Pork butt.

Because I went off topic and wanted to expound on it. Without completely detailing the thread I figured I'd start one here.

Pork butt aka the top shoulder of a pig is one of the easiest things to smoke on your everyday grill.

Disclamer: This is not a healthy meal.



I've found that the bigger the cut, the more wiggle room you have for errors. And if you're new to smoking there will be errors. No I don't pretend to know everything about it. And I hope that some of my elders here will chime in and help me get even better at this. So please critique and complain all you want.

So, on to basics for the basic here. Meats with lots of connective tissue like to be cooked slow and low. They can be cooked hot and fast but that offers a completely different texture and taste.

Starting out with a 7 pound butt I brine it in the fridge for at least 24 hours (preferably 30 hours). My brine is very basic and simple. Black strap molasses brown sugar and salt. I don't know the proportions for it. Daddy just taught me to use my nose. I only add enough blackstrap at the start to turn the water a murky brown. Then add in brown sugar until it starts to get darker. After adding enough salt so I can smell it over the sweetness of the others I dab in molasses and sugar until I can barely smell the salt. And the molasses smell is just slightly stronger than the brown sugar. Yeah I suppose it would be easier to figure out the exact proportions per part water. But it's my thread and its how I do it.

Use a big pot or bowl and set a chunk of whatever wood you're going to smoke with on top of the butt then cover and put it in the fridge. Clean the wood first. You can alterantly use a heavy plate to weight the meat so it's all submerged.

About two hours before I'm ready to cook I'll pull the butt from the fridge dab the liquid from it and start the wet rub. Because you haven't started cooking yet the connective tissues haven't started to break down. So your dry rub won't start to absorb into your meat. So I melt a stick of butter and mix it in with a bit of vegie oil and rub the butt (keep your minds out of the gutter) vigorously. Then sprinkle black pepper, crushed red pepper, a little pork seasoning and some basil and garlic onto my hands so I can still smell the other ingredients but my nose is slightly offended by the red pepper. Be gentle with the garlic unless you are a fan of It. It turns almost into a sandy paste. Reapply as needed until you can see it over every inch of the butt.

Set the meat so it will slowly warm to room temp over the next two hours.

Immediately following this I start my fire. Yes, if you use charcoal or gas this part can wait. But if I'm spending this much money on a meal im going to cook with wood.

My personal favorite for pork is pecan wood. But oak, mesquite, apple, ect all work very well. If you're going to use apple then please please please use a split piece of Apple wood to weight down the meat while grinning. Fruity woods are kind of light in flavor in pork or beef cuts.

I burn the wood until it's little more than a mess of hot coals on the bottom of my grill about two inches thick. You can easily use charcoal and wood chips or propane. I've even had some fair approximations with electric smokers. But it never tastes the same. Making a meal like this is an adventure. Sure it's nice to throw it in an electric smoker and go on about your day. But I think it tastes better when you've been hanging out with friends and family cooking and drinking while it turns into perfection.

Backtrack to the grinning step. Of you didn't use a hunk of wood to submerge the meat then you should of soaked half a dozen small logs in water the entire time you were brinning soaking the logs in water does pull some of the flavor from the wood out. But it adds moisture to your fire. It also makes it easier to control the temp of your fire. You'll want to be able to hold your hand over the grate for fifteen to twenty seconds before it gets too uncomfortable. Or between 200 and 220 degrees F. Add your wet wood after you check the temp. If it's too cold add slivers of wood if it's too hot wait a little longer.

You can alternatively add moisture to the mix by using an old beer can full of water or beer and place it directly on the coals.

While pork has a ton of connective tissue and doesn't really dry out the moisture is key for keeping the outside moist. If you don't use moisture what turns black will get hard and tasteless. With moisture you waste nothing.

I like to use a cookie sheet when smoking. So I set the butt on one, scrape the coals off to the sides of the grill then add the wood and put the meat in the middle.

You can split and splinter the soaked wood to make it last longer and to make sure the heat doesn't get too high. I split mine down about two fingers thick.

Now sit and wait.

A good rule of thumb at this temprature is an hour and a half per pound. So a seven pound butt should take 10 hours to cook.

Do not open your grill often to check on it. Simply opening the grill can add a half hour to your cook time every time you open it. I only open it to add wood or to add my vegies and fruits. And I only add wood of my temp gets low or I stop seeing smoke.

