Photo by Capt. Nate Skinner

The hardest thing about these pulled-pork nachos is waiting for them

It’s hard to beat a juicy pork butt that’s smoked to perfection. When cooked correctly, the meat is tender and pulls apart effortlessly. It’s even better when it’s the finished product from a successful hog hunt and turned into decadent nachos.

For this recipe, I used a 4 1/2-pound boneless chunk of hindquarter from a wild hog, and I smoked it on an All Seasons Feeders Sirloin 1080 Pellet Grill. This grill made cooking the wild game meat so easy that the most involved part of the recipe was putting it on tortilla chips and topping it with all the fixings.

Smoking the pork butt until you achieve the target internal temperature of 150-160 F is key. Then it’s time to lather on the barbecue sauce, wrap it in foil and crank up the heat. After another hour on the grill, the only thing standing between you and some delicious nachos is your own two hands.

Pull the succulent wild game meat apart using two forks. Pile it up on a platter full of chips. Add copious amounts of pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream and barbecue sauce and dig in.

Serve with your favorite ice-cold beer or adult beverage for maximum fulfillment.

Wild Pulled Pork Nachos

4- to 5-pound boneless wild pork butt

Kosher salt

Coarse ground black pepper

Barbecue sauce

Pico de gallo

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Tortilla chips

Season the pork butt with kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper using an 80 percent pepper to 20 percent salt ratio.

Smoke the meat at 200 F for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 150-160 F.

Generously douse the pork butt in your favorite sop or barbecue sauce and wrap it tightly in foil.

Allow it to cook at 300 F while it’s wrapped in foil for another hour.

Remove the pork butt from the grill and allow it to rest in an oven or ice chest while remaining wrapped in foil for 30 minutes.

Unwrap the pork butt and pull it apart using two forks.

Cover a large pan or plate with tortilla chips.

Top the chips with the pulled pork, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream and barbecue sauce.

Serve and enjoy.