Smokin' Butt

I don't know about you, but when the weather starts getting nice I like to do some BBQ'ing. Today we are having Smoked Pulled Pork, South Western Beans, Kicked Up Coleslaw and Texas Country Potato Salad. If you've never smoked a pork butt it is time consuming, but not difficult. All of these recipes are easy so give them a try. I purchased a 8lb Boston Pork Butt and I brined it overnight. Thebrine was easy, I just took 1 part water, 1 part kosher salt, and 1/2 part molasses (but you could use brown sugar too). I mixed it up in a large ceramic bowl and placed the butt in and refrigerated overnite, that was Thursday. The next day I patted my butt dry :) and I rubbed it :) My rub was a blend of 1 tsp of each ground cumin, ground fennel, ground coriander, 1 tbs of each chili powder, onion powder, and paprika. You just want to sprinkle it over the entire butt. I again refrigerated my butt overnite (ooh, that was chilly). Today when I got up it was ready to smoke. You can use many types of wood chips, but my personal favorites are applewood and hickory. I think the fruit woods infuse a milder flavor, where alder and mesquite infuse a very strong smoke flavor. I use hickory most of the time- it also gives a nice mild smoke flavor and it's very easy to find. Please note that the amount of chips you use depends on the size of your smoker and how much meat you are smoking. I typically use about 1.5 cups of wood chips that I soaked in water for about 30 minutes. We use a gas Brinkman smoker (it's small, but the perfect size for us) because we couldn't maintain temp with the charcoal smoker. Our smoker has 3 racks in the top part, and 2 bowls in the bottom for water and chips. You want to drain the wood chips and the add them to the lower bowl close to the flame and add your water to the other bowl which will sit above the wood chips. Since, I was only smoking 1 butt, I removed 2 racks and placed the butt on the rack in the middle. Close the door and turn the gas on. It takes some time to smoke a butt, around 10-12 hours for a 8lb butt at a temp of 210-225. You should check it around 10 hours, but please note you will need to add water to the water pan throughout the day. Also, the smoke will infuse the meat within the first hour of smoking so not necessary to add more chips. This is fun stuff, you should try it. BTW, you can purchase the smoker for about $170 w/ tax from Home Depot, but be prepared to calibrate your thermometer because it's off and you will need to restrict the gas flow, because at low it still may be too high.

Check out the final product. The pork butt has this dark crunchy crust and the meat is so tender and just falls of the bone. The meat closer to the outside of butt is a little dry, but as you dive into the middle of the butt the meat is moist, tender and yummy. Check out the sides that we will be serving with this on the next blog.