Did my first pork butt this weekend

[jrg24]

No pics, but it turned out alright. I definitely learned a lot. The meat was just shy of 10 lbs. I woke up at 530 to put it on the smoker only to find my temp had dropped and I needed to bring it back up so the meat didn't go on until 630. I ran out of time and pulled it at 630 pm at about 195 IT. Parts of the pork were super tender but others not so much. Nothing too bad but it certainly didn't fall apart. Next time I will start the night before and cook to around 205. Then I'll let it rest until time to serve.

I used jeff's rub and I have a question. How much rub do you guys use? Per jeff's recipe the rub makes 2 cups and is good for 2 racks of ribs. How much would you use on a butt? I used just shy of two cups, doing what I thought was a thorough job of applying it. I could barely taste the rub when it was time to eat. not saying this was a bad thing as the main flavors were the meat and smoke, but I am kind of wondering the point of doing flavored rubs. I think next time I'll just use salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder and see how it turns out.

Edit: Also, I threw a roll of sage breakfast sausage on with the butt for breakfast yesterday and that turned out great!

 

[chef jimmyj]

You used plenty of rub. I use a little more than half that much. Contrary to some beliefs, Rub needs to be on the meat several hours to impart flavor. I rub the night before and if planning works out, I will rub 2-3 days out. I also add more rub before going in the smoker. I get great flavor. Next, my Rub is a flavor component in my Finishing Sauce and my BBQ Sauce. So the flavors are triple redundant. Now planning does not always work out and I sometimes need to rub and go in the smoker quickly, or skip the Finishing Sauce and on one occasion, had to use bottled sauce. In this case I do as some of the Pro's do. I add a couple of Tablespoons of rub and Coke or Apple Juice/ACV to the freshly pulled Pork. The flavor comes though and taste good but slightly Raw tasting compared to my well planned smokes...JJ 

 

[jrg24]

Thanks. I'll keep those tips in mind next time. Adding a bit of flavor after its off the heat is like what I do with crawfish. Just a bit of dry boil seasoning after they go in the cooler makes a huge difference.

Also, we had a bunch of leftover pork so I made this stew tonight. This was fantastic. I highly recommend.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/236988/chef-johns-irish-pork-stew/

 

[chef jimmyj]

That does sound good! I happen to have a couple bags of Pulled Pork in the freezer and with colder weather happening, a stew would be great...JJ