Pork Butt


 
G

GreggP

TVWBB Fan
So my daughter is turning 1 this weekend and I'm doing a make-ahead BBQ for about 30 people. Going to do some Cornell Chicken on Saturday, but the pulled pork is going to be done today. The lighting on the interior shots is pretty bad, sorry!

3 9lb butts from Wegmans. By the time I finished trimming all of the fat I was too angry/embarassed to re-weigh them. Why is their meat so bad?

I rubbed them last night and re-rubbed this morning just before putting them onto the smoker.

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As I am feeling lazy/tired/cooking for other people, I went with store-bought rub - Dinosaur BBQ Cajun Foreplay. I'll classify it as "not bad." There's a lot of rosemary which is a little odd in a BBQ rub

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Close-up of the rub and quantity of rosemary:

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Four chunks of cherry, three chunks of red oak from Smokinlicious.

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Fire is lit - Full chimney of blue bag on top of 3/4 of a ring of unlit coals.

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Onto the smoker.

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Be back later with more updates!
 
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If it were me, I wouldn't worry so much about trimming off the fat. When you pull it you can just toss it away. When I pull my butts, I have 3 bowls or containers handy...one for the good pork, one for the trash can, and anything I find perhaps suspect, that's for my dog cause she just doesn't care.
 
JimmyE, I just meant I trimmed the large hard fat cap off. The thought is (hopefully I am correct) that smoke/rub won't penetrate that fat and it'll be difficult to fully render.
 
GreggP said:
JimmyE, I just meant I trimmed the large hard fat cap off. The thought is (hopefully I am correct) that smoke/rub won't penetrate that fat and it'll be difficult to fully render.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing. I don't want to throw out the bark I "worked" so hard for. So, I trim off the whole fat cap before I cook vs after. There's plenty of fat in a pork butt without it. (Use it in sausage.)

I look forward to your finish.
 
Okay, just finished cleaning up a few minutes ago.

After the 5 hour mark, I sprayed hourly with apple juice. Sugar = caramelization = bark.

Approx. 27lbs of untrimmed pork shoulder yielded 14.5lbs of meat. Fantastic.

Wound up taking all 3 butts to 205F by accident. Didn't seem to effect them, the texture is great.

Foiled at 160F and put in a 300F oven. So what? I admit to cheating. :wsm:

Once they were off heat, they sat in a beer cooler to rest for an hour.

Right before foiling:

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After resting an hour in the cooler:

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The bones came out clean.

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Decent bark, too.

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Two trays - One is 6.75lbs, one is 7.75lbs.

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Gratuitous meat close-up:

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Greg that PP looks amazing! I gotta do that cook soon! I have a bunch of that Cajun Foreplay rub my sister lives in Albany and sends it sometimes...I though it was pretty good on chicken and turkey drumsticks!

Nice work!
 
Thanks, guys! I find the foiling/braise retains a lot more of the liquid and fat as it renders. I've also never had an issue wight raising the temp to 300/325 for the last hour or two. It speeds things up and rendering is rendering.
 
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