I believe
noboundaries
and I are in 99.9999% agreement!!!
To reiterate:
Absoltuely do not brine.
Rub/seasoning, I go simple with salt, pepper, onion, garlic and paprika (SPOG+Paprika). You can go equal parts of all of them. If u look at pork rubs these seasonings are in the top5-6 listed which means u are paying high dollar for simple seasonings just mixed in a bottle for u :)
No need to season and wrap and put in fridge. Yep pull out of package and rub while its wet and juicy/bloody and go like NB says.
Method, I go 275F the whole time because a pork butt does not care what temp it is cooked at as long as it is not burning. IMPORTANT: if you use a rub/seasoning with sugar the sugar can burn and become bitter with temps over 250F I think (double check the temp to confirm). As you notice I dont use sugar.
If you want to use sugar u can easily shake it in after you shred along with additional seasoning as needed OR you can apply sugar or a bbq sauce when it hits like 195F Internal Temp (IT).
Personally I find everyone likes it better when they can customize on their plate with sauces, additional seasoning, etc. and it keeps things super simple. Everyone wins.
4hr/4hr wrap in smoker - I also suggest going naked the whole time. If you wrap meats too early they simply taste like oven roasts. Why waste hours and hours of time and effort to make what turns out to be an oven roast. I never wrap anything below an Internal Temp of 180F even if I have to wrap something (chucks and brisket flat only are the things I am forced to wrap).
One thing I do HIGHLY suggest is to cut a split into your pork butt all the way to the bone. Going from the meat side until it hits the bone, the whole length of the butt as indicated by this picture:
View attachment 635651
The bone will keep it from being cut into 2 pieces.
Now spread the meat out some and season well all in there as well. When you go to smoke it, lay it on the rack spread out.
This will allow you to get max smoke penetration deep into the meat that would normally get none. It allows for seasoning and bark to get onto more area of the meat where it normally would not get.
This increases flavor 10x over and I found I never have to add any finishing sauce or additional seasoning to my pork butts when I shred them. This was the one practice that turned my porkbutt from being great to exceptional!!! Also it results in less work in the end since u dont have to add sauce or seasoning once shredded so it makes life easier for u :)
Spritz or mop??? No way, its a waste of time and heat. Instead watch TV and relax.
As for liquid in your dish. I would leave that up to you and how your smoker behaves. My MES needs no additional moisture and holds temps well. If I ever had a smoker that needed me to have liquid I would go water. All my other techniques give the most amazing flavor that there is no need to attempt apple cider which i hear doesnt really impart flavor or any that matters.
Wood. Your preference. You will be fine with either or a combo of either. I live in TX so smoking pork, chicken, etc. with Mesquite is not foreign to me/us and makes good food no matter what. If you are still earning with mesquite I would say go 75% Apple 25% Mesquite so you don't introduce the complexity of properly managing mesquite smoke and having things go sideways :)
It is my firm believe that people turn out good BBQ IN SPITE of all the things they do. I usually find that the simpler it is the better it becomes because there is less to get in the way.
The main thing to remember about a pork butt, it is only ready when it is tender.
It is tender when you stab all over with something like a kabob skewer and it goes in without any resistance.
I start checking for tenderness on a Pork Butt around a meat's Internal Temp (IT) of 203F.
I hope this info helps :)
tallbm
said try not to tent up .
