We live in Kansas City. As everyone knows, though a few people refuse to admit, the world’s best barbeque hails from our town. Sorry, Memphis. Sorry, North Carolina. Sorry, everywhere else.

We have Arthur Bryant’s, which is the most historical, LC’s, which provides the best ambiance, and Joe’s Kansas City, which we humbly rank as the tastiest. What Kansas City offers in quality of barbeque is rivaled only by its variety of barbeque restaurants. New establishments open weekly. The best thrive despite massive competition.

So, why then—in the epicenter of delicious meats—do we bother to smoke our own? Shouldn’t we just count our blessings and indulge in the all the spare ribs, burnt ends, beef brisket, smoked sausage, cheesy corn, baked beans and cole slaw that we can stomach?

Perhaps, but there’s no challenge in that. Besides, we like to tinker and fiddle. We like to customize. We like experiment. So, we wake up at ungodly hours of the night, and we sit outside in the frigid temperatures, and we smoke our own meat.

Our significant other recently hosted an event. Because she has excellent taste in both men and food, she brought home a 12-pound Boston butt and requested that it be smoked. We happily obliged. Thirteen hours in the smoker and some arduous fork work produced the delicious pulled pork sliders pictured above.

Here’s how we did it.

1. Visit a local butcher and procure a Boston butt.

2. Brine it for 12 to 24 hours in a mixture of a half-gallon of apple cider, a cup of kosher salt, a cup of brown sugar, and a tablespoon of maple syrup.

3. Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry. Save the brine. To the meat, liberally apply the rub, which has these ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of paprika
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

4. Smoke at 220°F.

5. Using the saved brine, inject the meat every hour to keep it moist. This Rösle Marinade Injector comes in awfully handy.

6. When the the meat reaches an internal temperature of 170°F, wrap it in aluminum foil. Turn smoker to 250°F and finish meat to 200°F.

7. Let meat cool at least 30 minutes.

8. Using two forks—one in each hand—separate a large chuck of meat at a time and shred it down to the desired consistency.

9. Serve on slider buns with cole slaw and barbecue sauce. For a seasonal slant, substitute cranberry sauce for the barbecue sauce.

We use a Bradley Digital Smoker. The entire process takes a little over an hour per pound of meat. This particularly hefty Boston butt started at 3:00 AM and finished at 4:00 PM. We lost a little sleep, but it proved well worth the effort. The guests devoured the pulled pork sliders because they were delicious. Our significant other heaped praise upon us because, well, we are praiseworthy.