Want to try something different...

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

jay porter

Fire Starter
Original poster
Aug 10, 2015
42
19
Middle Georgia
The local Save a lot has pork butts on sale for $1.09/lb tomorrow, so I'm about to fill the freezer. While I'm at it, I'll throw one on the smoker Saturday morning and have some folks over for dinner.

Here's my dilemma. I always do the same thing when I smoke a pork butt. Rub and wrap the night before, overnight in the fridge, extra rub while the smoker is reaching 225 the next morning, smoke unwrapped until IT is 190-200, remove, rest, pull. I use my own rub, no mustard, and smoke with apple or peach wood.

I want to try something different this weekend, but I have no clue what or even why...

Debating wrapping at IT 170, spritzing with apple cider vinegar every hour, injecting, etc... Cannot decide what to try.

Give me some options! What do you like to do with a pork butt?
 
I'm a hot n fast guy, wrap at 180 if making pulled pork, and still get a great bark.   You could try hot n fast and compare it to your low n slow.  I've tried spritzing and injecting.  Didn't seem to do much for the flavor that I couldn't do better at the end by adding drippings and rub. 

You can try some new flavors and ways to prepare that butt. 

Here is a Carnitas recipe:  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/147751/smoked-pork-carnitas-with-photos

A couple more ideas.

Char Siu (I think this is the recipe I got from SFPrankster)

Ingredients
2-3 lbs of pork butt cut into chunks(1.5")
Marinade
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup brandy
1/8 cup honey
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 Tbs dark sesame oil
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger
1 tsp grated fresh garlic
1 Tbs onion powder
1 tsp chili powder, such as african bird or thai dragon
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

Directions

1. Combine the marinade ingredients and whisk together in a bowl. Pour the marinade over the pork chunks in a sealable bag. Let sit in the refrigerator a minimum of 3 hours, but far the best if marinated overnight. Bring your smoker up to 300 and lay the pork onto the grill with a little space between each piece.

Smoked Pork Cuban Style

Okay, my apologies to anyone of Cuban culture.  I was looking at Latin-style pork recipes and came up with the following recipe.  The result was delicious.  The tangy Mojo Sauce gave the meat a great flavor and fantastic au jus.  It is different that typical pulled pork so if you're bored with standard fare, give this a try.  It isn't dramatically different, just noticeably so. 

Ingredients
4-6 lb pork shoulder
sprinkle oregano, cumin, black pepper
Mojo Sauce (pronounced MoHo)
2 cup Orange juice
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup lime juice
1/2 cup  olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 large bay leaf
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 Tbs minced garlic (or 20 cloves fresh)
2-3 Tbs salt (add after reserving one cup of blended sauce)
Sauteed Finishing Vegetables
1 large onions sliced in thin rounds
1 red peppers, sliced
1 cup reserved garlic and lime sauce mixture

Directions

1. In a blender add the orange/lemon/lime juice, garlic, bay leaf, cumin powder, oregano, pepper, oil, and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend on high until liquified. Pour one cup of the mojo in a jar cover and reserve for later.  Now add 2-3 Tbs of the kosher salt to the blender and blend again until the salt is blended into the Mojo Sauce.

2. Stab the uncooked pork shoulder deeply on all sides with a broad knife.  Stab it deep.

3. Now take your pork roast, put it in a brining bag and pour the rest of the Mojo sauce all over the pork roast rubbing the mojo sauce deep into the pork meat in the slits or holes. The secret is to make sure you rub your pork meat roast with all this citrus/garlic sauce making sure it is well introduced into the meat. Remove all the air from the brining bag and zip tie it so the meat stays submerged in the sauce.  Brine overnight or longer.

4. Next day fire up the smoker to 225°F to 250°F using a sweet wood for flavor like peach or apple.

5. Remove the brined roast from the refrigerator and pour the brining marinade into a sauce pan.  Heat to a low boil and simmer for at least ten minutes for safety.  Remove from the heat and let cool.  You'll use this sauce for basting the roast and for wrapping.

6. Sprinkle a little more oregano, cumin, salt and black pepper over the entire roast again but just a little sprinkle.

7. Put the roast on the smoker and smoke until the first stall, usually around 150°F internal temp and roughly four hours.  While smoking baste it with about a half cup of the Mojo Sauce every hour to 90 minutes.  When it stalls wrap in a double layer of aluminum foil with a cup of the Mojo Sauce from the sauce pan.

