Smoking a pork butt

We had this beautiful 4 lb pork butt from Heritage Farms. The last time we had a butt, I was overly cautious when I smoked it, expecting 1) that if the butt were smaller, it would cook in less time and 2) that putting in straight into the rack meant it would lost all its moistness, so I wrapped it in foil.

This time, I followed the recipe exactly. Josh set up the Egg and we overall, kept the temperature between 325 and 350 as in the recipe. Here follows the pork butt story.

It's a beautiful piece of meat, heavy with fat and marbling! It was frozen, so I left it in the fridge to thaw over several days, taking up prime real estate in our tiny fridge.

I still had some of Steven Raichlen's basic barbecue rub in a jar, so that made it easier to prep. I forgot that he recommends doing the rub up to 24 hours before so the taste really soaks in. One day I will remember to do it in advance!

Anyhow, it looks very pretty. We closed the grill and left it to smoke.

Hour one in. I added more wet mesquite wood chips and "mopped", that is doused, the butt in the mop: a combination of brown sugar, red pepper flakes, onions, cider vinegar, and jalapenos. I did learn from last time and I mixed the mixture together before adding the onions and jalapenos.

We'll have to get me a little mop.

Hour two. It's getting a nice color. More wood chips added, and another dousing.

Hour three. The charring continues and you can see where it's starting to chunk in pieces.

Another view of hour three. Added more wood chips and another dousing.

Hour four. The meat thermometer registers over 195 (as the recipe says) in all places. The fat has a great char on it.

Another view of hour four. The char crackles as I pick it up with the tongs and put it onto my sheet plan.

Cover it loosely with foil and then let it rest for 15 minutes.

I separated out some of the meat and chopped it for tacos. It was at this time that Josh said: you chop it Chinese-style. That's funny. Okay, but don't chop any more.

Then we had tacos for dinner with a mixture of roasted jalapenos (leftovers from my breakfast burrito batch making), green cabbage, crema, oaxacan cheese, cilantro, white onions, and avocado. Quite tasty. I had four.

Then I set to shredding the pork with forks as one should. The inside-most meat was the juiciest as one would imagine. The fat had a luscious char that was satisfying to chop up.

All mixed together, the fatty meat, lean meat, fat, and fat chat mixed together. Delicious indeed. We'll eat this for a few days.