First Butt - A few questions if I could trouble to pick your brains.

DinnerIsComing

Howdy folks.

Doing my first Boston butt and my first smoke in general. I plan to serve this as pulled pork for dinner on Friday night.

I had a few questions;

I was planning to slather the butt with mustard and some BBQ pork rub I enjoy.

I assume just regular yellow mustard is what's used?

Do you recommend injecting, brining and/or spritzing with liquid at any point throughout the cook? When researching, some methods call for one, all, or none. Just getting some opinions.

Also. If I was wanting to serve the pork for dinner at 6-7pm on Friday night, when would YOU plan to put the butt on? 6 pounder? 7? 8? I've read up on turbos but for my first, I was just going to do a low and slow with a dome temp of 250*, meaning about 225-230 on the grid.

One last question, sorry if this is a noob one... is a Boston butt usually ready to go from the butcher or grocery store? Meaning, is it already cleaned/prepped/trimmed and is ready to cook or will it require more prep on my part?

Sorry if these seem like dumb questions, again. Never done one of these before but my wife and I are looking forward to the results.

Thanks in advance!
DinnerIsComing

johnkitchens

Your plan sounds solid to me. I just use regular French's mustard. It is just a bonding agent so you aren't doing it for the flavor. I would try to get a bone in pork butt. Your local grocery store or butcher should have them. 

You shouldn't have to do anything to it other than rub it. No trimming or anything beforehand. 

A turbo cook will take about 5 hours. For low and slow it will take about an hour and half to two hours per pound to cook. All you have to know is how much your butt weighs and then do the math. 

You should be able to back into the time you need to put it on. If you finish early you can FTC (foil, towel, cooler) it for 4 to 6 hours easily.

You are going to love it! 

Smokinpig

First off I would consider the mustard as optional, the rub will adhere fine without it. I would keep it simple and skip all brining and spritzing. I would plan on at least 2 hours a pound at that temp and build in a few hour buffer, you can FTC if it finishes early. 

DinnerIsComing

Thanks for the quick responses. I read 2 hours per pound, roughly. However when I stumbled upon Naked Whiz's pork butt, his 8 pounder took almost 20 hours, according to his report. It made me a little nervous so I had planned to start early and do the FTC method until dinner time but wanted to get some opinions.

I was planning to have my fire and temp stable to put the butt on around 11pm-12am the night before, have a nightcap and monitor the temp for an hour or so to make sure it's stable before going to bed. Provided all stays in the temp ranges overnight, that should put me taking it off the Egg around 2-4pm the following day. I figure that would give me enough time to FTC it, then open the Egg vents up for hotter temps to cook some sides while the pork is resting. After I flip the corn and sweet potatoes, come inside to pull the pork and get it ready for dinner.

I am very excited. As we all know, Egg's have their price tags but luckily my SWMBO loves smoked meats. She's already very much enjoying the good grilled eats we've had the last 2 weeks the Egg's been here. Pretty sure the butt will seal the deal to bring in a second Egg before it's over with.  

"Honey, we can't grill tonight. This brisket is going to keep the Egg occupied."


Also the argument of having one going low and slow while the other does veggies and sides.

Cheers gents. To good food, good booze and good times.

As per forum law, pics will come after all is done.

johnkitchens

+1 on adding a second egg! 

theyolksonyou

Agree, mustard optional. I rinse and dab kinda dry and let the water hold the rub. 

If you don't have a pit controller, I'd recommend 275 ish as an easier temp to hold. Won't change your timing much. Also, nothing in the drip pan, but make sure you have an air gap between it and the platesetter. Foil balls, coins, washers, copper fittings will do. 

Smokinpig

The time is really a rough estimate. I have done a lot of pork butts and they have averaged 8-9 pounds. Some have been done in 16 hours and some have taken 21 hours. If you have an 8 pounder and start it at 9-10pm you should be good with room to ftc if on the early side.

DinnerIsComing

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks @Smokinpig. I know everything is an estimate, so just giving myself room to be done early rather than sitting around hungry, waiting for it to get done.

I suppose if it started to get too close to dinner, I could crank the heat up to finish it off.

johnkitchens

DinnerIsComing said:

I suppose if it started to get too close to dinner, I could crank the heat up to finish it off.

That is is exactly what you could do, but you should be fine! 

QDude

No need for mustard.  I have cooked probably 50 butts on my XL and the last two I cooked were the best.  When the butts hit 160 degrees, I wrapped them in butcher paper and let them go until they were done - about 200 degrees and they were probe worthy.  After that I wrapped the butts and butcher paper in foil and put them in the oven at 170 degrees to hold the temp for 8 hours ( the cook got done way early!).  When I took them out of the oven, they fell apart and little work was needed to pull the meat.  Best ever!

jtcBoynton

Here are my thoughts:

"I assume just regular yellow mustard is what's used?" -- Any mustard you want. Really don't need mustard - it is there to help hold the rub onto the butt, not provide any real flavor. Add dry mustard to the rub if you want mustard flavor.

