Butt rub or not?


 
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Dave L.

TVWBB Pro
As I stated in a post yesterday, I want to do a butt for Mothers Day (my first butt. I se a lot of talk about putting mustard and rub on it for a good crust. Has anyone cooked a butt with nothing on it. Does it still get crusty and is the taste affected. I ask because some of my family members are very picky
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and they might get turned off by a butt that looks like a big piece of charcoal
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.
 
Anyone turned off by it's looks will come around pretty quickly once they taste it!
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If I were you, I'd use some kind of rub. Pick something that's light and not too spicy and everyone should be happy.
 
Mustard is not necessary for good bark; it's optional. I use salt alone (I make the rub without salt and apply the salt first) and use the moisture it generates to atick on the rub.

Bark does color darkly during cooking. It is very flavorful--I'll have people standing around waiting to scarf up the bark unless I kick them out of the kitchen.

Bark can be removed--in chucks with meat attached (yummy!) or alone (I do the former) and then the meat gets pulled. Though I mix the bark back into the pulled pork one doesn't have to. You could kind of keep it off to the side, let people sample, then mix in once you get their approval, as I think wll be likely.
 
I think that's what I'll do Kevin.There is really only one very picky eater in the family. I did ribs once and everyone loved them but she didn't say much even though she ate them just to be polite.She has a thing about fat. She will only eat mushy chicken hot dogs. Never the good kind that crunches when you bite into it. Maybe I can grill a couple of dogs for her because I really don't think she will eat pork.
 
Kevin,
Although I'm sure it's somewhere in the archive, given my affection towards your cuisine, prey tell, your average butt rub?
Marc
 
Maybe I can grill a couple of dogs for her because I really don't think she will eat pork.
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Let 'er eat cake! (Or shoot her.) Kidding of course.

Marc-- Here and here are a couple of chile-based examples. I also do herb-based (with no chile), herb-based (with chile), and spice-based (with herbs).

Sometimes I do dry-over-paste rubs.
 
I live with a couple of teenage daughters that don't like to eat pork. I just make something else for them when I make pork. I do a lot of grilled tuna steaks, smoked salmon, mildly flavored grilled chicken, and things like that. If you have an eater like my two, then it really wouldn't do you any good to avoid the crusty exterior, as it would still be pork.

So my suggestion would be to go ahead and do the pork butt the way you think would taste really good along the lines of Kevin's suggestions up thread, and then do something else for people who really prefer not to eat pork.
 
It's 10:17pm here and I just put on three butts, two small ones and one large one. I didn't use a rub on one of the smaller ones because my wife doesn't think she would like it.
I'll let you know what she thinks tomorrow night.
Wish me luck, I haven't cooked in 3 years so this is just like my first!
 
Bruce, when you say you haven't cooked in 3 years, are you referring to butts, or cooking in general?

I'm assuming since you're on this forum, that you're using a WSM to smoke 'em?

Which woods are you using to flavor the un-rubbed butt?
 
Cooking in general. I just lost interest, had other things to do. We moved 2 1/2 years ago and just now got to where I could find time for it.
You're assumption is correct I have a WSM. I followed suggestions on here to use twice as much red oak to hickory.
I'm having trouble keeping the temperature down to 250 and below. It got as high as 285 and have nearly closed the bottom vents. Right now it's right at 250 with the meat temp of 165.
Sorry Dave L, I won't hijack you thread any more.
 
Originally posted by David Lohrentz:
I live with a couple of teenage daughters that don't like to eat pork. I just make something else for them when I make pork.
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Wow, talk about bad parenting.
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Dave L, with the fat issue, well, it shouldn't be an issue with pulled pork. A lot of it is going to render in cooking, but during the pulling process I basically discard anything that's not meat.
 
I'll find something to cook for her. She would be happy with cron on the cob and salad. I am definetly not going to pull the pork in front of her. She would probably pass out. She is not only a picky eater, she is also kind of a germaphob.
As the saying goes "You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family".
 
I thought the saying was, "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends' noses."
 
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