Well a few weekends ago I did 2 pork butts at 17.5 pounds total.
I butterflied them so that the pork butts were more like butts hahaha.
The reason I did this was to:
Here's the Q-View and then a little write-up after:
![DSC_9336[1]](/media/dsc_9336-1.554588/full?d=1562196310)
![DSC_9335[1]](/media/dsc_9335-1.554580/full?d=1562194172)
![DSC_9338[1]](/media/dsc_9338-1.554590/full?d=1562196373)
![DSC_9340[1]](/media/dsc_9340-1.554586/full?d=1562194172)
![DSC_9339[1]](/media/dsc_9339-1.554582/full?d=1562194172)
![DSC_9337[1]](/media/dsc_9337-1.554581/full?d=1562194172)
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![DSC_9343[1]](/media/dsc_9343-1.554583/full?d=1562194172)
What I Did
I split these butts from the meat side upwards towards the fat side and to the bone basically, but kept them intact with the fat being one piece on the top.
I seasoned all over and inside the split.
I spread the split pieces apart so they could get smoke and heat and placed them on my crisper basket rack that way.
The Outcome
I produced the most flavorful pulled pork I have ever eaten!!!!
I got greater amount of bark (not more pronounced bark, just more of the same level of bark). I had better seasoning coverage. I had greater and deeper smoke flavor and penetration.
Also I cut down the smoking time by about 5 hours, though this was not a goal of mine but was nice to know.
I smoke at 275F and roll unwrapped the whole time which gives me just a hair over an hour a pound. So 17.5 pounds of meat at 275F is usually 17.5-18.25 hours. I cut down roughly 28% or better of my cooking time.
Without the butterfly technique I produce great pulled pork. I shake my seasoning (S,Px2,O,G +Paprika) into my pulled pork to give it the extra flavor that it is missing since seasoning and smoke can't penetrate so deep into a giant hunk of meat.
I did the same thing but this time I didn't have to shake nearly as much AND the flavor was way better to begin with.
Conclusion
This is one little trick put my pulled pork over the top from great to amazing!
I imagine that just splitting the butts in half would do the same but I thought keeping the fat layer together on top would help and also I thought trapping some smoke for a longer period of time in the butt's butt crack might give me deeper smoke flavor hahaha.
I hope this info helps people understand roughly how much time they can cut down a pork butt smoke by and also encourage them to try my main tricks (4 now vs 3) to create amazing pulled pork because I rarely find good pulled pork anywhere :)
4 Main Tricks
I butterflied them so that the pork butts were more like butts hahaha.
The reason I did this was to:
- get more seasoning on the meat for flavor
- get more bark because there was now more surface area
- get more smoke flavor and penetration
Here's the Q-View and then a little write-up after:
What I Did
I split these butts from the meat side upwards towards the fat side and to the bone basically, but kept them intact with the fat being one piece on the top.
I seasoned all over and inside the split.
I spread the split pieces apart so they could get smoke and heat and placed them on my crisper basket rack that way.
The Outcome
I produced the most flavorful pulled pork I have ever eaten!!!!
I got greater amount of bark (not more pronounced bark, just more of the same level of bark). I had better seasoning coverage. I had greater and deeper smoke flavor and penetration.
Also I cut down the smoking time by about 5 hours, though this was not a goal of mine but was nice to know.
I smoke at 275F and roll unwrapped the whole time which gives me just a hair over an hour a pound. So 17.5 pounds of meat at 275F is usually 17.5-18.25 hours. I cut down roughly 28% or better of my cooking time.
Without the butterfly technique I produce great pulled pork. I shake my seasoning (S,Px2,O,G +Paprika) into my pulled pork to give it the extra flavor that it is missing since seasoning and smoke can't penetrate so deep into a giant hunk of meat.
I did the same thing but this time I didn't have to shake nearly as much AND the flavor was way better to begin with.
Conclusion
This is one little trick put my pulled pork over the top from great to amazing!
I imagine that just splitting the butts in half would do the same but I thought keeping the fat layer together on top would help and also I thought trapping some smoke for a longer period of time in the butt's butt crack might give me deeper smoke flavor hahaha.
I hope this info helps people understand roughly how much time they can cut down a pork butt smoke by and also encourage them to try my main tricks (4 now vs 3) to create amazing pulled pork because I rarely find good pulled pork anywhere :)
4 Main Tricks
- Smoke at 275F because the pork butt doesn't care and who needs to wait longer than necessary
- Smoke/Cook unwrapped entire time with no spritzing or fooling around with the meat, to get great bark and flavor
- Shake a good simple seasoning/rub into the pulled meat and mix in and do so until flavor is bursting
- Split the pork butt from the meat side up to the bone and season all in there. Place the pork butt spread open to get more bark and smoke flavor in the meat. Shorten the smoke even further. This trick basically improves the benefits gained from #1-3
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