I agree. ^

It's much like whiskey. There's just no real way to rush it, not without a sacrifice.

There are different schools of thought, different methods, no doubt, and most still produce "good food", delicious even, but it does seem that (within boundaries) the slowest ones come out best, in pork shoulder and brisket at least. Bark *and* moist, that's what I want.

Great responses so far. Tempted to do 2 of them and compare.

When smoking a pork butt, which end do you light?

quote:

Originally posted by msfzoe:
When smoking a pork butt, which end do you light?

The tail

I hate smoking pork butts because the MF'ers don't stay lit and my arm gets tired.

From 100 people you may get 100 different answers LOl!

I haven't done a whole bunch of pulled pork but this is what I started with and it worked so well I stuck with it. I very much dislike hard crunchy bark. This give you a very tasty but soft and mushy outside finish. I have an electric smoker (now broken ) and use cherry and oak pellets mixed for smoke until I wrap it.

I rub it with mustard then completely cover with my rub mix then wrap in saran wrap and leave refrigerated 24 to 48 hours. I cook at ~230, wrap at ~160 and add a little apple juice and vinegar and run to 200 internal for very tender results. I leave it in the foil and wrap with a heavy bath towel or two (don't use the wifes good ones!) and put in a cooler. I turn it over in the cooler every 30 min or so. Resting will allow the meat to reabsorb and redistribute some juices. I leave the temp probe in it for the resting period. Leave it the cooler a couple hours or more. For safety sake you should remove, unwrap and shred it before the temp gets down to 140.

If the meat ends up too fatty or a little greasy tasting I add some extra vinegar into it and I also mix in some of my preferred BBQ sauce.

But that's just me! YMMV!

Most famous BBQers will tell you that meat will not absorb any more smoke after 140F. When it reaches 140 they will wrap in foil or butcher paper and continue on until 195 to 205F is reached.

I rub down with my spice rub and wrap in plastic overnight then smoke at 250 to 275F until it hits the stall about 160F meat temp then wrap in foil or butcher paper and continue on to 200f.then I pull and allow to rest for an hour or more in a cooler wrapped in a towel. You can push down on the shoulder and it just falls apart.

look up Aaron Franklins meat smoking manifesto and read it and look up his YouTube videos. He has people lined up for hours and sells out everyday with many people still standing in line.i never have any complaints using his methods.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by msfzoe:
When smoking a pork butt, which end do you light?

The tail

I hate smoking pork butts because the MF'ers don't stay lit and my arm gets tired.

Damn. I just had a bad flashback from college in the late 70's....

quote:

Originally posted by kg5388:
look up Aaron Franklins meat smoking manifesto and read it and look up his YouTube videos. He has people lined up for hours and sells out everyday with many people still standing in line.i never have any complaints using his methods.

Aaron knows his stuff, but the lines aren't for pulled pork. It's Texas and brisket is king.

I have smoked hundreds of pounds of pork butts over the years. I've settled into a method that works for me about ten years ago. First off I'd like to say that everybody that is referencing competition cooking methods to understand that competition cooking and bbq are two vastly different things.
A friend of mine was in a competition not that long ago. He was set up next to Myron Mixon and his kid. He overheard a conversation between the two. Myron's son asked why they were injecting the pork butt with so much injection Myron responded "We just do this for the judges we don't eat this crap at home".

Any way my method is to unwrap the butt and rinse in cold water and pat dry. Apply your favorite rub. Mine is anything from Oak Ridge BBQ. I start the fire in my pit at this point while the rub sets up on the pork. Get my pit to a temp of 250 to 270 usually takes about a hour.
By now the rub has set up nicely and turned into a almost syrup like.

Pork butts go in smoker. Open a beer or mix a cocktail. Oh wait I did that before I unwrapped the butt!

After about a hour and a half or two hours I spritz the butts with a mixture of apple juice and cherry schnapps. You can use just straight juice of any kind but I like this mixture and it tastes pretty good. The idea is the sugars in the juice will caramelize on the pork butt and add to the bark.

I spritz maybe 4 times or so throughout the cook. After 4 or 5 hours I will start to probe for temp. When I get to 165 in more than one place on the butt I put the pork butt in a steam table pan. You can use a foil pan but be careful handling it because that's a lot of weight for a foil pan that's why I use a steam table pan.

