Smoking a boneless pork shoulder, aka pork butt, is the second-easiest thing to smoke aside from chicken wings. It is forgiving and can feed many people when you are on a budget, and the flavor train can be mind-blowing. Who doesn’t like pulled pork sandwiches, or pulled pork by itself with a side of pulled pork? Throw in some onion, slaw, and baked beans, and you have a classic backyard meal everyone can enjoy.
As with most meat, there is a value to low and slow cooks on the smoker. However, the minor differences between a hot and fast cook are, in my opinion, not worth the time and effort. I LOVE to roll smoke on my grills/smokers, but the days of babysitting during the cooks are long gone for me - thankfully. There’s no real standout benefit to low and slow when smoking pulled pork. So this recipe contemplates a hot and fast cook - roughly 5-6 hours.
It is always entertaining when I see people display obvious abhorrence when they learn I am smoking a boneless pork butt. As counterintuitive as it sounds, it is a cut of meat that actually comes from the upper shoulder of a pig, which is sometimes called a shoulder roast or a blade roast — or blade roast with the bone removed. How it became called a pork butt is an interesting read, as there are several opinions. I do not care what it is called, I just know it is fantastic.
You Will Need:
- Digital meat thermometer
- Disposable aluminum pan
- Disposable gloves are great if available
- BBQ paper, aka pink butcher paper or aluminum foil
- Large tongs or meatforks.
- Grill gloves
- Fuel source
- Large cutting board
- Spray bottle or BBQ spritzer
- Sharp knife
Ingredients:
- Pork butt. A good rule of thumb is 3/4 to 1 lb. of cooked meat per person. A 10-12 lb. roast will feed 10 people nicely for a backyard BBQ. Leftovers are killer!
- Yellow mustard for binder
- Your favorite BBQ rub. Doing two butts? Try two different rubs to mix up the flavor profiles for your guests. You can never go wrong with simple
- SPG
- (salt, pepper, garlic)
- Cranberry and apple juice
Preparation:
- Trim off the fat cap to less than 1/2 inch thick
- Place the roast in the aluminum pan and slather all sides with mustard
- Generously coat the entire brisket with dry rub. You may think you are way over seasoning. You are not!
- Cover with foil and let sit in the fridge for about an hour
Cooking Steps:
- Preheat the smoker to 300° F.
- Add real mesquite or pecan wood chunks to the firebox if using a non-pellet grill
- Place the pork butt on the smoker and cook to an internal temperature of 165° F. Approx 5-7 hours, but cook to internal temperature and not time. Make that meat thermometer work for you
- Spritz the entire roast with the cranberry and apple juice mixture every 30 minutes
- Pull roast, give it one more good spritz, and double wrap in BBQ paper or foil
- Place back on the smoker. Flip every 30 minutes and cook to an internal temperature of 205° F
- Pull roast from the smoker. Allow it to rest wrapped on the countertop for a minimum of 1 hour, 2 hours works even better. The temperature will rise another 5-10° during the rest, and the rendered fat will seep into the muscle fibers, making it juicy. Don’t skip the resting part!
- The pork butt is ready to shred and serve. I recommend you use cotton gloves covered with nitrile gloves, as that roast is going to be HOT
- Once shredded I give the meat one last sprinkle of rub and a spritz of juice before serving
Pulled pork tastes amazing fresh off of the grill/smoker, and even better the next day, that is if there is any left! This recipe will definitely make you a hero among your guests, and you do not have to tell them how easy it actually was to make. Roll that smoke and make your guests smile!
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