New Years Eve Boston Butts

This year I thought it would be a good idea to close out 2012 and welcome 2013 with some good BBQ.  Given that this is also my first pork shoulder post, I did it right by cooking 16.5 lbs of Boston Butt.  A Boston Butt is the cut from the upper part of the shoulder that may contain a blade bone.  Around the time of the revolutionary war certain cuts of pork were referred to as "high on the hog" and packaged into casks or barrels also known as Butts.  The way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became commonly known as a Boston Butt.  Here is a rundown of my cook of an 8 lb and 8.5 lb bone in pork butt. 

 

Step 1: Place your pork should fat side down on a cooking tray.  I used my grill screens so that my rub would adhere better on all sides rather than sticking to the pan.

Step 2: This is optional, but I chose to partially seperate the money muscle from the pork shoulder.  In the picture above you will notice the end closes to the camera has a muscle or striations in the meat.  This is referred to as the money muscle, and it is very tender and often sliced for eating rather than pulled with the rest of the shoulder.  Notice in the picture below that I partially seperated it by cutting around the fat layer surrounding it.

 Step 3: I tend to use Dizzy Pig's Red Eye Express to season my pork shoulders.  There are two methods to applying a rub, and I used both here.  The butt on the right was just seasoned applying the rub directly on the meat evenly.  The butt on the left has a thin coating of yellow mustard and honey rubbed all over.  This helps the rub adhere to it just a little more creating a thicker bark.  Flavor wise, they tend to taste just about the same. 

The purpose to detaching the money muscle was to get as much rub as possible all the way around it.  This way the bark covers about 75% and helps with appearance and taste once it's fully seperated and sliced.

Step 4: Put the butts fat side up on the smoker so that the fat can render into the meat as it cooks keeping it moist.  A general rule is to allow 1-1.5 hrs per pound of meat when cooking at 225 degrees.  I actually cooked mine between 275-300 degrees and finished them in under 6 hours.

 Butts pictured below are after about 2 hours.  I used a combination of cherry chunks and chips along with some pecan chips for my smoke flavor.

The butts pictured below now are reaching around 160 degrees.  I typically pull mine once they have reached 160 degrees internal temp and will wrap them in foil with honey, brown sugar, and squirt butter.  This is also around the time you will want to slice off the money muscle as it will tend to fall apart the hotter the meat goes.  Wrap the money muscle in foil and allow to rest in a cooler.

Place the rest of the butts back on the smoker until they reach 190-200 internal temp.  A butt will pull or "fall apart" around 190 degrees, but I like to cook mine to around 195-200.

Step 5: Make BBQ Sauce.  I let this simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes so all ingredients come together. 

Below is my NYE BBQ sauce recipe.  The cinnamon was a new addition and really added a nice flavor.

 Step 6: Once my Butts reached an internal temp of 200 I pulled them and rewrapped in clean foil.  I then wrapped them in a towel and placed them in a cooler to "rest" for an hour.  This retains moisture and still provides very warm pork shoulder for pulling.  Notice the nice bark pictured below and the pink edges referred to as a smoke ring.

Step 7: This picture is the final product with sliced money muscle in the upper left hand corner.  This turned out to be really good pork shoulder enjoyed by many on New Years Eve.