Once it's in the pan pour a half bottle of dark beer in the bottom of the pan. Back in the smoker it goes. I do not cover it with foil just sits in the pan with the beer. This way you keep your bark forming and still catch all the juices. You may have to add more beer as you go along just don't let the pan go dry. A big pork butt doesn't start to release most of it's juices until the 160 degree mark or so.

Keep smoking until you hit 205 temp. Now I pull them from the smoker and let them sit for 10 or 15 minutes on the counter. After 15 minutes I cover the pan with foil. I put the pan in a Cambro food keeper. I realize most people don't have one of these laying around so just use a cooler with blankets or towels.

Let the butts rest as long as you possibly can. The longer the better. I rest mine in the Cambro overnight and pull the next day. There is not much pulling required after the long rest. I pull the bone out and the rest pretty much falls apart. I add a little more rub to the pulled meat and vac pack and freeze.

I usually do 80 to 100lbs of pork butt at a time when I do this because your yield is about 50% of pulled meat to raw. I always try to keep 30 lbs. of pulled pork in the freezer. It freezes very well.

Let us know how yours come out and what method you use.

Here is a video with Aaron Franklin comparing the difference in smoking brisket three ways, one unwrapped, one wrapped in butcher paper and one wrapped in foil.
They talk about how each of the methods affect the texture and taste of the meat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRRDSYgdmw

quote:

Originally posted by JasonATI:
one wrapped in butcher paper

I've heard about that before. I might give that a try on my next brisket.

I smoke mine naked, then rest it foil wrapped in a cooler.

I use a mix of post oak, pecan, hickory, and apple or cherry woods. Small amounts of each.

Thin layer of yellow mustard goes on first to act as glue for the rub.

Most of my rub is even amounts of salt, sugar (white or brown), and paprika (regular, not smoked or Hungarian). Throw in small amounts of cayenne, mustard powder, pepper, cumin, garlic powder or whatever for extra flavor.

Low and slow at 225F, uncovered the entire time. 180-190 finishing temp.

Turn once.

Halfway through the cook I start spraying it down with 50/50 apple juice/apple cider vinegar. Spray about once every 30 minutes to an hour as necessary.

Rest the meat for 2-3 hours in a cooler. Do NOT skip the rest. Allow meat to cool down to at least 160F before shredding to avoid steaming off too much moisture.

Sprinkle additional rub to taste on the shredded meat and remix.

I've gotten lots of compliments from friends and family on my butt. I don't think they were just being nice!

Pork butt has enough fat that it really doesn't need to be wrapped while smoking. I smoke a bone-in butt, cook it and then let it rest under foil. I do like a good amount of bark. If you don't like a lot of bark, maybe try wrapping it during the last half of cooking.

BRL, I know you have the PBC. I have followed the PBC steps on how to do pork butt, and I haven't been disappointed. Hang for 2-3 hours until it hits 165. Wrap it adding some liquid, I use apple cider beer. Put the grate in your PBC and put the butt back in until it hits 200. Pull it and let it sit for an hour or so. I have done 3 8lb pork butts at one time.

Did these last year:
https://imgur.com/a/s6gqd

Let me know your results!

Kamado Joe here. I smoke it 275 from start to finish. I don't wrap it, bc I feel like the bark is better without a wrap. 6 1/2 pounds generally takes me around 10-11 hours. I did a 10 pounder recently that took 14 hours.

I pull at 195 degrees and let it sit for 45 minutes. Then pull away.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I smoke mine naked, then rest it foil wrapped in a cooler.

Ding ding ding. I also smoke slower than most. I have been known to smoke 4 butts (all that my little smoker can handle) for 24 hours.

I usually let mine rest in the cooler for 4-5 hours. I'm intrigued by the suggestion above to let it sit over night. Will be doing more soon. I think I will give it a shot

Mark

It all depends on how much time I have. I like the bark on an unwrapped butt, but the foil will help you get through the stall. Either way, make sure you leave time for it to rest at least a couple of hours.

I recently quite smoking pork butts and went back to cigars.