Skip to main content

Grill-Smoked Pork Shoulder with Spice Rub

Although many recipes instruct you to soak wood chips before grilling, cookbook author Brigit Binns says she’s never found that this enhances the smoking process. Here, the steam rising from the water in the drip pan keeps the meat from drying out during the long cooking.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Grill-Smoked Pork Shoulder with Spice Rub

Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Grill-Smoked Pork Shoulder with Spice Rub

Serves 8.

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

445Calories
29 gProtein
29 gFat
19 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + cumintop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, sugar, garlic, mustard, cumin, pork, canola oil):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar, garlic, mustard, cumin, pork, canola oil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.