Weekend cooking -- pt 2 -- the ongoing Barky Butt Journey

We had run out of Pork in the freezer - time to smoke a BB.  Did a couple of things a bit different.  As I have lamented before, my wife loves bark - so I am in endless pursuit.

I always do fat trim, mustard, rub, little sugar before hand, then off to the Egg.

First difference, started the normal path the night before, then after the mustard and rub, wrapped in plastic and put in the fridge over night.

Next morning when I unwrapped had the normal pasty rub all over the butt.   Went back with a heavy coat of rub again, then let set for 30 minutes.   In that 30 minutes, the rub got pasty again as the moisture soaked into the rub.   Then did a pretty good coverage of Brown Sugar, let that soak a bit, then back with yet another coat of rub.

Second difference was temp.  I normally cook a butt around 240 - 290 dome - goal to keep it under 300.   I think with Butt's the temp does not have nearly as much impact as a brisket.

This time, started with a dome littl over 400, grill temp on the maverick was showing 350 or so.   Loaded up the butt, then immediately started working on bringing the temp down over time.   Took about an hour or two to get the temp back down to a dome closer to 300 (grill variance closing some - showing around 270).   Cooked at that temp till finish.  My goal was to have the high initial heat carmelize the sugar quickly and hold the rub on - to make more bark.

Now, not sure if I what I did was substantial enough change to contribute to the results are not - not enough scientific evidence.   But, neighbors opinion was that this was the best Butt I had ever cooked.   They are always after my butt, they have alot of it.   Bark was fantastic....

Anyway - file this in the "for what its worth department".    This weekend is brisket weekend....