Where There's Smoke There's Flavor

Fired up the Old 97 (my smoker) today and made pulled pork from a picnic ham -- not as good as a Boston butt would have been, but I was nonetheless please with the outcome. I've become much better at pulled pork and ribs than at brisket. And strangely enough, I'm ok with that, since in the last couple of years I've developed a preference for pork over beef. And I'm still perfecting my Northwest riff on barbecue. Tonight it was pulled pork (smoked with alder, cherry, and apple) with blackberry barbecue sauce and coleslaw with dried cranberries on potato bread, sweet corn on the cob, and grilled asparagus. Of course we had sweet tea, but I think if I really want to go with the Northwest theme, I should be growing and making my own spearmint tea.