Smokin' Butts

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arturo7

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Got up at 0-dark:30 this morning to fire up the smoker.

Applied mustard then dry rub to 2 pork shoulders. Started the fire with briquettes. I'll use a combination of lump and hardwood once the smoker reaches temperature.

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****e!

I let the fire go a bit too long without tending.

Temp was 200 and dropping. Added another log. Thank FSM for the propane starter.

Mike, keeping the lid closed is something I learned the hard way. The first time I did a butt it took about 16 hours.

Rev, that is some mighty fine looking meat you've got there!
 
Just pulled off the butts, wrapped them in a paper towels and dropped them into a cooler. Unfortunately, I didn't snap a photo.

I had to split for a while so I wasn't able to keep the temp in the desired range. As a result, it took a little longer than normal, about 12.5 hrs.
 
Butt #1 pulled and waiting to become a sammich. The color balance is a bit off, but I think you can still detect the deep pink smoke ring.

Up at 05:30 to eat a sandwich at 9:30 pm. A damned tasty sandwich!

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Ahhh...looks good man! Could be the first HBT butt this year!!

I've got a monster butt and a few racks of baby backs in the freezer, just waiting for the right weekend. I'm jammed up at work right now (no time to brew even) but I can't wait for things to loosen up a bit so I can get the smokers out of the garage!

It's good to be a carnivore!
 
You're right BLL, it is good to be a carnivore!

One of the local superboxes had the shoulder for 99 cent a pound. I couldn't pass it up. Fortunately, I work out of my house so I was able to pull this off on a Thursday.

I'll be chowin' on pork sammies all weekend and I've got another pulled butt in the freezer.

If only the business was as good as the food...
 
I'm going to pick up a 10lb beef brisket and 10lbs or pork shoulder today all to throw into the smoker for my son's birthday party. Next week I am going to do the same for my Zombipocalypse Party.

I loves me some smoked meat. I have a propane box smoker. I replaced the tiny little wood box that they provided with a big cast iron skillet. It works great. I smoke my meats for about 15 hours(1.5 hours per pound for pork and beef) and I only have to change the wood chips once.
 
Looks good! I will be doing a beef brisket, butt, salmon, and chicken this weekend. I figure if im going to burn a fire for hrs im cooking everything. :mug:
 
OK...I'm intrigued. In the past year I've really got a hankerin' for grilling and can smoke up a pretty mean baby back rib (so I'm told). But this Butt looks great!

So, where can I get some details on the rub, the time\internal temperature, and the whole paper towel and cooler thing?
 
OK...I'm intrigued. In the past year I've really got a hankerin' for grilling and can smoke up a pretty mean baby back rib (so I'm told). But this Butt looks great!

So, where can I get some details on the rub, the time\internal temperature, and the whole paper towel and cooler thing?

Rub recipes abound on the interwebs. Mine is nothing special. Salt, pepper, brown sugar, paprika and whatever else I might pull out of the spice shelf.

Time is driven by internal meat temperature, which is driven by smoker temperature. Figure on 12 hours, give or take.

For best results, your smoker should be between 220-250. I've got one thermometer on the lid and one inside on the grill next to the meat. I also use a battery powered meat thermometer that I stick into the meat around the 6 hour mark.

The meat temp will hover around 150-160 for hours on end. This is a good thing. The heat is breaking down the fat into a liquid. Once this phase is completed, the internal meat temp will begin to rise. I usually pull it off 185-190.

This is when the butts are wrapped in a towel. I said paper towel earlier, but I meant kitchen towel. A paper towel would fall apart. The purpose of wrapping and resting in a cooler is to allow the liquid to be absorbed by the meat. The cooler will keep the butts hot so there is no coagulation.

Those are the basics, and I'm sure you could find at least one person to argue every point, but it works for me.

There are many websites and forums dedicated to bbq on the webs. Google "smoke ring" for a start.
 
OK, it's easier than I thought. I have some basic rub recipes like you said I guess my main questions were temperature, cooking time and time in the cooler. You seem to have answered them all and if I'm not mistaken the time in the cooler doesn't matter much, basically as long as you can wait with out picking the thing apart?
 
Like arturo7, my rub is going to vary a lot simply based on what I've got available. That being said, I always like to include both a sweet and hot component. Brown or turbinado sugar both go great with chipotle powder, probably my favorite combo. To this I'll add salt, black pepper, paprika, onion powder, celery salt, etc.

A good trick is to slather the meat with yellow mustard, just before applying the rub. This really helps the rub adhere, allowing you to apply a nice even layer. I feel it also keeps the salt in the rub from pulling too much moisture out of the meat. You won't taste the mustard, but I think it also gives the bark a nicer texture.
 
