Smoked Boston Butt

By Chef_Boy_R_Dean

This is the easiest meat in the world to cook. It yields high flavor, an abundance of food and is always crowd favorite.

You will need a smoker with indirect heat capability. I have like 5 or 6 grills and smokers. My favorite is one with the fire box that is located on the side of the smoker. This way you can manage the fire/smoke without disturbing the meat.

Ingredients

• 1 Boston Butt
• Favorite BBQ Dry Rub
• Mesquite or Hickory wood chunks (Can get at Home Depot or Lowes - not the chips)

Details

Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 370mins

Preparation

Step 1

When I cook other meats, like ribs, turkey legs, etc, I used a blend of woods and/or charwood charcol. Some meats will have an "over-smoked" flavor if mesquite is used alone.

When I buy the boston butt, I have the butcher cut it in half. Into two equal sections, both with a fat cap still on top.

Fire up the smoker and get temperature to 225 to 250 degrees f. This is the sweet spot for smoking pork.

Rinse meat thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.

Rub butts with your favorite dry rub.

Place the two halves of meat on the smoker grates, fat side up, side by side so both have same exposure to smoke/heat.

Keep an eye on temperature, make sure it stays within the sweet spot.

Go drink a beer, or two.

Smoke for several hours avoid checking temperature for at least the first 4 hours. This minimizes the number of holes you poke into the meat. I usually check around the 4th hour. You can use a digital thermo to have it constantly monitor temp.

The target temp is about 180 degrees. 195ish will make it easier to pull the pork off.

When the meat hits around 155 degrees, something funny happens. You will see the temperature drop. This is because the "fat vein" within the butt melts and disperses through the meat.

There should be an awesome bark on the meat by now.

This is an optional step:
After approx the 5th hour or so, I pull my meat off and take them inside. Double wrap them in tin foil with the seams in the TOP position. Place on cooking tray with 1" lip and place them in a pre-heated 350 degree oven to finish off the cooking process.

When the meat hits the target temperature, you need to let it rest. This is important. Some people wrap in foil and place it a cooler for an hour or two. I already have it wrapped from the previous step and place on top of the oven for 1 hour before shredding.

Unwrap and start pulling or shred off with forks. Sometimes I just cut slabs off and chop up.

Place in a BIG dish and serve with cheap white buns with favorite BBQ sauce and maybe some coleslaw. Oh ya!