it then rubbed it with the rub. I let the meat sit while the barbecue was heating up.
I use a charcoal grill, I like the taste better. I figure with a gas grill I might as well just use my oven. I put the coals on one side of the grill and let them heat until they are all white. I then put a foil packet of wood chips on top the the coals. The roast was then place on the other side off the heat. I had to regulate the temperature by opening or closing the air intake at the top. If it got too hot I had to close the intake and if it got too cool open it so there was more air going in to get the coals burning hotter. I wanted the temperature to be between 250 -3oo degrees. I had to periodically add more coals to to keep the heat constant. I barbecued the roast for 9 hours. After about 4 hours I started to brush it with barbecue sauce..any kind will do. My favorite is Sweet Baby Ray's. About every hour or two I brushed it with the sauce.
Again this was a matter of either it was going to be fall off the bone tender and juicy or shoe leather. The last hour I ended up putting it in the oven at 300 covered with foil. The only reason I did this was because I needed to get the grill hotter to grill the vegetables.
Well, I'm happy to report that it turned out perfectly.. falling off the bone tender and juicy and delicious!

veggies ready for grilling