I like to toss a little crushed coriander seeds into the rub...I think it adds a different kind of sweetness that goes well with a brown sugar, paprika (and of course S&P) kinda rub.
 
I like to toss a little crushed coriander seeds into the rub...I think it adds a different kind of sweetness that goes well with a brown sugar, paprika (and of course S&P) kinda rub.

I never tried that but I bet its good - love the way coriander smells.
 
SOB, cooler time does matter. Guess I left this out of my last post. Figure one hour.

The way I was looking at it is the longer you keep it in there the better as long as it stays warm enough to pull and eat while warm. You just cant be peeking in and stealing a piece every few minutes :D patience is something I had to learn quickly when I was trying to make good smoked meat.

:mug:
 
We usually have a fairly long cooler time... say around 6 hours or so...
and come up with some very nice pork.
Over the weekend we smoked 3 racks of ribs and employed the cooler rest method and the ribs were fantastic!
 
Bringing this post back with a question...how much per pound does a pork butt usually cost? Also, what do you figure each person would eat? There's gonna be other side dishes so I'm guessing MAX 1lb per person. Thoughts?
 
I think I've seen them on sale around here for $1/lb. But that was sale price. Not exactly sure on the reg. price.

1 lb. of meat is quite a bit for one person, especially with side dishes. I'd assume less per person. Maybe half that.
 
At BJ's you can get them pretty cheap. I don't remember the price per pound but I think it was around $1.00. They come in 2 packs and I think it was around $15.

I would say that if this is going to be an all day party then 1lb per person might not be far off. You are going to lose a lot during cooking and you need to take the bone into the weight consideration. If its going to be all day people will probably eat more than once.
 
just a little tip for those that like the rub. I have found that just a little Cinnamon in the rub adds a little complexity to the mix. not allot to taste, but people always want my recipe when they taste my ribs.

My mix is usually kosher salt, sugar of some kind, granulated garlic,onion powder, few pinches of the cinnamon, and something hot-i like Jamaican scotch bonnet peppers.
 
just a little tip for those that like the rub. I have found that just a little Cinnamon in the rub adds a little complexity to the mix. not allot to taste, but people always want my recipe when they taste my ribs.

My mix is usually kosher salt, sugar of some kind, granulated garlic,onion powder, few pinches of the cinnamon, and something hot-i like Jamaican scotch bonnet peppers.

You have got to be kidding me!!! I have actually been doing that for a few years now. Not enough to know it cinnamon but enough to make a difference. :mug:

People have said I was nuts for doing it and I thought I had to be the only person.
 
1 lb. of meat is quite a bit for one person, especially with side dishes. I'd assume less per person. Maybe half that.

I was hoping for some left overs too :)

I would rather have too much then to run out. I figured no one will get that much due to drinking and snacking on other things but I'll get a nice sized one just to be sure.
 
People have said I was nuts for doing it and I thought I had to be the only person.

Me 2 great minds :tank:
but yes it makes a world of difference. I started to do it with just about everything and it really gives a bit of umpf to certain things (BBQ sauce,chili,steaks)
 
I have used some really off the wall things before. I have even put different sodas (mt dew, pepsi, sprite) in sauces. A little mt. dew in a smokey sweet bbq sauce was actually pretty good.

Cinnamon is just one that has really stuck.
 
So I stopped and got my butts today. A total of 18.5lbs all together but I'll be cooking one and freezing the other for another time.

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The one I'm cooking got rubbed with my basic rub of Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Paprika, Brown Sugar. I also added some cinnamon (I heard it here I believe) and some crushed coriander I had left over from the Wit I brewed Saturday. It's gonna sit in the fridge tonight and let that rub soak in.

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I'm getting up around 4-5am to get the grill going and give a final rub down (smack dat azz!) before going on the grill. 225-250 for about 12 hours I think should be good. I'll post pics of the final product.
 
my rub is usually sea salt, fresh pepper, garlic powder, dried out brown sugar, some dry mustard, onion powder,paprika,and some thyme. if i'm cooking a leaner cut i'll take a couple teaspoons of this mix and pour in about 4oz of pepsi and inject the result into the meat before it hits the grill/smoker.
 
Looks good man how did it turn out? Hope u used just a little cub in the mix.

It turned out wonderful! Everyone was impressed with the pork as well as the BBQ sauce I made. I was pretty hungover yesterday and was too lazt to post the finished pics so I'll get them up tonight when I get home.

What is "cub"? Did you mean cin as in cinnamon? If that's what you were asking then yes, I used 2 Tbsp for the entire rub which was about 3 cups all together. I was surprised how much you could taste the cinnamon.
 
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