Speaking of grilling

Smoking a couple of Boston Butts today. Here’s how. The night before, buy some butts, remove them from the package, run water over them then dab with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Do not remove the fat. It adds moisture and prevents burning in the event your fire gets out of control. Make your rub. Here’s mine (I use rough percentages because who knows how much you’ll make):

30% Brown sugar
10% Kosher salt
10% Garlic powder
10% Mustard powder
5% Cumin
5% Cinnamon
10% Paprika
10% Chili powder
10% Red pepper (powder, not flakes)

And some fresh ground black pepper to taste.

As you can see, it’s largely brown sugar. Next, rub your butt. Well, rub the, err, rub on the meat. You can even slap your butt a few times for good measure. Do both sides. Place them in a large dish, cover in foil and place it in the fridge over night. This lets the rub really sink in. While your at it, take some mesquite or hickory logs or chunks and place them in a bucket. Cover with water and let them sit over night as well.

The next day, get up and make a fresh pot of coffee (this will be important later). Have a cup or two. Then, fire up the smoker. I like to use charcoal and add my soaked wood chunks every couple of hours. The soaked chips make a lot more smoke.

Now, take one 12oz can of your favorite beer and pour it into a bowl. Add roughly equal parts vinegar and the left over coffee you just enjoyed. Add a bout 1/4 cup of minced garlic to that. This stuff works wonders at both keeping your butts moist and adding a tangy garlicky flavor. Once your smoker settles between about 250-300 degrees (never over 300), put your big butt on there. About once every half hour, I take about a quarter cup of the beer/coffee/vinegar mixture and just pour it over the top of that big ol’ butt. I cook my butts for between 7-12 hours while drinking beer, and lounging around. An empty beer is a good reminder to go and pour some mixture over your butts.

Here we are about three hours in.

Yum. Notice they’re dark from the rub, which is now starting to crisp up a bit. After about 7-12 hours, sample a piece. If satisfied, remove from smoker, chop up or pull apart. Use your favorite mop sauce to have barbecue sandwiches or pulled pork. Also, if you buy one, you may as well buy 2 or 3. You can freeze any leftovers and they’ll keep for months.

ETA: And the garden shovel is to remove coals as needed.

ETA 2: And I rarely flip mine. If I do, I do it once about half way through.

Posted in Recipes on June 16th, 2007 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |