BBQ Pork Boston Butts

I don’t know where your at Mud Bones but Come back and Let’s cook BBQ!

Pork is the hardest thing to bring flavor too. Pork as a basic fact is almost impossible to flavor during the cooking process. Most of the flavor you put on has to be in high concentrations or it will seem to disappear into the pork.

Cooking a Boston Butt

  1. Pick out a good quality Boston Butt. IBP is the best producer of quality Boston Butts in the country. They are consistent and set up to cook great.  Smithfield is another good brand but is second to IBP. Swift, Compart Durac fall somewhere behind in this category. When picking a Boston Butt the Bigger the Better. Not an excessive fat cap but good marbling. Boston Butts come from the Shoulder of the pig and the draw is the highest yield for loss in bones and trim. Bone in Boston Butts are always the best as the Bone adds flavor.
  2. Trimming the Butt is all about membranes. Leaving the Money Muscle in tact. There is a point about half way up the Butt where there is a break in the meat and its full of membranes.  Long as there is a membrane Rub is not going to contact the pork.
  3. Many cooks take half the fat cap off. Fired and Wired BBQ cut the butt in half leaving it attached at one end to increase the amount of surface area the rub will attach.
  4. I seen a cook just take about 1/3 inch all over the butt off including top, bottom sides, totally off the butt to just get rid of all the membranes off ever side but the money muscle side. Some cooks detach the money muscle except a small amount to give it more surface area to apply rub on more surface area on the money muscle.
  5. After Trimming inject your Butt. There is actually a few injections you can buy Sweet Smoke Q out of Florida has a real good injection. Its a concentrate that has to be watered down.  Inject it will not taste as good without it. You can make an injection using your favorite rub in apple juice, 1/2 apple juice 1/2 pineapple juice with your rub in it. Some people inject from the side so they won’t punch holes in the top or bottom and make it leak the injection out. I’ve seen many competitors inject from the top and angle it to make sure they don’t punch a whole in the bottom.  Inject in a 1 inch matrix again. Hold your finger over the whole and the meat will heal a little and hold the injection in.
  6. Once its injected rub it down. I seen a competitor just put the but down in a huge steel bowl about half full of rub and just rolled the Butt around. What a coat of rub. I couldn’t even see the Butt. That is a good coat but rolling the Butt around will make you lose some injection. A good shaker is important. Its hard to get a good even coat unless you can sprinkle it evenly. The more you get to hang on there the better, then put it in a big Zip Lock Bag. You can roll it in Saran Wrap but those bags are great and you can buy that at Lowe’s.
  7. After a few hours in the cooler or in the refrigerator, over night is best but if you don’t have the time. Take the Butt out and let it come up to room Temperature. Then coat it with rub again before you put it on the smoker.  225 at 9pm at night for the next day at lunch is a good idea. Not wrap to start with you want the smoke to get to the Butt. Some people say that smoke only penetrates for 2 hours but it never hurts to leave it on for 4-6 hours before you take it out again.
  8. After 7 hours take out the Butt and lay down two layers of foil. It tends to leak less with two layers.  Make it big enough to make a bowl.  Pull up the four corners and make a bowl the Butts sets down into the middle of the foil bowl.
  9. Set the Butt down in the Center of the Foil Bowl and coat it again with Rub. You can use several rubs, Buzz’s Butt Dust is a great one, Plow Boys have a great Rub   the magic is in what you pour into that foil bowl. Apple Juice, Pineapple Juice, Guava Nectar is big ingredient to be put into the foil. Why a foil bowl? It can be pushed up close to the Butt and the liquid will be in contact with the butt the whole time. Not just the bottom, the whole thing can be engulfed in the liquid.
  10. Cook it for another 4 hours in the foil at 300 degrees. Then take it out and burp it. Open the foil on one end and let it set on the counter  for 30 minutes. This will allow the juices go back into the Butt. Then put it in the Cambro until time to serve.
  11. Then take the Butts out of the foil and put sauce all over them and put them back into the cooker for 30 minutes. Then take them out and chop them up to eat. Take the money muscle off and make medallions out of them. I’ve got many videos of a pork box being made, make one to serve your family pork.
  12. What we are talking about here is a Time Line. Click the word and get an explanation.
  13. These are just generalities if you want to learn from the Pro’s go to BBQ Schools. 
Some good Pork Injection

Cambro 



Boston Butts for a Big Catering Job/Party

  1. When you have 10 cases or more of Boston Butts here is a way to cook them and do a good job.
  2. Get a case of Butts and