First Pork Butt!

[DrunkenMick]

Hey guys (And gals!)

I'm going to do my first butt this weekend as the weather is supposed to stay in the 40's-50's.  I bought a 8# butt from the grocery and have been reading all morning.  I have some of Iceman's rub (and sauce).  Would the rub work well with a butt? 

[Wildcat]

Use both.  Rub - then smoke/cook - then pull - then serve with sauce.  Yummie.  ;)

[DrunkenMick]

What about the mustard slather?  I can't seem to find consise direction on that.  That gets applied to the meat BEFORE the rub?  Any reason to not do it the night before and plastic wrap it?

[Lefty_Smoker]

If you want to use a mustard slather, that is fine.  You don't taste the mustard in the end product, it's only job is to just get more rub to adhere to the butt.  I use a mustard slather and lots of rub on my butts because I like a good thick bark on my end product.

I apply the mustard slather and a generous helping of rub onto my butts, then I wrap tightly with plastic wrap, then return it to the fridge overnight.  The following day I take the butt out of the fridge about an hour before smoking.  I let the butt sit on the counter while I am getting the smoker fired up.  I usually add a bit more rub before loading the butt into the smoker. 

good luck!

[Wildcat]

Many folks do like Lefty indicated.  I like to use olive oil to hold the rub.

[Habanero Smoker]

I use olive oil also. Does a good job, and it's less messy for me. :)

[DrunkenMick]

I'm going for maximum bark.  Bark is good. 

So here's my plan (I smoke tomorrow afternoon into Sunday for big game  (GO GIANTS!)

1.  Rub butt with mustard then rub as suggested and wrap/fridge overnight
2.  Take out butt 2 hours before cook time
3.  Heat OBS to 250 and get 4 hours of apple with a few hickory's thrown in for good measure ready to roll
3.  Insert butt in smoker and probe box and butt with Maverick
4.  Apply smoke for 4 hours. 
5.  Wrap in foil with some AJ/Whiskey mix and place in pre-heated 205 degree oven and go to bed. 
6.  Wake up and pull when internal hits 190(I believe thats what i made notes for from reading earlier, correct me if wrong.  Looking to pull the pork) then FTC for about 3 hours
7.  Drink morning beer for good measure
8.  Eat pulled pork with lots of Icemans sauce!

Thanks again, you guys are the best!!  ;D

[La Quinta]

Seems like a good plan D'Mick!!

[Gizmo]

Between the second step 3  :) and step 4, I would add the instruction to keep an eye on the temperature near the meat and adjust the set temperature to maintain your desired box temperature (i.e. 210 deg F) while smoking.

When you first put the butt in, the box temp will drop.  It will also take some time to get back up to temperature.  You should be measuring the temperature near the meat with a remote probe.  As the temperature of the meat rises, the box temp will rise as well.  If you have your set temperature higher than your desired box temp to compensate for the meat load and door opening, then you will need to reduce the set temperature gradually over time to keep the temperature consistent.  After the meat temperature gets to 140 to 150 or so, your set temperature and box temperature will be very close to each other or right on. 

Hope this helps on your first butt.
 

[DrunkenMick]

Will do Gizmo.  Thats what i bought the Maverick for.  Seems to work well but getting the darn OBS to keep a temperature is a PIA.  I'm going to build a PID once its a bit warmer out.  Meat just came out of the fridge to come up to temp a bit before going in.  Here's a pic before i wrapped it up last night.  I'll post more pics as things progress (Thats Iceman's rub.  I hope i didn't put too much on.  Everyone says its strong stuff)

[Wildcat]

With Ice's rub you want to go heavy on butt and light on ribs.

[DrunkenMick]

Gotcha, i'll add a bunch more before i put it in the smoker.  I wasn't sure so i kept it about a medium coating. 

Thanks again guys!  I'll let you know how it turns out!

[Kane]

Thats a nice lookin butt. Im hoping you also have Icemans sauce for when that baby is pulled.

[DrunkenMick]

All done!  Its a bit earlier then i wanted but it'll reheat well for the game. 

Kane:  Of course i do!  Matter of fact i think its sitting next to the butt in this one picture.

Out of oven after 9.5 hours at 205 degrees.  Hit 190 IT in two places.  Time to FTC!




Pulling the pork this morning.  Note the perfectly clean bone i pulled out.  Gotta get them in containers with some sauce.  I *swear* i didn't eat any while pulling  ::)



Thanks again for the guidance.  I'll be helping noobs out like myself in no time!!

[pensrock]

Mick, looks good and no one here believes for one minute that you did not sample while pulling!
I have not done a butt yet but it's on my list.