Name: Insanely Good Smoked Boston Butt for Pulled Pork Recipe
Brand: mrecipes.com
SKU: mrecipes-com-5
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Insanely Good Smoked Boston Butt for Pulled Pork Recipe

preview

A Boston Butt is not really the rear end of a hog, as the name implies. This cut is the upper shoulder portion. It is sometimes labeled as a pork shoulder. But, make sure that what you are buying is actually the butt and not the lower portion of the front leg. That cut should be labeled as a picnic roast. The term “butt” refers to the barrels that were used to store the pork shoulder in for transporting purposes before we had sophisticated refrigeration. Why Boston? Boston Butt refers to the way the shoulder was cut and stored in early New England, commonly in Boston where the whole hogs were brought into port and butchered.This is a tasty cut of the pig, especially when slow cooked in a smoker. This cut is what is generally used to make pulled pork for sandwiches. The size of the shoulder or butt is what makes it a perfect choice for smoking in a Masterbuilt Digital Electric Smoker. This large piece of meat is a bit difficult to slow braise in a Dutch oven indoors without having to cut it into smaller portions and removing the blade. That said, it certainly can be slow cooked in other ways than smoking. In my opinion, there is no match for the flavor and texture of a smoked butt.You have the option of buying the butt with either the shoulder blade bone-in or boneless. Bone-in will impart a little more flavor as it cooks. However, it does take a bit longer than a boneless roast. For this recipe, we will use a bone-in butt with much of the fat cap removed. You can have your butcher trim the fat cap down to approximately 1/4 inch of fat still left on the roast for extra flavor and moisture.Look for around an 8 to 10 pound roast. You will want to start the recipe the day before you smoke the meat by marinating it in mustard, sugar, salt, spices, and herbs. The sugar and salt will act almost as a dry brine. This combination will pull some of the excess moisture out. This is good so that the meat really smokes and doesn’t steam. The day of smoking will be an 8 to 10 hour project that really doesn’t require that much effort on your part. You will just need to tend to the smoker and/or roast about every 60 minutes. Plan on doing some yard work, reading a good book, watching the game, making side dishes, or chilling in your hot tub while the smoker does most of the hard work for you. It is worth a day spent at home for the results achieved.Smoked Boston Butt Recipe for Pulled PorkThis recipe will serve approximately 10 to 16 people, depending on appetites. Preparation time is approximately 20 minutes for a bone-in roast. Cook time is approximately 8 to 10 hours. This recipe yields sweeter smoked pork, but the apple cider vinegar spritz will help to mellow that a bit.Equipment neededPlace the roast on a clean cutting board. If your roast has skin and/or a fat cap, trim most of the fat off, leaving a 1/4 inch layer for extra flavor. After trimming the fat, rinse the roast under cold running water and pat completely dry with plenty of paper towels. Place the roast inside the disposable pan. Side note: When working with raw pork, be sure to meticulously clean any surface it comes in contact with, including your hands, the sink, and the cutting board. Toss the paper towels out immediately.Combine the dry rub ingredients in a bowl.Time to get your hands dirty (or wear disposable gloves). Rub the entire roast well with the mustard to coat. Generously apply the dry rub, pressing it into the mustard, to completely cover the butt. The mustard will help to hold the dry rub in place.Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours, basically overnight. Anymore than 24 hours is too long, as it will draw too much moisture out of the meat.An hour before you fire up the smoker, remove the roast from the refrigerator so that it can come to almost room temperature. After it has rested for an hour, remove the wrap and pour off any of the accumulated liquid in the bottom of the pan.Add the hickory or apple wood chips to the smoker drawer. Fill the water pan half way. Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees F.Place the roast on the upper rack of the smoker. Thoroughly wash out the disposable pan and place it on the rack below the roast to catch any drippings. Alternatively, use a clean disposable pan, if you have one.If your smoker has a meat thermometer attached, insert it into the roast at one end.Smoke for approximately 8 hours.