Throw it in the crock pot with an onion and a bottle of BBQ sauce.

Let it cook for 6 hours, then shread apart, and serve.

Skins2881 Famous Rib Rub:

2 Table Spoons:
• Salt (1 sea 1 table)
• Brown Sugar

1 Table Spoons:
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Chili Powder
• Fresh Ground Pepper (Fresh is key part)

2 Tea Spoons:
• Oregano

1 Tea Spoon:
• Cayenne Pepper

1/2 Tea Spoon:
• Celery Seed
• Mustard Powder

Makes about three possibly four sets of baby back ribs.

Lightly coat butt with mustard of choosing, apply lots of rub, place in fridge overnight or for about six hours. Set out in advance of cooking to get to room temp.

Smoking is preferred method, but there are tons of options using a crock pot, pressure cooker, instant pot, or oven. I'd suggest using indirect heat on grill (if you can maintain 225ish) or oven to get a bark/crust. 10ish hours depending on size. Grill or broil at the end to get a bark if you don't end up with one using whatever cooking method you use.

I normally do pork shoulder similar to what's done in Puerto Rico. Basically make a paste out of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper (and usually some Adobo seasoning and/or Sazon but you don't really need it). Cut a few slits in the pork and rub the paste all over it and into the slits. Throw it in a large covered bowl or 2-gallon ziploc bag and leave it in the frig overnight. After that, I'll cook it covered in foil at around 300 degrees over indirect heat on the grill or in the oven. When it's close to done, I'll crank up the heat to 475 or so and let it go a while to crisp the fat on the outside or crisp the skin if I have a pork shoulder with the skin intact (which are hard to find around here).

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Skins2881 Famous Rib Rub:

2 Table Spoons:
• Salt (1 sea 1 table)
• Brown Sugar

1 Table Spoons:
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Chili Powder
• Fresh Ground Pepper (Fresh is key part)

2 Tea Spoons:
• Oregano

1 Tea Spoon:
• Cayenne Pepper

1/2 Tea Spoon:
• Celery Seed
• Mustard Powder

Makes about three possibly four sets of baby back ribs.

Lightly coat butt with mustard of choosing, apply lots of rub, place in fridge overnight or for about six hours. Set out in advance of cooking to get to room temp.

Smoking is preferred method, but there are tons of options using a crock pot, pressure cooker, instant pot, or oven. I'd suggest using indirect heat on grill (if you can maintain 225ish) or oven to get a bark/crust. 10ish hours depending on size. Grill or broil at the end to get a bark if you don't end up with one using whatever cooking method you use.

I had all of this in the house so this is what I just did. It’s sitting in the fridge now. When I get off work at 2am I’ll thriw it on the grill, if my test heat proves worthy. I’ve got s single side burner on low right now gonna check the temp after 30 minutes.

You should be able to get the temp that low on a decent grill with newish burners. Make sure you measure the temp on the cooler side, not trust the lid top thermometer. If you don't have a good grill thermometer (I use thermapen smoke) buy a cheap oven thermometer at grocery store and put in grill.

Also make up some soaked wood chips wrapped in foil and toss them on the warm side. Wrap soaked (30 min) chips in a couple layers of foil, then make slits in it to allow O2 in and smoke out. Will need a number of these chip envelopes half a dozen at least. I like pecan or any fruit tree for chips.

Lastly make up pans of water to put in the bottom of grill to even out temps. The water will need to be replaced a couple of times, especially if you cook above 225°. Fill most of the area of the grill you can. I use a Weber Genesis which it can be hard to balance the pans on the flavorizor bars. At 225-250° it will take 10+ hours to reach 195-200° If it stalls wrap in foil, or wrap in foil when you get to 190°

Here's a picture that shows how I set up that I stole from this really good article for indirect grill smoking. I don't leave the second grate over the warmer side so I can add wood packets. I'm guessing the guy in the article does for a second heat sink in addition to the water.

So with only 1 of 3 burners on, lowestest setting, the ambient temp 1” off the grill was bouncing between 219 and 231. Seems about right.

