Brined Pork Butt for Pulled Pork

[Pork Belly]

I prefer butts untrimmed and uncut in the double packs from the supplier. At my local store I can get them very reasonable with just a little mark up. I bought a twin pack a little over a week ago for $1.56 a pound. Try an untrimmed but, fat side up after you brined it.

It could be you just had a below average piece of meat.

 

[BedouinBob]

Gene, looks like you did everything right. All meat is different. I'll bet there were no complaints at the table though.  ;D are you sure your temp probes are reading right?

 

[damnfingers]

Barrel99 - thanks for the Windex tip, I'll try that

It's possible that there wasn't enough fat on it, it had been trimmed quite a bit and that might have been my fault...I actually picked the one with the least fat.  Damn, live and learn!

I did notice that after I wrote the above and my wife had put the meat in the refrigerator that the pieces I was sneaking for snacks were really tasty and not dried out.  My son, who lives down the street and who had eaten supper with us last night, came over to help me cut down a tree this morning, tried a cold piece this morning and agreed it was better this morning than last night...more taste and not dry.  Who knows?

 

[jbauch357]

I went with the brine listed in the original post, for about 20hrs on a ~5lb Boston butt.  Then rinsed, rubbed with mustard, and some of a few miscellaneous rubs we had laying around.  Went on the smoker at 225 with 3 hunks of cherry and a couple beer can boats of water for moisture.  At 170 IT placed in a foil tray with 6oz apple juice, covered, and went back in at 235 (we were doubting it was going to be ready for dinner, and we lost about 5 degrees while tenting, next time I need to reduce the time screwing around with it and not crank up the heat) until 200 IT when we put in a cooler to rest.

The flavor and juiciness of the meat was great, but severely lacking in rub/smoke flavor.  I think adding the apple juice may have been a mistake as there was still plenty of moisture coming out of the meat, there was almost 20oz of meat juice in the tray when we transferred to the cooler - drying out wasn't going to be an issue.  The cherry didn't seem to want to stay smoking either and we were basically just baking after ~2hrs, next time I'm going to hack the hunks down a bit smaller and maybe try ramping up the temperature little by little to keep the element heated enough to produce smoke.

Overall not a bad first attempt at a Boston butt, but certainly room for improvement.  Thanks guys for keeping this thread alive and posting feedback, it'll surely help me sort out improvements with the next try.

 

[NDKoze]

I would skip the foil. It's really not needed with these smokers and you will get a lot nicer bark.

 

[DivotMaker]

Gene - you did everything right, it appears!  How long did you rest it in the foil before pulling?  I think the guys are right about it maybe just being the cut of meat.  It's made by animals, and some of them can't be trusted to produce the best product.   The only butt I ever smoked that was drier than usual was one from Sam's that I froze, thawed, and didn't brine.  Very disappointing (compared to usual), but was still better than Rib Crib!

Josh - skip the foil pan.  Totally not necessary, and counterproductive to a good butt in these smokers.  Let that baby sit naked in there, with the door closed, until it hits 195, then wrap/rest in foil.  Easy, and that's what Lazy Q is all about! 8)

 

[DivotMaker]

I was bit by Daylight Saving Time yesterday. :-[  Planned to get up at 3 am to get my 9 lb butt on, but I believe my wife slipped me something that caused temporary paralysis (at least that's my story)!  I didn't get the butt on until 5:40, and it didn't finish until 5:30 pm!  I wrapped and rested this one, but it went in the freezer for next weekend!  I take the whole thing, still wrapped in foil, and seal it in a vac bag, and into the freezer.  After thawing a couple days in the fridge, it goes in the crock pot, still wrapped in its original resting foil!  A few hours later, I unwrap it and it's just like right out of the foil on day one.  Great technique, if you need to save a whole smoked butt for later!

Oh, and I'll post some pics next weekend!   Standard butt:  brined for 13 hours, mustard and Famous Dave's Rib Rub, smoked at 235 (first one all the way through at that temp), 6 oz of cherry and a water pan.  12 hours for a 9 lb butt.

 

[damnfingers]

Stopped by the Keesler AFB Commisary today and picked up another butt...made sure this one had a full back of fat and was marbled with it throughout.  Had to put it in the freezer since I don't think my wife could handle another one this weekend.

 

[tnlyne]

DM-


You manage to fit an entire 9lb butt wrapped in foil into a vacuum seal bag? I'm not sure I could make that happen based on the size (without cutting it down).

 

[coachB]

Tony,  did 2 butts with your brine in the Briner (lg).  Apple, cherry, and hickory, had a nice ring, lots of moistness and great taste.  Excellent advice with this recipe.  Thanks again.

 

[DivotMaker]

DM-


You manage to fit an entire 9lb butt wrapped in foil into a vacuum seal bag? I'm not sure I could make that happen based on the size (without cutting it down).

