I have been thinking about different ways to make pulled pork and was wondering if I could apply the same principles of whole hog bbq and shrink it down to cook 1-4 pork butts. I am thinking of making a cinder block pit, burning down wood to coals, and cooking the butts over direct coals (hoping to achieve 275-300 degrees or so at grate temperature). Does anyone have experience cooking in this method? I am also curious to know approximately how far above the coals the grate should be to help achieve even cooking, I know that the amount and location of the coals on the ground in the pit will be most important to controlling temp but assume the height of the grate will play in as well.
Any advice would be much appreciated, still trying to decide if this is a worthwhile endeavor before buying the blocks and grates. I have access to plenty of wood so I am not worried about the inefficiencies of burning wood down to coals vs cooking in my offset. Mainly just wanted to try to learn a new style of bbq and have always been intrigued by traditional methods. Looking to do pork butts vs whole hog in this method since I am not cooking for large crowds and pork butts are much easier for me to purchase.
Any advice would be much appreciated, still trying to decide if this is a worthwhile endeavor before buying the blocks and grates. I have access to plenty of wood so I am not worried about the inefficiencies of burning wood down to coals vs cooking in my offset. Mainly just wanted to try to learn a new style of bbq and have always been intrigued by traditional methods. Looking to do pork butts vs whole hog in this method since I am not cooking for large crowds and pork butts are much easier for me to purchase.