"Do you recommend injecting, brining and/or spritzing with liquid at any point throughout the cook?"  -- NO

"Also. If I was wanting to serve the pork for dinner at 6-7pm on Friday night, when would YOU plan to put the butt on? 6 pounder? 7? 8? "  -- About 8am. Get up in the morning, light the egg and let it start to warm up, have breakfast, and then get the butt into the egg by 8-9am. Target dome temp of 290º.

"is a Boston butt usually ready to go from the butcher or grocery store?" -- If bone-in, yes. If boned, you may want to tie it up.  You may also want to trim some additional fat off the butt - it varies some as to how much is left on the butt and how much you personally like to leave on.


One overall piece of advice - don't over complicate your cook.  Pork shoulder is very flexible and can be cooked many ways with great results.  

As for cooking time, there is a good amount of variability between individual pieces so take all times as rough.  

225º:  2 hours a pound

250º: 1.5 hours a pound

280º:  1 hour per pound

350º:  45 mins per pound

DinnerIsComing

johnkitchens said:

+1 on adding a second egg! 

Indeed @johnkitchens! My goal is to have 3 total. My current XL, a Medium and a Mini!

That's 2 for mustard being optional. I was thinking of doing 2 at once (since I already will have the Egg going) to send one to my in-laws house (more curry with SWMBO for a second Egg ). I'll do one with and one without and see if I notice any difference.

@Qdude what is the benefit of the butcher paper? I've heard of foiling it and read mixed reviews on that, but never butcher paper.

DinnerIsComing

Thanks for your input @jtcBoynton. Where in South Florida are you at?

In Cape Coral myself.

jtcBoynton

Boynton Beach

QDude

DinnerIsComing said:

johnkitchens said:

+1 on adding a second egg! 

Indeed @johnkitchens! My goal is to have 3 total. My current XL, a Medium and a Mini!

That's 2 for mustard being optional. I was thinking of doing 2 at once (since I already will have the Egg going) to send one to my in-laws house (more curry with SWMBO for a second Egg ). I'll do one with and one without and see if I notice any difference.

@Qdude what is the benefit of the butcher paper? I've heard of foiling it and read mixed reviews on that, but never butcher paper.

It seems to help keep the meat moist but doesn't cause the bark to get mushy.

JRWhitee

I agree with all of the above as well, mustard is more trouble than its worth. Pull when the internal temp is around 200, if it gets done early just double foil it, wrap in towels and put in a cooler until your ready to eat. It will stay very hot for hours in a toweled cooler.

Dave in Florida

I trim the fat cap off and the hard fat.  I just don't think it renders down and I have to remove it after the cook and lose the rub I put on it.  No fat cap equals more bark.  We love the bark pieces around here.

Coastalcooker

Cook fat side down to keep from washing rub off.
For me-light fire, plate settler in place,stabilize at 250 dome, meat on, close lid. Figure two hours per pound and check shortly before. Pull around 200.
Enjoy.

Bob
Cooking some old dead pig again.

jaydub58

You do seem to be right on with your plan, @DinnerIsComing.
The only thing with which I will take exception is what you said about "dumb questions"
Trust me, the only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask; those are the ones you won't get answered.
Right?

DinnerIsComing

Thanks for the words of wisdom. Picked up two butts this afternoon. About to go load up the Eggs firebox. Let you all know how it goes.

theyolksonyou

Load it up!  Well into the fire ring so you can sleep all night. As long as you can get the platesetter in, you're good. 

DinnerIsComing

I did! Opted out of mustard based on opinions here. Had the dome steady at 275 for about 10 minutes now. Waiting another 20 before I put these babies on.

Rebhanmh

Looks pretty solid, to add to the others above I don't notice much difference when using a mustard base or not. Honestly next time you try just do one with and one without. I typically try different stuff on one to experiment because you never know what you may like as opposed to others. I use a toothpick as a marker on the one I'm testing on since it takes so long to cook I don't want to forget lol.

DinnerIsComing

I set my temp alarm for if the egg hit 200 or lower. I woke up to find it at 205. Meat is in the plateau stage. Been at 176 since I woke up an hour ago.

Smokinpig

Looking good.

SherrifJoe

So far so good...keep us updated!

DinnerIsComing

Made a thread here. Pulled the second one off about an hour ago.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1183141/first-time-smoke-2-boston-butts

mroehl

Dave in Florida said:

I trim the fat cap off and the hard fat.  I just don't think it renders down and I have to remove it after the cook and lose the rub I put on it.  No fat cap equals more bark.  We love the bark pieces around here.

I agree with Dave 100% i love me some bark.