I’ve got a bag of apple wood chips at the ready.the hunk of meat I have is just under 8lbs. How long any guesses when it’ll be done if it hits the grill about 2:15 am?

Maybe around noon? Cook to temperature not time.

11 hours in and we’re at 162 internally. Temps have been lower then anticipated in the BBQ. When I did my test burn yesterday it was with an empty grill in full sun. Most of the cook has been with a large amount of water in the grill plus lower ambient temps plus a shaded grill. Now the grill is in the sun and the temps have risen some.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
11 hours in and we’re at 162 internally. Temps have been lower then anticipated in the BBQ. When I did my test burn yesterday it was with an empty grill in full sun. Most of the cook has been with a large amount of water in the grill plus lower ambient temps plus a shaded grill. Now the grill is in the sun and the temps have risen some.

Right around that temp. is when you reach the "plateau". It will stop climbing for awhile it's it's totally random to how long it lasts.

Some claim by wrapping it in foil, you can shorten the plateau, but then you end up w/ less bark.

Have you removed it yet? If not wrap it in foil. We'll need pictures at some point too, FYI.

No smoking experience, but I have had pretty good experience with pulled pork, low and slow in a crockpot or in a Lodge Dutch Oven in the oven. I generally follow the Pioneer Woman’s guidelines. Seasoning for me is usually salt, pepper, and garlic, cover the bottom with onions with the pork butt on top. THEN add a can of Dr Pepper.
I’ve also used the same recipe in an Instantpot with the same great results. YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Have you removed it yet? If not wrap it in foil. We'll need pictures at some point too, FYI.

It came off at 5:30pm after hitting the 195 mark. Total cook time in the end was almost 15 hours for a just under 8lb hunk of meat.

Pictures and commentary to follow later. A success for a first attempt but there is lots of room for improvement.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Have you removed it yet? If not wrap it in foil. We'll need pictures at some point too, FYI.

It came off at 5:30pm after hitting the 195 mark. Total cook time in the end was almost 15 hours for a just under 8lb hunk of meat.

Pictures and commentary to follow later. A success for a first attempt but therevisvlotsvof room for improvement.

Probably for next time, wrap it in foil, then towels,(maybe put in a cooler) then let it rest for a bit, it will get a few more degrees on its own and will retain juices and be even easier to pull.
Even though you (we all) have room for improvement, you're doing it.

I might try a more liquid based seasoning next time as opposed to the dry rub. I wasn’t a big fan of the “bark” that was created and I think that can likely be reduced by avoiding the generous dry slices coating the meat?

The other issue was that a few areas within the meat were tougher than others and didn’t quite shred. Is that just a sign that I should have let it go a little longer?

It rested in a foil covered pot for probably 30 minutes while rice cooked. It didn’t loose hardly any moisture into that pan. Not much at all. Is that good or bad?

Bone Suckin’ Sauce is good and completely free of refined sugars. Too bad I can only find it at Lowe’s and Bass Pro. It’s kinda pricey.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: thumperfbc,

quote:

Originally posted by Rolan_Kraps:
.... a bottle of BBQ sauce.

Please stop the blasphemy.

There are a zillion recipes for decent to great BBQ sauce using things in nearly every kitchen and only 5-10 minutes to assemble, 20 minutes to simmer.

Bottles

Wrapping it earlier will help keep it moist and cut down cooking time. I most times will pull it off after 6 hours throw into crock pot with vinegar and BBQ sauce overnight and it's ready to fork apart in the AM. This gives smoked flavor but way less effort as I'm not constantly feeding wood chips into a grill that I trying to use as a smoker.

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:
All this said, I move into the new house in a couple weeks and one of my first purchases will be a new smoker.

[drift] What kinda smoker are you gonna get? Side box or the R2D2 type?? [/drift]

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
I wasn’t a big fan of the “bark” that was created

Blasphemy!

Keep in mind that once the pork is pulled and mixed together, the bark mingles with the interior and mellows out the flavor. If you just take a bite of bark, it can sometimes be a bit overpowering, but when mixed together with the more bland interior, it's just right.

quote:

I might try a more liquid based seasoning next time as opposed to the dry rub.

