Smoked Pulled Pork Stuffed Mushrooms

In an ideal situation, you would be using leftover pulled pork however, if you need/want to make some especially for this occasion, I will give you a few quick steps to ensure that it turns out perfectly.

1. Apply Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) all over a pork butt (be very generous with it)
2. Preheat smoker to 225-240°F
3. Place the meat fat side down directly on the smoker grate\
4. Smoke cook for about 6 hours or until it reaches 160°F in the center
5. Wrap meat in foil (or place in foil pan covered tightly in foil) and continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches 205°F
6. Remove foiled meat from smoker (carefully) and place on counter to rest for about an hour. (open foil slightly to allow some heat to escape)
7. Remove bone then pull meat into it's natural sections
8. Spend a few minutes picking out any clumps of fat, gelatin-like substance, membrane, etc.
9. Pull the meat into small chunks and pieces using your hands or a couple of forks

If you want some detailed instructions on making pulled pork complete with pictures, see this link for my Cherry Dr. Pepper pulled pork. You can skip the injection if you want and it will still be amazing pulled pork.

I have included 2 variations or recipes for fillings that I came up with but feel free to play around with some ingredients and come up with your very own variations.

Pulled Pork Filling

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese
• ½ cup pulled pork (make sure it has cooled well)
• 1 TBS Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
• ½ TBS Lemon Juice
• 1/8 cup (2 TBS) finely chopped onions
• 1/8 cup (2 TBS) finely chopped red jalapeños (green will work if you can't find the red ones)

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl and fold together until combined.

Sausage & Cheese Filling

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 oz (¼ of a chub) ground breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean's), Hot
• 1 TBS Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
• ½ cup finely chopped onions
• ¼ cup finely chopped green jalapeños
• ½ TBS lemon juice
• ¼ cup of hand grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook the sausage in a frying pan over medium heat until well browned then remove to cool.

Put onions and jalapeños into the same frying pan without adjusting the heat and cook for about 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.

Once the sausage, onions and jalapeños are cooled, add all ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl and fold together until combined.

Remove stems from mushrooms. I get great results by grasping the stems as close to the base as possible and tilting it over until it “snaps”. You may also get good results from twisting slightly. In my experience, some stems snap off better than others.

Once the stems are removed, give the mushrooms a good wash under cold water.

After washing them, lay them upside down on a paper towel to drain for a few minutes before turning them right side up.

Using a teaspoon, stuff the mushrooms with filling making sure to get it down into the hole really well and mounded up on top.

Here is one of each type of filling.

I then had a brilliant idea to lay a red pepper slice on top of the pulled pork variety.

Once all of the mushrooms are filled, place them on a bradley rack or a cookie sheet to make it easy to transport them out to the smoker.

Give them another light sprinkle with my original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) and you are good to go!

These smoke up really fast and the only thing you are after with these is that they are smoke flavored and warm in the center.

Preheat the smoker to about 225°F and have enough smoking wood to last about 45 minutes.

Cooling racks are a great way to take food, such as this, out to the smoker without having to transfer it from the container to the smoker grate. The racks are a simple wire grid and allow the smoke to freely pass through it to the food.

The ones that I use are about 11 x 15 inches.

Lay the stuffed mushrooms (or the rack) directly on the smoker grate and apply smoke/heat for  45-60 minutes depending on how much smoke flavor you are looking for. A light delicate smoke is best such as apple or another fruit wood.

I recommend tasting one of the mushrooms at about 25 minutes in to see how the flavor and heat is going. Use your own discretion and preference as to how much longer you continue to cook them.

Smoked stuffed mushrooms make a good appetizer or even a side dish to go along with a main entree.