One of the classic big meats to cook on the BBQ is a Pork Butt. Pork Butt is an American term for a cut of pork that comes from the upper part of the shoulder, from the front leg and may contain the blade bone. It is also referred to as a Boston Butt.
I have cooked a few of these now, but this was a slightly different cook as it was my first overnight smoke. We had 24 guests to feed, and this was due to be the highlight of the BBQ.
I purchased two 4kg Pork Butts online from Turner and George, which are one of my favourite online butchers. These come with the bone-in and both had a thick layer of fat on them, which I trimmed down before applying the rub. Don’t throw this as it is great for making pork crackling, which was also done on the BBQ.
For the rub, I got some great advice from @onlyslaggin and mixed together 2 different rubs from Oakridge BBQ Rubs, which worked fantastically well. To help the rub adhere to the pork, I brushed the pork with French’s Classic Yellow Mustard.
As this was my first overnight cook I used the Flame Boss to help with the cooking overnight. The more I use the Flame Boss the more I love it.
In terms of time, it is difficult to say how long this should take. I was advised that they would take around 16 hours but they ended up taking 19 hours. After speaking to Nathan from KungFuBBQ I cooked these at 235°F. It is definitely worth cooking these at a lower temperature as the end result is outstanding.
I used cherry wood chunks and spritzed the meat every hour from around 3 hours (except the overnight portion).
The cook, in general, went really well. I started it at 830pm hoping to remove the pork at around noon. I had a fairly big stall overnight, but from around 7am the temperature of the meat slowly climbed. However, it took until 330pm, until they hit an internal temp of 203°F. I took them off and triple wrapped them in foil for 2 hours (another recommendation from @onlyslaggin).
UPDATE: 16th January 2019
I cooked another 4kg Pork Butt last week and it ended up taking significantly less time than I expected. It was actually ready 6 hours early!
So the pork was ready 6 hrs early. I initially wrapped the pork in butchers paper and reduced the heat on the smoker to 130f. Jim suggested wrapping in towels and putting in a coolbox. 4 tea towels and a bath towel later I pulled it out of the box at 8 and pulled.
After pulling I then warmed through some apple juice in a large frying pan and warmed the pork through further in the apple juice and then added some BBQ sauce. Bought it all back to life!
Slow Smoked Pulled Pork Butt
Ingredients
- 1 Pork Butt
- 2 tbsp French's Classic Yellow Mustard
- 60 g 'Dominator' Oakridge BBQ Rub
- 140 g 'Secret Weapon' Oakridge BBQ Rub
- Apple Juice
- Cider Vinegar
- Red's Kansas City BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Depending on how much fat is on your pork, trim the majority off. Be careful not to start cutting into the meat. Leaving a thin layer will be fine as it will render down and also help keep the meat moist. Put this to one side as you should definitely use it to make crackling (recipe to follow).
- At least 1 hour before you start cooking remove the pork from the fridge, and brush all over with yellow mustard. Mix the Oakridge BBQ Rubs together, and then sprinkle the rub mix over the pork butt.
- Add the pork to the smoker, and add your chosen wood chunks. With pork, I typically use either apple or cherry chunks, although for this cook I used cherry.
- Cook for 3 hours, then start to spritz your meat every hour. I used a mix of 2 parts apple juice to 1 part cider vinegar.
- Cook your meat until it reaches 203°F and then remove from the smoker. Triple wrap in foil, and then place in a cool box for 2 hours. After 2 hours remove from the cool box, and pull the meat. Add 4 tablespoons of the Red’s BBQ sauce and a tablespoon of the rub mixture. Stir well and then serve.