Keep in mind that any liquid seasoning that you put on the exterior of the meat will be gone/burned after a long smoke. Things like sauces or glazes (if you choose to be a blasphemer and use those ) are best applied at the very tail end of the cook.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with sauces or glazes. Instead, you could try toning down the dry rub just a little bit (not a lot), and combine it with injecting/marinating the pork overnight beforehand.

You might also try several different types of rubs, to find one that you like. As mentioned earlier, some rubs are sweeter, while some are spicier. Some are stronger, while some are mellower. Find what works for you.

quote:

The other issue was that a few areas within the meat were tougher than others and didn’t quite shred. Is that just a sign that I should have let it go a little longer?

That's usually a sign that the internal connecting fibers weren't given enough of an opportunity to break down. But with your reported temps and the length of your smoke (if those are accurate), that seems unlikely. Using the gas grill could have affected that, though.

It could also be that you had your thermometer probe in a bad spot, like resting against the bone, so your temp readings were off and the interior wasn't truly up to 195ish.

quote:

It rested in a foil covered pot for probably 30 minutes while rice cooked.

I suggest resting for much longer, and more tightly contained. Wrap it tightly in foil (some folks add another layer by wrapping a large towel around the outside as well), and let it sit in a small ice chest/cooler for a minimum of an hour. It will stay up to temp in that closed cooler for 4+ hours before pulling, which is handy if you get finished well before dinnertime.

quote:

It didn’t loose hardly any moisture into that pan. Not much at all. Is that good or bad?

Depends. A foil-covered pot isn't very air-tight, so some of the moisture could have leaked out as steam.

Or it could be that your shoulder lost too much moisture during its long smoke. Next time, try wrapping it in foil after around 6 hours of smoke, and cook it the remainder of the time in foil. The meat can't really absorb any more smoke flavor after about 6 hours, so you're really only looking for the low/slow heat at that point. Not only will this get you over the 160ish "stall" more quickly, but will also cause the meat to retain more moisture.

Wrapping it in foil after 6 hours will also cause the bark to be more mellow, and may be more to your liking.

There are other things you can do to mitigate moisture loss, like injecting it with a marinade the night before, and/or spritzing it with a liquid during smoking. I inject all my pork butts the night before smoking, and then I like to use a cheap spray bottle filled with 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar, quickly misting the shoulder all over every 2ish hours during the initial smoking period.

I was going to ask about how it pulled, I find 195 to be a bit low to get a good pull on the butt, generally I'll go to 205, pull from the smoker, wrap and let it rest 20 to 30 minutes minimum and get a great pull. When I"ve pulled it before 205 it's a crap shoot on pulling, JMO.

While pulling it by hand is traditional, order a set of bear claws from Amazon, there are kits with high temp gloves as well that helps when you want to pull the butt off the smoker.
Bear claws will shread the meat and mix the bark with the interior meat well.

Link to Bear Claws


I'm a fan of injecting meats that you smoke, simply because the cook times are so long and keeping moisture in the meat really helps.

A good injections is apple juice, vinegar, sugar and some Accent' flavorizer. Heat don't boil it let it cool then inject, the meat will take on a bit of apple flavoring ie sweeter but not too sweet and stay moist.

As to rubs, find one you like, McCormmicks Applewood rub you can get at any grocery is a good start, try different ones that's part of the fun.

Get a good sealed container, inject the meat, then season it with rub, put in the container and let sit overnight before smoking in the fridge.

Makes a big difference.

I've never had an issue pulling pork butts smoked to 195 and then immediately tightly wrapped and rested for at least an hour. It basically falls apart on its own.

(But that's with a true smoker, kept at 225ish. Not a quasi-smoker grill, or oven, or crock pot. I also inject all my pork butts the night before, which may affect that as well. So YMMV.)


I don't use any tools. I just use a pair of rubberized, insulated gloves. Grab with both hands. Squeeze. Squish around to separate and mix. Done. Like I said, the pork basically falls apart on its own, with a little bit of manual help.

The gloves are similar to these, although I don't recall the exact brand: https://www.amazon.com/Steven-...ulated/dp/B0007ZGURK