I haven’t posted for a long while, mostly because work and family take up most of my time. I’ve wanted to put on a good cook and document my cook to see what you guys think and maybe help some people out. This post is to show how I cooked up a pork butt (shoulder); I went all out on this one. I’m not a professional or a competitor, but I play around with different cuts of meat, woods, rubs, injections to see if I like certain things or not. I cook to my taste, not a specific recipe so I use guidelines to help me along. By posting this hopefully I can help someone out, give people ideas, and maybe you guys can have ideas or tricks you do that can help me with my process. I cook on a Horizon Classic 16”; with this cook I used a hickory and cherry wood mix. I found that the cherry I use is really hard to keep a constant temp so I use a little hickory which seems to help balance everything out.
So, first off I had to choose where I wanted to get my pork butt. I had a couple cuts in my freezer I had bought at Sam’s because they had a really good deal on them but it was a pack of 2 that weighed about 3.5lbs each. I was looking for a bigger cut that was a little higher quality. I went to a butcher shop in Bloomington, IN (http://bloomingtonmeat.com) where I was able to find a gorgeous cut that was just over 10lbs and had a beautiful cap (fat layer on one side). Of course I paid quite a bit more of this one, but I figured if I was going to put 15 hours of my time into cooking it I might as well have the best cut I could find.
I trimmed some of the fat of the thicker spots, but left plenty on for the cook. I mixed up my brine that consisted of ¾ apple cider vinegar and ¼ warm water. I added brown sugar, agave nectar, mustard seed, whole peppercorn, crushed red pepper, and plenty of salt. After the brine cooled off I placed the brine and meat into a plastic bag, sealed it, and placed in a cooler and put a couple bags of ice in the cooler to keep everything cool. I let the meat soak for about 8 hours, I know many places suggest an hour per pound of meat, but I was afraid of too much of that salt getting into the meat (just my opinion).
After pulling the meat out of the brine I washed it off and let it sit for about an hour as I prepared the rub. My rub is a mix of several things but is mostly sweet (I use the “Big Green Egg Maple Rub for most of the sweetness) with a touch of spice and other things to add another layer of flavor. Everything I cook, I’m real careful not to overwhelm the meat and cover up the taste of the meat itself. I’ve eaten several kinds of ribs, steak, and even pulled pork where the cook had covered up the meat taste and all you taste is the ingredients….that is the #1 sin in my book!
Now I let the rub sit and I fire up the smoker. Like I mentioned before I use a mix of hickory and cherry, I like either cherry or apple with pork but prefer cherry with the pork butts. I run the temp of the smoker up to at least 350 and let it sit there for about 30 minutes and then bring the temp down to where I want it to sit. In this case I kept the temp as close to 225 as I could.
I place the pork butt directly on the smoker (no pan underneath) I smoke at 225 for about 2 hours without spraying, touching, or moving the meat. At the 2 hour mark I put the pork but in the pan you see above and spray a good layer of apple juice over the meat. I also poured just a little bit of apple juice in the bottom of the pan (not much at all, just enough to lightly cover the bottom). I let it cook like this, spraying about every 45 minutes or so for another 4 hours. This seems to be the longest part of the cook because you’re not doing much but trying to stay awake (I usually cook overnight). Normally I make sure I have plenty of the drink of choice and maybe a cigar or two to get through this part…
Now that it has cooked a total of about 6 hours I cover the pan. I once heard Myron Mixon mention that after 6-8 hours of meat being on smoke that it’s already pulled in about as much as it is going to. I don’t know if that is the case, but it seems reasonable. Anyway I just cover the meat in the pan with aluminum foil, of course by this time you already have a great layer of juices in the bottom of the pan. After the meat is covered I up the temp just a bit, usually around 250-275. My reasoning for this is to help that meat cook in those juices and with the foil sealing everything in there is no heat loss around the meat itself. The pic below is just before I cover the pan.
For the rest of the cook I don’t look at the clock, just the internal temp of the meat. I pull the meat off when the internal temp is around 195, I have heard 200 but in my head I don’t like hearing pork at 200 so to keep my simple mind at ease I pull it a bit earlier.
Once the temp is at 195 I pull the meat off the smoker and out of the tray. I wrap the meat real tight in aluminum foil with no heat of any kind. I let the meat rest for at least an hour; the meat is still very warm after an hour so it is up to personal preference if you let it rest longer. When it comes off it is BEAUTIFUL and that bone will slide out with very little effort!
Now the work is pretty much done, all you do is pull the pork, sauce it if you’d like and enjoy! I don’t sauce my meat for the same reason I talked about above where I don’t want to cover up the meat taste. I drizzle a little sauce over the meat on the bun to get some of the sauce flavor. I serve my pulled pork on a bun with a little sauce and fresh slaw.