* Because of the sugar the meat will form a dark caramelized crust. This is delicious crunchy stuff. Replenish the wood chips and liquid approximately every 60 minutes. If you don’t see any smoke coming from the vent, it is time to replenish. At 2 hour intervals spray some ACV on the roast just to moisten it. It is okay to turn the roast over once, but not necessary.At 8 hours, check the internal temperature of the meat with a thermometer. It should read 190 degrees F or even a little higher. If it isn’t quite up to temperature remove the pan of drippings and place the butt inside the pan. Cover this with new aluminum foil and place the roast back in the smoker until it reaches the desired temperature, approximately 1 hour more. The pan and foil will help the meat to retain heat and cook thoroughly.Allow the fully cooked roast to rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes until cool enough to handle and to be able to remove the bone.While the pork is resting, make a BBQ sauce and cut some soft rolls to assemble pulled pork sandwiches.After the pork has cooled enough to touch, place it on a clean cutting board and pull the roast using 2 forks to shred the meat into strands, as shown in this video by eHow.Place the pulled pork (and juices if desired) in a large serving bowl or platter with some tongs for everyone to help themselves. You might want to remove some of the fat from the juices using a fat separator before adding to the pork.*If using a Masterbuilt charcoal smoker, rotate the meat every hour for more even cooking. In a 1 or 2 quart saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a low simmer.Cook and stir until the sugar has melted and the sauce has thickened but is still runny.Remove from the heat and serve immediately with your pulled pork.This will store well in the refrigerator if there is any left over. Crunchy coleslaw is probably the most popular accompaniment to a pulled pork sandwich. Another popular side is picked vegetables. My nephew once served a giant pulled pork for a holiday dinner with macaroni and cheese muffins that were to die for. this never said if I leave vent open or closed…this is my first time using it…I am confused.Always leave the vent open. Closing it restricts the oxygen and reduces the smokeI smoked a 5 1/3 lb. Butt at 225 degrees. Temp varies due to heating and cooling of smoker as it attempts to maintain set temp. I experienced the stall for several hours at 160 degrees, then a slow March to 195 at which point I removed the butt. Total elapsed time was 15 hours. 10 am to 1 am next morning. What could cause the excessive time? Really not fun.That’s how Barbecue is, Culberson. Just wait until you try your hand at brisket! 😁 They don’t call them pitmasters for nothing!When smoking a butt roast off around 9 pounds do I need to add more charcoal and what about the vents open or close? .we just bought this charcoal smoker and never used one before, would greatly appreciate your help.I would disagree with the cook time. Pretty much every pork butt smoker recipient calls for 90 min to 2 hours per pound. So an 8 pound pork but should take between 12-15 hours minimum. Mine has been in for 8 hours at 225 and internal temp is still only 147 degrees.My 8-9 lbs butts average alittle over 2 hours per pound at 225 (18 hours) but always turn out amazing. I agree that his time must be way off.Can you cook 2 butts at same time in the electric smoker?I’ve never had any luck with the wood chips smoking at the 225 degrees mark. I’ve always had to increase the temperature of my Masterbuilt Electric smoker to 265 degrees.I always set my Masterbuilt at 240 and I usually do two at a time – 8-10 lbs each. I add wood chips every 45 minutes and wrap in aluminum foil once they reach 160 – 165. I put them back in the smoker inside of an aluminum pan to catch juices that will run and close the vent. When they reach 200, I take them out of the smoker, drain the drippings into a 4 cup measuring cup (let cool and then place in the frig) and place them in a cooler and cover with towels for an hour or more. They will stay hot until you are ready to pull them. The fat from the drippings will come to the top of the measuring cup which you can scrape off and then pour the good juice in with the meat. If you freeze one, pour the juice into the freezer bag.Masterbuilt will smoke at 225 if you leave the top vent open and open the chip tray about 1/4 inch to allow draft. You can adjust this opening as you wish. This will also help to eliminate creosote from a cold burn. As the chip holder is only good for about an hour I purchased the external smoke generator from Amazon which will provide 2-3 hours of smoke. Here also you need to leave the ash pan door slightly open.I use peach wood soaked in cheap red wine. It only smokes and does not burn, makes all our smoked meats and smoked potatoes delicious!! I generally smoke most of the time@225.I’m smoking a 3.5 lb butt. How long and what temperature would I do it at? Every recipe I look up is for 8-12 lbs! Sometimes you don’t need that much!! Lol thanksDo you have the nutritional value for this pork recipe?Butts in the Fridge… question, when I put the butt in the smoker do I wrap it in foil first? Do I wait to when it reaches a certain temp and then wrap it?I have had a 9.6 lb. butt in my smoker for over 9 hours and it’s still only 170 degrees inside according to my instant read thermometer. I wrapped it and brought the temp up to 245, smells awesome but I’m figuring a minimum 12 hour cook.I also had problems with cooking times and a lack of smoke production. As it turned out, the temperature displayed by my electric Masterbuilt Smoker is off by 40 degrees. I verified