afratki
New member
I smoked my first Boston butt Friday and all I can say is WOW!
Here’s what I did:
Thursday morning before work, I took out the 8lb butt and gave it a good rinse. I noticed what I perceived as a fairly thick fat cap (about ¼ - 3/8 inches thick), so I trimmed a good bit off but left a little (about 1/16 of an inch). Rinsed again, dried, did the yellow mustard smear, and used McCormick’s Pork Rub. I wrapped the butt up and back in the frig for 24 hours.
Up at 5am Friday, I put the butt in the #1 at 225 with 3.5 oz of hickory and 2.5 of cherry. I was planning on a 12 hour smoke, 200 degree IT, 1 hour rest and eating at about 6 o’clock. At 4 o’clock the butt was at 175 so I turned the temp up a little to 230 and at 5:15 it was only at 185 so I cranked it all the way up. The butt finally hit 190 at about 6 so I figured that would have to do, I foiled and toweled the butt and into the cooler for an hour.
After resting I was amazed on how easily the pork shredded apart using just two small forks. The pork was super moist and super flavorful. I served the pork on toasted sesame seed Kaiser Rolls and Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ sauce. I also had salad and Jalapeno and Corn Baked Mac and Cheese. The Mac and Cheese was really good and went well with the pull pork sandwiches (link below to recipe below if anyone wants to try it)
http://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/pasta/1716.html
One thing I’m noticing with smoking is the meat is so flavorful that heavy molasses based commercial BBQ sauce is overpowering (my wife said she didn’t want any sauce because the butt already had so much flavor). I believe they are designed for more run of the mill prepared meats. I’m going to start experimenting with lighter sauces that will compliment the all the flavors that smoking imparts rather than covering them up.
Here’s what I did:
Thursday morning before work, I took out the 8lb butt and gave it a good rinse. I noticed what I perceived as a fairly thick fat cap (about ¼ - 3/8 inches thick), so I trimmed a good bit off but left a little (about 1/16 of an inch). Rinsed again, dried, did the yellow mustard smear, and used McCormick’s Pork Rub. I wrapped the butt up and back in the frig for 24 hours.
Up at 5am Friday, I put the butt in the #1 at 225 with 3.5 oz of hickory and 2.5 of cherry. I was planning on a 12 hour smoke, 200 degree IT, 1 hour rest and eating at about 6 o’clock. At 4 o’clock the butt was at 175 so I turned the temp up a little to 230 and at 5:15 it was only at 185 so I cranked it all the way up. The butt finally hit 190 at about 6 so I figured that would have to do, I foiled and toweled the butt and into the cooler for an hour.
After resting I was amazed on how easily the pork shredded apart using just two small forks. The pork was super moist and super flavorful. I served the pork on toasted sesame seed Kaiser Rolls and Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ sauce. I also had salad and Jalapeno and Corn Baked Mac and Cheese. The Mac and Cheese was really good and went well with the pull pork sandwiches (link below to recipe below if anyone wants to try it)
http://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/pasta/1716.html
One thing I’m noticing with smoking is the meat is so flavorful that heavy molasses based commercial BBQ sauce is overpowering (my wife said she didn’t want any sauce because the butt already had so much flavor). I believe they are designed for more run of the mill prepared meats. I’m going to start experimenting with lighter sauces that will compliment the all the flavors that smoking imparts rather than covering them up.