After about hour eight I'll throw some chopped potatoes into a square boat of foil in the grill and add some finely chopped onion bell pepper tomatoes and broccoli to the top and sides of the butt. It kinda creates a symboitic relationship. The butt absorbs the flavor of the veggies and vice versa.

I then remove the veggies and wrap them the potatoes with butter salt and pepper. I only lightly salt and pepper them. You can also add bacon to the hobo meal of you want. Who doesn't like bacon?

With an hour left I add more onion tomatoes and peppers to the top of the butt and let it finish cooking.

You should be able to pull the pork with a fork easily. For the safety concious amongst us, internal temp should be between 190 and 195 f. Yes. You can eat pork once it's internal temp has been at 160 for ten minutes. But the connective tissues like it a little higher. That's where you get your slow smoked flavor from. Well that and all the other stuff you just endured. If you are checking internal temp then check in multiple places. Different tissues heat up at different rates. You might find the fatty connective tissues are at 190 while the meat is at 160. Let the meat get to 190.

Leave the last addition of peppers and what not on the butt when you pull it. You won't be sorry.

Sure you can add bbq sauce if you want. But I've never had anyone ask for any.

 

When our grocery has pork butts on sale, I get one and make pulled pork, using our slow cooker. I usually have several containers of pulled pork in the freezer for lunch sandwiches. I've never tried smoking one, but using your instructions I think I'll try one next time. I'll use mesquite since we have an ample supply, and I do enjoy the cooking and drinking while it turns into perfection.
Thanks for the tip!

 

We bbq them, smoke them, slow cook them, cut them up into stew meat chunks and make jambalaya and such they grind for home made sausage too. Ask your butcher to slice them into steaks our butcher does this for free and they are amazing too use like pork chops. We constantly look for them on sale and use them lots of ways.
http://cappyandpegody.blogspot.com/2006/05/nuthin-like-gooood-butt-rub.html

 

I've used the slow cooker a couple times and its good. But just doesn't taste the same.

I may cut them up like that and see how they turn out next time I cook one.

When the boy gets home next week he's supposed to bring a brisket. One of the guys he works with brings up long horn briskets that are actually cut properly. They cook so much better than the stuff we get up here.

 

Lord, either I am moving next door to you or maybe I can talk you into moving to Texas. That's my way of cooking. Don`t know who "the boy" is but hope he brings enough for me.

 

Mart, if you are willing to risk a felony arrest with me, I'll help kidnap this young lady and bring her here to Texas. We each get six months with her, or you and I share a jail cell for a longer period!

 

Good luck boys. This bird has a beak and talons. Now. Offer me a good reason to go to Texas and y'all wouldn't have to be horribly disfigured in your attempt at felonious abduction.

If you ever find yourself in se iowa let me know and you'll be welcome to eat. I'll provide the meat but you have to bring your own booze.

The boy is my boyfriend. A good man. A little angry with people other than me. But a good boy none the less.

Since y'all are from the south I suppose you appreciate open pit. It tastes wonderful but is a serious pain.

 

i agree about the open pit I aint a big fan of course I will on occasion do it just for the fun of it.

Thats those butt steaks I was talking about earlier.

 

The front four look good. And I hate to critique but the last one looks to of cooked hot drawer up a lot.

I'd of ate it with gusto though. When you cooking for me?

Last year when corn at the market was fresh. Didn't have a garden then.

 

The wife likes them well what can I say

 

Hey,, I am game ! I can see the headlines now " Local Woman and Accomplice Arrested for Stealing Pork Butt and Kidnapping Cook" Charges dropped after meal of pulled pork and fresh garden vegetables. (I am not above bribery)

 

I like using a side box for my smoke/heat source. That way adding fuel doesn't affect the cooking temperature nearly as much. I like to mix hickory with mesquite (75/25) for a distinctive BBQ experience. Pecan makes a good mix with apple (about 50/50) for a hearty yet light flavor. I've never brined a butt/shoulder, your recounting of that recipe sounds like something I'd try! About how many gallons of water do you start with?

I've always left mine in the smoker for 24 hours at 200-220 degrees. Can make for a long night, but it is really worth it.

As an aside, this old man will be going through Muscatine in mid May headed for Omaha. Won't have time for visiting though. Mores the pity. Family visits come first.

 

Not even a full gallon to brine a 7 pound butt. If you put that butt in a 3 gallon stock pot there's barely room for a gallon of liquid.

For me how long it cooks entirely depends on the weight of the meat. I only use time as a guideline. Texture tells me when it's done. Alternatively internal temp. For me to put something in for a full day it's gonna need to weigh more than twice as much.