1st (boneless) pork butt cook


 
Aditya

Aditya

New member
Hi. Apparently photobucket is down, but I'll upload pics when it's back up.

I wanted to buy a bone in 6 or 7 lb pork shoulder, since there are only 2 of us here.

Anyway, the butcher didn't have any available, so u bought a boneless pork shoulder weighing 5.5 lbs. that's perfect for me. I applied rub over all serfaces after trimming, but...

How do I smoke this? Do I put it back into the "mesh" bag that it came in? Should I skewer it like a Rib pinwheel?

Also, after I foil, can I leave it spread out or should I keep it "tied"?

I'm beginning my cook at 8am, so anything would help. Thanks.
 
Smoke it just like a bone-in pork butt. I've only done boneless so here's my method.…first, season it however you like. Then I tie them lengthwise first (one or two lengths depending on the width of the pork butt), then tie across the butt. If one part looks particularly "loose", I start there, then tie just enough to make it snug in length and width. I place mine on a rack that sits on an aluminum pan that is on the top rack of the WSM. Add beer, apple juice, pineapple juice or whatever you like in the pan, along with an equal amount of water. If the pan starts to dry out, add more liquid and keep going - you want those drippings! I foil it when it's still tied, and cut the ties when I'm ready to pull the pork. Add the juices from the pan to the pulled pork, mix it in, and you're ready for some delicious meat!

I've never bought it in a mesh bag, but I wouldn't try to re-use one after removing a pork butt from it. I HAVE done a boneless butt on a rotisserie and it turned out very good, but you have to be very careful about how you tie it! You DO NOT want it coming apart while it's spinning over hot coals!
 
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Mike, thanks for the suggestion. I ended up using kitchen twine on the pork shoulder. It wan't a pretty job (my 1st time tying any kind of meat), but I think it will do the trick. It's only about 5lbs, so I'm assuming 10 hours or so to cook. I put it on at 8, so hopefully I can have some for dinner.

The general philosophy that I'm following for this one is to keep the pork on the smoker until the meat reaches 160 to 170 degrees (and the bark has set). At that time, I'm going to foil and put in a half bottle of Stubbs Pork Marinade until the temp reaches 196-202. I read about the Stubbs on a couple of sites and it sounds interesting to get another flavor into the pork (rub, smoke, & Stubbs). I'll report back soon.
 
Great advice Mike....
Can't wait to see how it comes out Aditya.
What temp are you smoking? What kind of wood are you using?
 
Remember Aditya the temp is just a guide, don't pull it till it is tender. A skewer should go right through the meat like a well worn key into a lock
 
All right. The pulled pork came out good. There were a ton of flavors, but it kind of tasted like pulled ribs, if you know what I mean. I think part of that was due to my fluctuating temps and part of it due to the bonelessness of the pork. Upon reheating and eating it Sunday night, I thought it could have been a bit more tender, so maybe I'll leave it in longer next time (although ideally, I would do a bone-in butt, but the store was out, so it was boneless).

I used apple and hickory woods, Memphis Meat Dust (from Amazingribs.com) and for the foiling, I put in half a bottle of Stubb's Pork Marinade. That really added a nice spicy flavor to the pulled pork. It's really interesting to have the 2 wood flavors, plus rub, plus marinade with the pork. My goal was to keep the cook from 225 to 250, but somehow, I had trouble holding accurate temps. Initially, I was really hot (so I took out water from the pan). Then I was a little too low (around 200s), so added a ton more fuel and hot coals (that had me up to like 320), before almost completely closing all vents to get back down to 250.

The total cook was 8 hours. This was an untrimmed boneless pork shoulder that weighed 5 pounds. I used my instant read thermometer and it read 200 almost everywhere and so I ended the cook.

Next time, I'd try injecting the pork, because it looks like it's not very time consuming, but potentially a winner for adding tenderness/ flavor.

The morning of the cook (butt was rubbed ~12 hours before). I forced it into the mesh bag, but then realized that was a bad idea and so reapplied some rub and used kitchen twine to hold the pork in place
Photo1_zps62a13ed8.jpg


Another angle
Photo2_zps2e11fe96.jpg


Wow, kind of a strange angle, but this is pre-foiling. I did this after aout 5 hours. The pork's temp ranged from 162 to 169 (depending on where I probed).
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After covered in Stubb's Marinade
Photo4_zpsa3846470.jpg


This was the wood setup I used initially, I then spread 40 hot coals over this charcoal. Did I not have enough to begin with? Should I have filled the ring to the top?
Photo3_zps94557783.jpg
 
I think you're supposed to leave the center empty, fill in around, then dump the hot coals in the center.

Like this:
maxresdefault.jpg
 
Pork looks good. I'm curious why you thought the mesh bag was a bad idea....it looks ok.....
for the minion method I like to do this....
4ac6cf7658b5a0dfe7c0c35c435a3fe4_zpsce7178a5.jpg

Thats a 2 lb coffee can with both ends out....fill that can about 1/3 full with unlit and dump about 16 lit coals on top of that....then pull the can out. Then your fire is nice and contained.
 
Just a little heads up Chris... You can do either method... in the center or on top. Both work well. Just personal preference.
 
Holy crap. Wow. I didn't realize that. I thought the Minion was just about spreading hot coals onto unlit coals evenly. That's why for all of my cooks, I'm constantly adjusting the vents and my temps fluctuate so much, I guess. I never understood how people did it. I'll definitely try this next time. Thanks. :)

I don't know why I didn't keep the mesh bag on. I thought it was just too much rope and that would somehow negatively impact my pork.
 
As per Minion, I do it both ways and have found little difference. Sometimes I pour the lit coals into a center profile and sometimes, I just spread the lit coals evenly on top. Very little difference from what I've detected. The key is determining how many lit coals to put in the MM.
 
I am TOTALLY sold on the "Tin Can Minion Method" as shown here:
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?388...Pepper-Stout-Beef&highlight=tin+minion+method

I get absolutely consistent cooks (times and temperature control) and, as a bonus, it is EASY. After I dump the lit (generally 12 lit), pull the can, I immediately assemble the cooker. I put the meat on when it hets 200 degrees and close down the vents. In normal conditions, I can easily use pre-determined vent adjustment and, generally, hardly have to touch them to maintain steady temps (225-250 for Boston Butt for pulled pork and 275 for ribs -YMMV).

The little IKEA silverware caddy works like a charm for small amounts of charcoal (put a Weber cube in bottom center, light it, and carefully place 12 briquettes on top and around. It is ready to go in just a few minutes.

FWIW
Dale53:wsm:
 
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