Rookie First Boston Butt With Forum Help

Auburntgr

I have had my egg for about a month now and I finally had enough courage to do my first Boston Butt after several successful cooks and only one pizza failure.  The boards have been extremely helpful in my past cooks and once again made me look like I knew what I was doing with my first Butt for my friends and family.

My first moment of panic was when I was in Costco looking for my Boston Butt.  Well Costco names their Boston Butts boneless pork shoulders and the smallest one was 11 pounds.  Since I was only cooking for a small group I was preparing myself for a fair amount of leftovers hoping it turned out.  After a quick internet search in Costco I was delighted to find out each package came with two Butts.  Selected my 13.5 pound package and headed home.  It is amazing each time I head to Costco looking for a specific name of meat, it is always a little different with how they name their products.

Separated the two Butts and started to prepare the Butt for my first cook and wrapped and froze the second one for another day.  The choice came to tie or not to tie the Butt.  It was an easy decision, since I do not know how to tie up a Butt, I would not tie.

6.5 to 7 pound Butt ready for preparation.

After reading countless posts, I decided to use what I had in the house and not make it to complicated.  A simple yellow mustard rub down with some store bought Stubbs Pork Rub.

Simple Yellow Mustard Rub Down

Nice Pat Down of Stubbs Pork Rub adhering nicely to the yellow mustard.

Now the question came if I was going to inject or not inject.  Since I bought an injector about five years ago and have never used it the decision was simple.  I will inject!!!!

After a little research on the boards I decided on a simple injection.

3/4 Cup Apple Juice

1/2 Cup Water 

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Salt

My better half recommended I simmer the injection to be sure the sugar and salt mixed well with the liquid.  Her tip was not to boil, but to simmer the liquid and you know the sugar and salt are dissolved when when the liquid changes from a cloudy to clear.  Ended up with a clear pure injection of sweetness for my Butt.

The flavor injector worked perfectly and now I am ready to prepare the egg.  Went with my Green Egg lump and apple chunk wood mixed throughout the lump.

Started to fire up the Green Egg at 8:45 P.M. and the Green Egg was stabilized at 250 with clear smoke.  The Butt was ready for the Green Egg at 10:00 P.M. for the slow and low cook.

The Green Egg was maintaining a 250 degree dome temp, but the maverick remote thermometer was holding at 224 grill temp.  After three hours I just chalked it up to the thermometer was just to close to the butt giving me a 26 degree difference.  I thought I set the alarms for a IT of 190 and a grill temp of 250.  Went to bed at 1:00 A.M. putting my trust in the Green Egg.  I woke up at 2:30 A.M. to see the grill temp at 251 (of course I didn't set the alarms correctly on the maverick) thinking the dome temp would be at 276.  Ran down to the Egg to adjust the temp and to my surprise the dome temp was still at 250.  I guess the dome and grill temps just decided to finally sync together.  Went back to bed and woke up at 7:00 A.M. and the temps were still rock solid at 250.

10:30 A.M. Twelve and a half hours later the IT is holding at 195.  Give the probe test hoping for the smooth butter feel and I am pleasantly surprised it passed.  Smooth as butter.  Great bark and the Butt is ready for FTC.  (Foil, Towel, and Cooler for my fellow rookies)

2:30 P.M.  It is time to eat after four hours of FTC.  The first pull reveals a the sweet moist pork I was hoping for with this cook.

Final product is pulled and ready to eat.  The flavor was incredible and the meat had a great texture along with the right moisture.

Once again I wanted to thank everybody on the board for the great advice and knowledge.  I am looking forward to changing up the rubs and injections and finding the perfect combination.  All and all I am very pleased with this first cook.

Recommendations and any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Mattman3969

Way to come out of the gate swinging!! That looks outstanding

SaturdayFatterday

Great first butt!  There will be many, many more to come, no doubt.  Keep on Eggin'!

radamo

Nice job.  Bet it tasted great!!!

Auburntgr

No worries about keeping on with the Eggin. The great meal for the family and friends is one thing but truly enjoying the process is the best thing about the egg. Being able to concentrate on the rubs injections and techniques is fun without having to worry about reloading charcoal and temperature control. The side smoker was a ton of work compared to the egg. Many of nights not knowing when you are going to eat has seasoned me for the luxury of the egg.

Auburntgr

One quick question. Since this is my first picture post I wanted to make sure they were showing with a decent load time. I used photobucket with a direct link by adding a image.

ghallmar

I'm doing a 2 but cook 8 Jul 17 with injection. had my  egg quite a few years but don't use it too often as I'm the only one in the house that really likes smoked meat. The AU caught my eye. WDE!

buzd504

That looks amazing, but you are WAY too worried about temp.

gbvinla

Great looking finished product. (Just didn't sound right to say great lookin butt). With a great baseline cook like this, you can experiment until you get exactly how you want it. Egg ON! BTW Congrats to my Gators on their CWS Championship

SSQUAL612

Great Looking Cook...here's a little info on the cut of meat.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/22382/how-9-cuts-meat-got-their-names

Foghorn

Outstanding.

DieselkW

Nice job, do you think the injection actually made a difference? 

My first butt, I pulled it too early - got impatient as it sat at 185º FOREVER, I got the bone to wiggle loose, and called it "done".

Making pulled pork out of that beast required a LOT more effort than it was worth. 

My second butt, I punched it and it fell apart, because I waited for it to be truly "buttah" before I took it off.

It's not time, I had to learn, it's not just temp, it's waiting for the right temp.

lousubcap

Not sure the OP will pick up on this thread as it is 4 years old...

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

Not sure the OP will pick up on this thread as it is 4 years old...

LMAO