No problem in the large Foodsaver bags (I use the roll, not the pre-cut bags).  A 9 lb butt cooks down to about 6 lbs finished.

 

[Carp210]

With over 6,000 views and growing I just had to do my first brined butt.  Only change I made was a layer of turbinado sugar before it went into the smoker.  In all honesty the butt was a little bit of a dissapointment when I unwraped it.  90% of the fat cap had been removed. Next time I'll use Sams Club for buttts.  After a 16 hour smoke and 2 1/2 hour rest in foil IT was still 168.  There was no liquid in the foil after the rest, none. No fat to remove when I pulled it either.  Still it was very moist and good flavor and nice bark. I cant wait to do another butt with a big fat cap.  Thanks Tony. 

 

[DivotMaker]

Dave, that butt looks fantastic!  Funny how ALL the juice soaks back into the butt during the rest!  Glad you liked it.

 

[NDKoze]

Nice job Dave. You can't go wrong with the Sam's Club butts. I have found that they are superior to any others that I have tried. I don't even bother going anywhere else for them anymore.

 

[RG]

Alright, I've read ALL 11 pages of this and here's my take.

I have done 1 and ONLY 1 smoke in my #3 so far and it was a tiny little 6.5 butt that I gave to friends. I brined it using DM's recipe on the first page, minus the instacure. It was very moist, loved it!

Here's where I differ from the rest of you. I have always smoked butts and briskets fat side down. The reason is two fold. The first being that both cuts are loaded with fat so no need to put fat on top to "baste" the meat as it cooks. It simply isn't needed. This also will make your rub "wash" off during the cook. Case in point, look at this picture I took of smoking a butt and a brisket on the Keg. The butt on top rendered down to the brisket and "washed" off the rub/bark from the top of the brisket.

The second reason I do fat cap down is a built in heat shield from the heat that is radiating upwards. Being that electric smokers do not have a true diffuser, this becomes even more critical.

I don't claim to be a know it all about electric smokers as this is the first one I've ever owned/used and I've literally only cooked on it once. What I do know is how to cook and have cooked God only knows how many animals in my life, lol. I have been smoking on one type of a smoker or another for many years, fed lots of people and this is just MY opinion. I say do what works best for you!

 

[NDKoze]

Thanks for your post Jason.

Really, I am not sure how big of a difference this makes at all in the SI smokers. The heat distribution is very even, so IMHO a diffuser or shield really isn't as necessary especially in the #2s and higher depending on how full you load the smoker.

If you use a good mustard binder, your rub will not wash off. I will put my results up against any fat-side down butts and I don't think you will see much of a difference.

Like I started off with, I am not sure one way is really much better than the other way. Do what works for you.

The one thing I will say is that we have seen that smaller butts 5-6 pounders and under have not always turned out the best. Results will usually be better with a 7-9lb or above butt.

BTW, Jason I love your avatar!

"Where's my froggy?" - Hedley Lamarr

 

[RG]

The 6.5 butt I made was very good so no complaints here! I normally only buy 8-10 pounders but my wife bought the little one on clearance. I actually buy my butts from Restaurant Depot in 2 packs and I have had really good results over the years with them. As far as the #3 goes, she did a fine job on her maiden voyage. I agree with you on using mustard, been doing that for years, I use Gulden's Spicy mustard 95% of the time.

As for the avatar, yeah....it cracks me up too. Harvey was a seriously funny dude, lol!

 

[DivotMaker]

Good observation about the fat up/down issue, Jason.  I, through lots of smokes, have come to the conclusion it really doesn't matter most of the time.  I do prefer to do briskies fat-side down, but more to protect the lean flat from the heat a little better.  I trim almost all the external fat from my butts (hehe...sounds funny...wish it was that easy! ), so it really doesn't matter what side's up or down. 

Seems to me you're really addressing the amount of drippings on the lower meat, when doing 2 levels?  If that's the case, I'm not sure what the answer is.  I've never really noticed rub "washing off," like you mentioned - guess I need to look better next time. 

 

[MikeS]

I'm trying this tonight - my pork butt in brining as I type, but I have a question (I'm a super-beginner), what does "stall" refer to when smoking? I read that you wrote, "well into the stall".

Also, how long should the meat rest after cooking?

Thanks for your patience with the new guy!

--Mike

 

[jcboxlot]

Stall is just the ramp up in meat temp and then it takes WHAT SEEMS LIKE FOREVER to climb to the temp you want.  Just the fat and meat doing its job.

I rest mine 2 hours or so all foiled up laying in a cooler or the oven.

Did you get a boston butt (bone) or picnic (no bone)?  Either will be good, but the boston w bone is the preferred.

Good luck and post pictures. 

PS Don't forget some type of juice in the box sitting next to element.