Questions about smoking my first pork butt

Wanna keep it simple? Buy a butt. Use a bit of mustard or olive oil as a glue for rub. Rub while the smoker is heating up to 250 to 260. Put the butt on the rack. Leave it alone until IT hits around 200 for pulled. Put in a pan, foil, and let it rest until cool enough to pull. Sauce and eat.

I have been smoking for about a year mainly doing spares and Shoulder.

I use a modified Brinkman charcoal smoker along with chunk charcoal and apple wood.

1.) I leave the brining to turkey. Plenty of salt from the rub and moisture in this butt.

2.) Again, plenty of flavor going on it along with fat and connective tissue to keep this thing moist.

     I have injected in the past but the last one I didn't and it was my best one yet.

3.) I give it a coat of rub the night before and wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge.

     in the morning before it hits the smoke I give it another dusting. My wife hates mustard. You won't taste it.

4.) I use apple wood. Hickory is to strong for me.

5.) At 165 internal temp I wrap it HD aluminum foil along with squeeze butter a little

     brown sugar on top and a quarter cup or so of apple juice and put it in a 250 degree oven,

     no use in tending to a fire when you don't have to. We are done with the smoke. this is not cheating.

     Pull at IT of 200 degrees. let rest for an hour. Wrap that foil bundle in a towel and put it

     in a cooler to rest.

6.) Pull sauce enjoy.

This what works for me. Plenty of people on this site doing this a lot longer than me.

Even my first pork but was pretty darn good.

Score the fat cap or remove it altogether.

Rub with EVOO

Rub with Spicy Brown Mustard (Brand of your choice)

Rub with your choice of rub...don't be stingy on the rub.

Wrap in plastic and 'fridge it for at least 12 hours.

Remove from 'fridge and remove plastic.

Dust with more Rub.

Let rest for 1 hour...to come up to room temp a bit.

Smoker up to temp.

If you kept the fat cap and scored....cap down.

If you trimmed the fat cap off...doesn't matter.

(I like to place an aluminum pan underneath it to catch the drippings rather than place it in a pan and cook. That way the smoke encircles the entire butt)

Smoke all the way to 200*, unfoiled.

Once you hit 200*...double foil it...wrap it in a thick towel and place it in a cooler for 2 hours.

Take the drippings from the pan and pour them into a container...allowing the fat to rise to the top and solidify.

After 2 hours...it's time to pull.

CAUTION! It will still be hot!

Skim the fat from the container and toss, then re-heat the "golden nectar" to liquify it and add to the pulled pork as desired.

I've found that there's really no benefit in rubbing the meat the night before. You also don't need any binder for the rub to stick. The moisture of the meat is enough. I don't inject, or brine my pork butts unless I am making Cuban style pork or a ham or bacon out of them. I don't spritz or use water in my water pan. Used to do low and slow 225-250 smoke chamber but for the past fee years I've run the smoker anywhere from 265-285. Still get the same results as I used to just doesn't take as long to get the meat to an IT of 200-205. Make sure when you get to that IT and you remove the meat from the smoker that you foil wrap it for a good 45min-1 hour before pulling. This will allow the meat to redistribute the juices through out.

Good luck with your smoke and remember the KISS ( keep it simple smoker) method is the best advice around!

dirtsailor2003 said:

I've found that there's really no benefit in rubbing the meat the night before. You also don't need any binder for the rub to stick. The moisture of the meat is enough. I don't inject, or brine my pork butts unless I am making Cuban style pork or a ham or bacon out of them. I don't spritz or use water in my water pan. Used to do low and slow 225-250 smoke chamber but for the past fee years I've run the smoker anywhere from 265-285. Still get the same results as I used to just doesn't take as long to get the meat to an IT of 200-205. Make sure when you get to that IT and you remove the meat from the smoker that you foil wrap it for a good 45min-1 hour before pulling. This will allow the meat to redistribute the juices through out.

Good luck with your smoke and remember the KISS ( keep it simple smoker) method is the best advice around!

Click to expand...

X2.......couldn't agree more.

I agree that the pork tends to have plenty of moisture to hold the rub, but keep in mind that most spices tend to be oil soluble. It takes just a few Tbs. of oil and 30 seconds to apply. And for that you tend to get your rub flavor into the meat a bit better because of the solubility.