the difference using stand-alone temperature probes. I now set the unit to 265 degrees to achieve the desired cooking temperature of 225 degrees. This addressed unusually long cooking times and now the unit produces great smoke and even better food.Folks I have smoked oodles of butts…and usually aim fr 240 cooking temp. I do NOT wrap my butts at 160… it ruins the bark IMhO. I want it crunchy. I shoot for 2 hrs/lb but allow for a bit longer if u inject them heavy…. Keep lid closed (if ur lookin u it aint cookin). Aim for 195 if you are going to serve from the smoker… You can pull them at 190 and wrap in double foil then a towel then into a small cooler and it will keep cooking on its own up to near 200. Expect to lose the crunch of the bark if wrapped like this. Myself.. I do my best to serve off the smoker…and watch folks face light up when crunching pork “candy”Should a butt be fat side up or fat side down?Hi there I’m new to this also, how long would you cook a 4 pound butt for? ThanksIve been following this thread for awhile..always perfect pork..but I hate having to open my smoker put a thermometer in the meat a wait to get temp..while all heat is leaving the box….i have the masterbuilt propane smoker..with 2 doors one on bottom is for chips and above it is the water pan..then the top door is for the meat..Can anyone recommend a good probe thermometer that I can I put into the meat and only open the meat door when the temp is where I need it?.Recipe is Great! Temp/time way underestimated. My 7.5 lb never hit the 195 internal temp after 12+ hours of smoking at 235 for 8 hours and 260 for 4+ hours.K so we are actually using a MasterBuilt smoker. Not sure if all these commenters were. Held consistent temp and got internal to 190 at about 10 hours on a very cool and breezy day (high temp of 55). Can’t wait to dig in!!!!The recipe was good but we omitted a few things. We smoked a 9.69lb Boston Butt bone in and it took almost 14 hours to get the internal temp to get to 190. But it was well worth that wait time… It was really good. yummyIt took 19 hrs. to reach internal temp. of 185 for an eight pound bone in pork shoulder and an additional hour at 275 wrapped in foil to reach 200. I followed the recipe for pulled pork sliders in my new masterbuilt smoker and said it would take 8 hrs, then 1-2 in foil. Way off.Ran into the same problem with my 3.6 lbs. brisket that took 10 hrs, instead of 4.5 hrs.The meat turned out great for both, but I think my smoker temperature may be off or the people writing the recipes for masterbuilt are off. Mine is less than 1 month old.Smoking Temp. Some comments suggest turning up the heat to 250+ to get the chips to smoke. I had the same problem until I abandoned the tray. I removed the internal bracket that held the chip tray and use a small disposable aluminum tray placed directly on the element (electric smoker). The tray holds up fine and I can get a thick dense smoke starting at 145 degrees.I have a Smokin It brand electric smoker. I smoke a lot of pork butts. I inject the butt the night before and use a dry rub. I do not use sugar in my rubs or injections as we are all keto and have adjusted the regular recipe to suit our needs. I smoke with a combo of hickory and apple pellets until 165. I then wrap in foil, baste once, and continue smoking until the internal thermometer reads 195-200. I let the meat rest, then eat. It pretty much comes out perfect every time.I usually go to 250 and 1.5 hours per pound. Don’t forget to cover it in foil and a towel snd let it rest in a cooker for an hour or so to get the juices back insideI just followed this to a tee and made the best pulled pork ever. Got all kinds of compliments, thanks! So can you recommend or point me to the best method for moist beef brisket!!!!?Rub 24 hours before entering smoker put desired juice on then smoke at 225 for 5 hours bare place butt in foil pan covered with desired juice cook another five hours once done at 195/200 rest an hour then take two forks pull apart and enjoyFollowed your lead, rubbed and set for 12 hrs. smoked two 10lb pork shoulder butt .@250 degrees .Every 45 to a hour spritzed with a combo of apple cider vinegar, apple juice and apple liquid smoke. Took 13 hours for a 195 temp. Rested for a hour. Crispy as hell and amazing !Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Masterbuilt Recipes - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy &amp; Contact Skip to Recipe

A Boston Butt is not really the rear end of a hog, as the name implies. This cut is the upper shoulder portion. It is sometimes labeled as a pork shoulder. But, make sure that what you are buying is actually the butt and not the lower portion of the front leg. That cut should be labeled as a picnic roast. The term “butt” refers to the barrels that were used to store the pork shoulder in for transporting purposes before we had sophisticated refrigeration. Why Boston? Boston Butt refers to the way the shoulder was cut and stored in early New England, commonly in Boston where the whole hogs...

Insanely Good Smoked Boston Butt for Pulled Pork Recipe

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS