Bring the water to a boil and add salt, sugar, peppercorns, and bay leaves. When the sugar is dissolved, the brine is ready to use. I typically pour it into a large zip-lock bag and place the bag in a dish or container so it doesn't tip over.

Place the bag/brine in the refrigerator. Once it has cooled, place the pork shoulder in the bag, where it should marinate for at least 8 hours, but preferably up to 12-14 hours. At home, we typically prepare the brine in connection with a dinner meal and place it in the refrigerator. Around bedtime, the brine is usually cold enough to add the meat so it can marinate overnight.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Use a fork or a whisk to mix them together. Since the brown sugar can be a bit moist, it's important to get everything evenly distributed.

Take 1/3 of your dry rub and set it aside - it will be used the next day. Now use the remaining 2/3 to marinate the meat: Rub it thoroughly into the meat all around with your fingers.

Wrap the meat in a vacuum bag and vacuum seal it.

Cook the meat in the water bath for 24 hours at 73 degrees Celsius (163 degrees Fahrenheit).

After the 24 hours, take the meat out of the bag, and pour the liquid into a separate pitcher. There is quite a bit of liquid, but that's okay. You can, for example, reduce the leftover liquid into a delicious barbecue sauce.

Pat the meat dry with a clean dishtowel or some paper towels and place the meat in an ovenproof dish.

Now massage the remaining 1/3 of your dry rub into the meat and cook it for 30-45 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) with convection. You can also cook it in a closed grill.

The outside of the meat can become black. This only adds a delicious flavor to the meat!

Take the meat out of the oven.

Use two forks to shred the meat.

Once all the meat is shredded, pour a little of the liquid from the vacuum bag into the dish and mix well.

Finally, you can toss the meat with barbecue sauce.

Enjoy.