Again, this is just how I do it, I’m not saying it is the right or wrong way but I love it and it seems like everyone else who has tried it really enjoys it. If you have a different way or maybe shortcuts or changes to the recipe let me know. I am always trying to adapt how I do things. Enjoy!
MIKE
So, first off I had to choose where I wanted to get my pork butt. I had a couple cuts in my freezer I had bought at Sam’s because they had a really good deal on them but it was a pack of 2 that weighed about 3.5lbs each. I was looking for a bigger cut that was a little higher quality. I went to a butcher shop in Bloomington, IN (http://bloomingtonmeat.com) where I was able to find a gorgeous cut that was just over 10lbs and had a beautiful cap (fat layer on one side). Of course I paid quite a bit more of this one, but I figured if I was going to put 15 hours of my time into cooking it I might as well have the best cut I could find.
I trimmed some of the fat of the thicker spots, but left plenty on for the cook. I mixed up my brine that consisted of ¾ apple cider vinegar and ¼ warm water. I added brown sugar, agave nectar, mustard seed, whole peppercorn, crushed red pepper, and plenty of salt. After the brine cooled off I placed the brine and meat into a plastic bag, sealed it, and placed in a cooler and put a couple bags of ice in the cooler to keep everything cool. I let the meat soak for about 8 hours, I know many places suggest an hour per pound of meat, but I was afraid of too much of that salt getting into the meat (just my opinion).
After pulling the meat out of the brine I washed it off and let it sit for about an hour as I prepared the rub. My rub is a mix of several things but is mostly sweet (I use the “Big Green Egg Maple Rub for most of the sweetness) with a touch of spice and other things to add another layer of flavor. Everything I cook, I’m real careful not to overwhelm the meat and cover up the taste of the meat itself. I’ve eaten several kinds of ribs, steak, and even pulled pork where the cook had covered up the meat taste and all you taste is the ingredients….that is the #1 sin in my book!
Now I let the rub sit and I fire up the smoker. Like I mentioned before I use a mix of hickory and cherry, I like either cherry or apple with pork but prefer cherry with the pork butts. I run the temp of the smoker up to at least 350 and let it sit there for about 30 minutes and then bring the temp down to where I want it to sit. In this case I kept the temp as close to 225 as I could.
I place the pork butt directly on the smoker (no pan underneath) I smoke at 225 for about 2 hours without spraying, touching, or moving the meat. At the 2 hour mark I put the pork but in the pan you see above and spray a good layer of apple juice over the meat. I also poured just a little bit of apple juice in the bottom of the pan (not much at all, just enough to lightly cover the bottom). I let it cook like this, spraying about every 45 minutes or so for another 4 hours. This seems to be the longest part of the cook because you’re not doing much but trying to stay awake (I usually cook overnight). Normally I make sure I have plenty of the drink of choice and maybe a cigar or two to get through this part…
Now that it has cooked a total of about 6 hours I cover the pan. I once heard Myron Mixon mention that after 6-8 hours of meat being on smoke that it’s already pulled in about as much as it is going to. I don’t know if that is the case, but it seems reasonable. Anyway I just cover the meat in the pan with aluminum foil, of course by this time you already have a great layer of juices in the bottom of the pan. After the meat is covered I up the temp just a bit, usually around 250-275. My reasoning for this is to help that meat cook in those juices and with the foil sealing everything in there is no heat loss around the meat itself. The pic below is just before I cover the pan.
For the rest of the cook I don’t look at the clock, just the internal temp of the meat. I pull the meat off when the internal temp is around 195, I have heard 200 but in my head I don’t like hearing pork at 200 so to keep my simple mind at ease I pull it a bit earlier.
Once the temp is at 195 I pull the meat off the smoker and out of the tray. I wrap the meat real tight in aluminum foil with no heat of any kind. I let the meat rest for at least an hour; the meat is still very warm after an hour so it is up to personal preference if you let it rest longer. When it comes off it is BEAUTIFUL and that bone will slide out with very little effort!
Now the work is pretty much done, all you do is pull the pork, sauce it if you’d like and enjoy! I don’t sauce my meat for the same reason I talked about above where I don’t want to cover up the meat taste. I drizzle a little sauce over the meat on the bun to get some of the sauce flavor. I serve my pulled pork on a bun with a little sauce and fresh slaw.
Again, this is just how I do it, I’m not saying it is the right or wrong way but I love it and it seems like everyone else who has tried it really enjoys it. If you have a different way or maybe shortcuts or changes to the recipe let me know. I am always trying to adapt how I do things. Enjoy!
MIKE
