Posted: 11/5/2009 9:54:39 AM EDT
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I am smoking a few pork butts today. I have had these in my freezer taking up space for months. Turkeys are on sale for $.69/lb this week, so I needed to free up some space. After a slow defrost in the fridge, last night I rubbed them my my standard spice mix. 2 tablespoons kosher salt 4 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons ground cumin 2 tablespoons chili powder 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground allspice ¼ cup paprika I was in a hurry this morning, so sorry, no pic of the rubbed butts. I like to soak my wood in the morning. I find that the soaked wood smokes longer and is less likely to catch fire. I know that others disagree, but I have found it to be true. At about 8:30 this morning I fired up the smoker, loaded the smoker box and moved the butts to the smoke.   After an hour, I open the smoker and add a few more chunks to the smoker box. I add wood to the smoker box every hour or hour and a half.  Here, after three hours I am dumping the smoker box and adding mostly new wood.  At the three hour mark, I add the probe thermometer and set the alarm at 145 degrees.   More to follow. |
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BTW, I smoked these as 225 with 7 hours of constant smoke.
The alarm sounded at 145 and checked everything; Looking good. I reset the alarm for 165 and added more wood to the smoker box. The wood is the oak common to central Florida. I used to use hickory, but ran out. The price is right for this wood (free). About 3:45pm, the alarm sounded for 165. Brought them in for the wrap.  Gave a second rub of spices with a very interested onlooker.  Wrapped in foil and back into the smoker. Set the temp alarm for 195.  I headed to the pub with a couple friends. I gave the wife instructions to pull the butts when the alarm sounded. After three pints of ale, I returned home to find this.  Wife was in bed asleep, so it was time to pull some pork. Here are the utensils necessary.  The separator lets you catch the juice and fat and then only pour the juice back on the pork. It lets you get all that nice colligan that has broken down to gelatin, but leave the extra fat behind. Here they are unwrapped and ready to be pulled. I have removed and discarded the fatcap on one of the butts. You can see AR15.com in the background on the big screen.  Here is the juice and fat separated. The separator pours from the bottom allowing the floating fat to be left behind.  Here is the final product.  After pulling the pork, I added a finishing sauce: 1 cup cider vinegar 2 tbls brown sugar 1 tsp cajun seasoning 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp red pepper flakes I mixed it with the juice in the separator before pouring over the meat. I had it for lunch today. It was quite good. However, I didn't have any coleslaw. |
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Here is my standard BBQ sauce. I keep it in an old ketchup bottle. 1 cup water 1 cup ketchup 1 cup cider vinegar 3 tbls granulated sugar 1 teasp worchestershire sauc 1 teasp kosher salt 1 good squirt Thai hot sauce/Sriacha 1/2 teasp dry mustard 1/2 teasp ground ceyenne pepper 1/4 teasp black pepper dash of tobasco Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil,simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring repeatedly. |
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Good call on wrapping towards the end..........that works good with ribs too.
Your post prompted me to hit the grocery for 10#s of butt at $0.88. I've got a eight-gallon bucket of split hickory chunks in the basement. I lived in Texas for 7 years and I have to tell you, pork is damn good smoked with mesquite. But you use what you have and it's always good either way. |
| There was a post in the GD about the Chineese re-opening their markets for imported Pork. That will significanly increase demand in the coming months. If true, we will see an increase in pork prices across the board. The time to stock up is now. A well wrapped pork butt will last a year in the freezer. |
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Quoted: Very nice! So how many total hours more or less? And 7 hours of smoke was not too intensive? The meat went on at about 9am. Got to 165 at 3:30. Then wrapped and came out finished at about 6:45 pm. I pulled the pork at about 10pm, after I returned from the pub. The amount of smoke was perfect. The smoke ring was almost 1" thick. The key is to make sure the wood does not catch fire. The think blue smoke makes a great ring. The black smoke will leave soot on the meat. |
| How do you re-heat it the next day? It takes too long to do all in one day and eat that same night so it's cook today, eat tomorrow. I rub mustard on my ribs before i put my spice rub on. This gives me a nice bark when I smoke them. Do you do that with your butts? |
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Quoted: How do you re-heat it the next day? It takes too long to do all in one day and eat that same night so it's cook today, eat tomorrow. I rub mustard on my ribs before i put my spice rub on. This gives me a nice bark when I smoke them. Do you do that with your butts? I warm it up in a dutch oven with a couple tbls of water. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I warm it up in a dutch oven with a couple tbls of water.How do you re-heat it the next day? It takes too long to do all in one day and eat that same night so it's cook today, eat tomorrow. I rub mustard on my ribs before i put my spice rub on. This gives me a nice bark when I smoke them. Do you do that with your butts? I usually use mine for sandwiches the next day. I spread it out on some aluminum foil and stick it in the oven. I usually put the rolls in the oven to warm up too. It works well for me.  |