8. I typically open my vents slightly and let the smoker temp climb to 300°F-325°F while the meat is wrapped.  Smoke until an IT of 203°F-205°F.  Remove from smoker leaving it in the aluminum foil and put it in a hot box or wrap in towels on the kitchen counter.  Let rest for an hour or two.  Total smoke/cook time is about an hour/lb roughly.

9. Just before serving pour cup of lightly salted reserved Mojo Sauce from the first blending into a frying pan with some oil.  Add the onion and pepper and saute them in the mixture for about 5-10 minutes until tender.

10. Remove the roast from the foil, saving the liquids in the wrap.  Pull the pork apart and add the mojo onions to the meat, mixing well.  Or you can serve separately on tortillas.

11. The meat is juicy right after being pulled.  Add a little of the wrap liquid to the pulled pork, but save the rest in a bowl and cool overnight in the refrigerator.  The next day scrape off the fat and add the gelatin back into the pulled pork for additional tangy flavor.
 
Hey Jay.  Lucky you on that pork butt sale!!

I like to use Jeff's Finishing Sauce on my pulled pork.  It adds a fantastic flavor to the PP.  I serve it on a bun and heaped with coleslaw.


  • SoFlaQuer
  • badge_otbsmember.v821205657.png
  •  
  •  

The Finishing Sauce I use is as follows:

1 Cup Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Warm the Vinegar up enough so that it disolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients.

I use it in one of those clear Ketchup bottles you can get from Wally World for about $0.99. Snip a little bit larger hole out of the spout with a pair of scissors. Once all your ingredients are mixed together, put your finger over the top, and shake vigorously.

Randomly squirt this over warm freshly pulled Pork, then kind of mix it up with gloved hands. This adds very little heat (despite the Red Pepper) and mellows out the stronger, gamier parts of the Shoulder. The Vinegar also helps break it down even more for some REAL juiicy pork.

Personally, I eat it just like that, but your guests can add whatever "Q sauce they prefer once it's on their plates or bun!

If you've never done Pulled Pork with a "Finishing Sauce" before, you're in for a real treat!!!! It's the secret ingredient that alot of Quer's don't know about, and part of the reason people at my 'Q Parties say "they've never had Pulled Pork that tasted this good, before!".

Jeff


This sauce make the PP a masterpiece.

Best of luck

Gary
 
Last edited:
Try mixing some of your rub with apple juice and inject it.

The finishing sauce Gary posted is also great
 
Thanks for the ideas. Right now I'm leaning towards injecting with my rub and apple juice tonight, rubbing it and letting it rest. Definitely going to try some finishing sauce as well. The real question now is whether i try to do an overnight smoke at 225, or get up early enough to make sure its done by 6 Saturday night.
 
I scored the fat cap and rubbed down with my rub. I let it rest while I rolled a fatty. I'll post it later. Diced jalapeños in cream cheese and cheddar. I'll smoke at 225 until IT is 160, then wrap. I'll post more pics in a few hours when my ivation wakes me up.

 
Sorry. This has the jalapeño and cheese. The butt is just rubbed. In 12 hours or so it'll be some tasty pulled pork. The jalapeño cheese fatty will go on in the morning for a couple hours.

 
6 and a half hours in. IT @ 160, wrapped. I emptied the drip pan into a container to try to make au jus and put the butt in the drip pan to make it easier to wrap. Now I'm having a hard time getting the smoker to level back off.

 
Apparently the drip pan was acting as a very good heat diffuser, and without it or the water pan (which I didn't use this time) I had a hard time getting the smoker to level off. After an hour I got fed up and went the oven route. 6 hours of smoke at 225 + 3 hours in the oven at 225 and the IT is 178. I just bumped the oven to 250, hopefully it'll finish in the next couple hours. I'm curious to see what kind of bark this method produces. Since I never wrap my butts, should I drain the pan before I pull the meat, or leave the drippings in?
 
The finished product was incredible. I made au jus from the pan drippings and used that when we reheated the pulled pork. Unfortunately, things got hectic and I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. I'll have to be more dillagent about that as football season nears and large-volume smokes become more frequent.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Clicky