Smoking your Butt

I’ve coughed up my Cole Slaw and Baked Bean recipes; I guess it’s time for the main dish, smoked pork butt. I like to use bone in butts rather than rolled and tied boneless butts. Rub it down with your favorite pork rub then inject with Smokin Okie’s Basting Sauce, recipe follows. Smokin Okie is the mod on another food forum as well as a BBQ competition cook. I use a 50/50 combination of Hickory & Apple wood at a temperature of 225 degrees. I know that not everyone has a smoker; you can do them on a grill using indirect heat or in your oven. Of course you will lose the wood smoke but it's better than nothing. If you do it in the oven be sure to put it on a rack as it's going to generate lot of grease. I strongly recommend using a thermometer with a probe inserted into the meat, you can buy a Taylor at Target for under $20.00. At about 165 degrees the meat will hit a plateau as it renders the internal fat, this can take a couple of hours, do not panic. After it finishes rendering the fat the temp starts increasing again. Remove it at 195-200 degrees, if you did not heed my advice about the thermometer you can judge by tugging on the bone, it should slide out, but again, I STRONGLY advise using a thermometer. Wrap it in aluminum foil and newspapers then place it in an insulated cooler to let it rest for a couple of hours. While pulling sprinkle some of the rub and basting sauce throughout. Serve with your favorite BBQ sauces, including a Vinegar sauce. Hmm, guess I’m gonna have to give you Smokin’s recipe for that also. My smoker is very well insulated and retains a lot of moisture, if you are using a grill you will have to baste it occasionally to keep it from drying out, remember, the more you open the cooker the longer it takes.

Smokin Okie's Pulled Pork Baste & Serving Sauce (makes about 5 cups)

4 cups apple juice
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoon dry mustard
4 tablespoon brown sugar
3 bay leaf
6 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cayenne (I sometimes use Hungarian Paprika)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (the secret ingredient)

Heat all of the ingredients in a nonreactive pan (the acid in the vinegar will react with some pans be careful) Bring it to a boil, reduce and simmer for 15 min. I make extra and put it in the fridge and it should last for a couple of months. But it's never around that long. When I put some pork in food saver bags, I'll put some of this sauce in there with it -- when I reheat the pork it tastes just like the first time.

Smokin's Vinegar Sauce, also called an Eastern Carolina Sauce

· 2 cups cider vinegar
· 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
· 2 tablespoons salt (I like the flavor in Kosher/Sea Salt and
bigger granules)
· 2 tablespoon red pepper (crushed)
· 1 teaspoon cayenne (I've also used Hungarian Paprika)

Don't need to cook this sauce, just combine, let sit overnight. Put this on your Butt, it'll go wild.

Enjoy it, good Q'in
smokin okie

John

Hey John,

I just walked into work with some pulled pork & beef I stuck in the smoker last night. I tried something a bit different for me this time. I injected my mustard sauce into both of them and then sat the pork butt on top of the beef roast for smoking. The smoker sits under the kitchen window, boy could I smell that going all night!

Just don't try serving this in NC...tar, feathers and possibly a length of rope may become involved. :-)

"The smoker sits under the kitchen window, boy could I smell that going all night!"

How did you get any sleep, must have been like a kid on Christmas Eve.

John

Nice. Thanks for the info and receipes.

MikeS.

At home,anytime we use our smoker,we make sure to load it to the max.Our main item maybe a butt or a shoulder,but we fill up the extra space with goodies like chicken halves,ribs,even chops or a nice fish filet.The extra may go in the freezer for later,but dont waste all that smoke and effort.

I totally agree with using a thermometer to guide cooking. My BBQ has improved tremendously since I started using temp rather than time to cook by on the smoker. That being said, what is a reasonable ballpark amount of time for your typical bone in butt at 225ish? I've had good results in under 8 hrs on a WSM, but have never tried them on my New Braunfels offset (not real tight) because I usually have it crammed with ribs and chicken and I probably open to baste too often. I'm assuming 10 to 12 hours to hit 190.

Vayo con Queso

My general guideline is 1 1/2 to 2 hours a pound on my smokers. I use both WSMs and and FEC.

John

quote:

Originally posted by RibDog

My general guideline is 1 1/2 to 2 hours a pound on my smokers. I use both WSMs and and FEC.

John

I sure do wish that Cookshack would come out with a residential model of the FEC.

John

Dearfolk,
He said "butt." Heh-heh, heh-heh!
Shut up, Dillweed!
Rerunningly, Ort. Carlton in 30601-land.
P. S. Couldn't resist. - Seriously, great topic - and thanks for it.

I go by temperature instead of time. A wireless thermometer is one of the best BBQ purchases you can make.

If you need to finish the butt quicker, wrap it in foil when it reaches 170. The bark will be softer, but the meat will hit 195-200 faster.

Also, I pull mine while they are still hot. I'll let them sit a few minutes, then break out the forks and start shredding.