This is an 8 lb Boston butt I did awhile back - planned for an early Saturday cook. It was actually the first thing I cooked in my Smokin-It model 1! Hope you all enjoy! It turned out really good.
Friday evening, I prepared my rub, and bbq sauce, and trimmed the Boston butt. I planned to have it in the smoker by 5 am Saturday (8 pound roast, figured on a 12-hour cook). I also foiled the smoker so I wouldn't have to do it in the dark Saturday morning, just add the wood then. Here's my rub and sauce recipes:
Dry Rub:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1/3 cup paprika
2 Tbls granulated garlic
2 Tbls onion powder
1 Tsp cayenne
1 Tsp black pepper
1 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp coriander
...and the sauce (based on a St Louis-style sauce I found on the internet):
2 cups ketchup
1/2 c water
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c brown sugar
2 Tbls yellow mustard
1 Tbls onion powder
1 Tbls garlic powder
1 Tsp cayenne
1/3 cup honey
A little "Kitchen Bouquet" browning sauce to take away the red color (if you want to)
Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer until well-blended. Note: be prepared to constantly stir this mixture when you add heat! Ketchup will bubble up and splatter everywhere if you don't keep the sauce moving! When hot and well-blended, remove from heat and place in the fridge overnight (it allows the spices to really develop). It's good right after cooking, but is even better after it sits 24-hours.
Saturday, 4:30 am:
First things first - put on a pot of coffee! Next, get the butt out of the fridge and prepare to rub it down. I coated it well with yellow mustard, and applied the rub. This took all of about 10 minutes, so time to have a cup of coffee and let it sit for about 20-minutes.
On to the smoker! I put 3 hickory dowels in the smoker (along with a hunk of chunk charcoal), put the meat in and fired the little beast up to 225. Now to relax and drink some more coffee!
About 6-hours into the cook, temp had climbed to about 158, and the stall began. It took about 3 more hours to climb another ten-degrees. I spritzed a couple of times with apple juice, and let the juices rise to the surface. It was looking really nice at this point! I just kept the temp constant at 225 and let the internal temp rise. When it finally got to 195 (at 13-hours total time), I pulled it and wrapped it in foil.
I only let it rest about 15-minutes while I finished the other food (we were starving by this point - especially my almost-14-year-old eating machine, who I like to call "my son!"
Now, for the moment of truth! I unwrapped my creation with nervous anticipation, put it in a large glass dish, and removed the bone. The bone slid right out, clean as a whistle! That's a good sign, I thought. My son knew that was good from the grin on my face.
Without delay, I began pulling it. The meat was very moist and just fell apart. The bark was dark and chewy, just the way I like it! My wife, who is not a fan of "over-smoked" meat, tasted it and said she was amazed at how good it was! That one definitely got another grin out of me!
We loaded up the fresh Kaiser rolls with heaps of the delectable morsels, slathered them with warm sauce, and tore in like sharks on a blood trail!
All in all, the family said it was probably the best pulled pork they had ever eaten, and the sauce was also a big hit!
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