first pork butt

[smokedad]

I smoked my first pork butt this weekend.  I had a 9 lb shoulder butt that I cut in half, and I smoked 1/2 of it on my Weber kettle with charcoal and hickory wood.  As this was my first try at pulled pork, I wanted this to be a baseline for future smokes, so I only put a dry rub on it and didn't mop it or foil it to see how it would turn out.  It had a great bark on it, and we loved the flavor.  I took the IT to 195, and the bone pulled out cleanly.  I saved the drippings and mixed them in with the finished pork, and I made SoFlaQuer's finishing sauce with a few modifications (double the brown sugar, and a mixture of cider vinegar and lemon juice), as we aren't big vinegar people.  Below are pics of the finished product.

20170115_203705.jpg

• smokedad
• Jan 16, 2017

20170115_203921.jpg

• smokedad
• Jan 16, 2017

As I have the other half of the shoulder butt to do, I was looking for suggestions for the next smoke.  I have read that you can inject them, mop them during the smoke, and that some people foil them at a certain IT part way through the smoke.  What do the rest of you do when smoking for pulled pork?  Thanks for any help.

 

[SmokinAl]

You really did a great job on your first butt.

It looks fantastic!

As you are finding out there are several ways to prepare & smoke a butt.

It's good to experiment, and be sure to keep detailed notes on exactly what you did.

This way you can compare it to your other tries & decide which you like best.

For us, we like it just the way you did it.

Rub it down & throw it in the smoker.

I don't foil unless I'm running out of time, & I need it done.

We like the thick bark you get by not foiling, that's where all the flavor is & when you mix it in with the PP it's just sooo good!

And as you found out the finishing sauce is a must.

Point for a fantastic first butt smoke!

Al

 

[noboundaries]

Congrats on such a great first pork butt smoke.  Looks fantastic! 

Al gave you some great advice.  Finding what fits your taste, and your family's, is all that really matters. 

I injected, mopped, coated, wrapped, no wrap, you name it until I found what I like best.  Now I rub, let it go 180F IT, wrap with a little apple cider, and take it off at 203F IT.  I get some drippings I can add back to the meat and some nice bark, though not as crispy as no wrap. I definitely use a finishing sauce. 

I found I like adjusting the flavor of the meat at the end of a smoke with some seasonings, drippings, and finishing sauce better than trying to adjust the flavor before and during a smoke with injections and mopping.  I've had some cuts of pork butts/shoulders that were packed with flavor, requiring almost nothing at the end.  Others that were almost tasteless except for the smoke.  That can happen with grocery store purchased pork that comes from several different suppliers and farmers. 

It takes quite a few "experiments" until you find what you prefer.  No one complains though as you play the smoke-mad scientist.  It's all good!  

 

[avila4]

Looks great!

 

[smokedad]

Thanks, Al and Noboundaries, for the points, I appreciate it.  Thanks, too, for letting me know how you smoke butts. Experimenting is the best part of smoking, especially finding out what flavors you've been missing in your foods all this time. 

I did find with this smoke that I can keep cooking temps pretty steady on the Weber if I'm not checking the meat all the time - the saying that if you're looking you're not cooking is right after all.  I did have to put a 2nd chimney of charcoal in about 1/2 way through the smoke to keep the cooking temp where I wanted it.

I also noticed that when the butt hit an IT of about 175, it seemed to stay there for a long time before it started rising again.  Is that normal?  I thought I remembered reading somewhere that this may happen with pork butts.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Great looking butt!

I have been all over the place and finally have ended up right back where I started. Simple rub, no foil let er' ride until done. Only thing that I do differently know is I run my pit at a higher temp. 285°-325°. I get the same product in less time. No stall (what you experienced @ 175). I take mine to 200°-205°. That additional internal temp really breaks things down and you end up with a better product.

 

[SmokinAl]

Like Case said you can avoid the stall running your pit at a higher temp.

My Lang likes to run around 270-280, so that's where I let it run.

At that temp your looking at about 1 hour per pound & virtually no stall.

The PP is just as tender & juicy as when I'd run the pit at 210 for 20 hours.

Al