Smoked Boston Butt

Pork Boston Butt - A Boston butt is a cut of pork shoulder—and despite the name, it has nothing to do with the pig’s rear. It actually comes from the upper part of the pig’s shoulder, near the neck. Also called pork butt or shoulder butt and it’s well-marbled with fat and connective tissue. Why it’s called “Boston butt”? The name dates back to colonial New England. Pork shoulder cuts were packed into barrels called “butts” and shipped from Boston, so the name stuck. It’s popular (especially for barbecue) because the fat and collagen make it perfect for low-and-slow cooking and it becomes tender and juicy when smoked or slow-roasted. A pork Boston butt is one of the most forgiving cuts of meat to smoke, which makes it perfect for beginners.

The Goal – Ok, so this is a no brainer, the goal is to smoke a fatty and very tough tissue cut of pork into the most ultra-tender and juicy, pull-apart meat that is jam packed with a smoky savory flavor. The connective tissue is packed with collagen, which is why this cut has to be cooked low-n-slow, only time and gentle heat will break that collagen down into rich, juicy gelatin. The end goal is to have the Boston butt tender and juicy and ready right on schedule for when you plan to serve your friends and family. In order for us to achieve this stress-free is to do an overnight smoke.

The Lessons Learned – A huge lesson I learned is that not all meats are equal. Meaning that you can have two of the same size butts, but one will cook faster than the other. This is why I rely on temperature and never the time. I have to admit; the Boston butt was the first cut of meat I ever smoked, and for good reason. It’s easy to work with and budget-friendly, which meant I could afford to make a mistake and learn from it until I perfected both tenderness and the flavor using different rubs. However, I found out the hard way that there is no way possible to speed up the cooking process. My first Boston butt was done on the Kamado Joe. The end result was excellent, but I wasn’t prepared to stay up all night for an 18-hour cook, especially the nonstop vent adjustments needed to hold a steady 225°. I had a time planned for 6pm to start eating with friends and family and the butt did not reach its 203 internal temperature till after 10pm. The Kamado Joe was a nice expensive smoker using real wood, but I quickly knew this wasn’t for me. I needed a setup that didn’t demand constant attention, freeing me up to fine-tune other recipes. I’ve found it’s best to start tough meats like Boston butt and brisket the day before, especially with my Pit Boss and Traeger electric smokers. They’ve really leveled up my smoking game, sparked my creativity with new recipes, and made everything a lot easier. I’ve also learned how to turn the leftovers into some seriously good recipes, and I’ll be sharing those here on the site soon.

The Prep - I usually get my Boston butts at Sam’s Club. You can’t beat the deal of getting a 10lb butt for around $23 at the time of this writing. Take the butt out of the packaging and rinse it in cold water. Then dry really good with paper towels and prepare to trim the fat cap with a long sharp knife. Try to carve the fat cap off in one big piece and wrap it up and put it in the fridge because you will need this…I will explain later. I’ve studied plenty of recipes and watched tons of videos about using mustard as a binder, but it never made complete sense. I tried it myself a few times and kept thinking there had to be a solution that’s not just better, but more practical for real smoking. I realized that brushing or spraying plain olive oil works just fine—and truth be told, my smoked Boston butts had a better bark using it. For this recipe, cut nice shallow diamond cuts (about ½ deep) across the top of the butt and use an even coat of olive oil for the binder. Next, generously cover the butt with your preferred pork rub starting with the bottom first, then turn over to cover the top. Don’t get confused to which is top and bottom as we want to smoke with the fat cap side up. I will explain later why this is important. I make my rubs in big batches and label them to match the flavor profile. This time, we’re going for sweet and smoky with a nice little bite. Next, wrap up the butt and refrigerate it overnight. I usually use a 10×12×2½-inch aluminum pan, which I buy in bulk from Amazon or Sam’s Club. It fits a 10-pound butt perfectly and keeps things tidy. Get your probes setup to the high/low temps you want.

The Cook – Get your probes setup to the high/low temps you want. I set my low to 140°F in case something happens like running out of pellets and my high to 160°F because that is the temp we are going for before we take the butt off the grates and wrap them up. I like using two probes on each thick top side of the Boston butt away from the bone. This will be an overnight smoke so take out the butt the next afternoon and add more rub since most of it would have penetrated into the meat and drizzle some honey for the money to the top and fire up your smoker to 190°F and get ready for a slow, flavorful cook. Wait 30-60 minutes to allow the meat temp to start adjusting as your smoker is heating up. Because this is an overnight smoke, make sure you have plenty of pellets in the hopper. My Traeger doesn't have a large hopper so I have a hopper extender that works very well for overnight smokes. I prefer using apple pellets, though fruit pellets such as apple or cherry are excellent choices, bringing a sweet, smoky note to the meat we are after. I put my Boston butt on at 5 PM and let it go all night, with my trusty wireless ThermPro up to 1,000 ft sitting on the nightstand keeping tabs on everything while I am sleeping. Make sure the batteries in the thermometer have a nice charge so if anything goes wrong, the bells and whistles will wake you up. It would make for a bad day if our batteries died on us in the middle of a night cook.

Ok, this where the most important step begins to have that smoky, tender and juicy pork we are achieving. Take the butt out of the aluminum pan (save the pan) and place the butt directly on the grates of your smoker. Remember how we talked about that fat cap? Here’s where my method is a little different, and it’s worked very well over the years. Since this is an overnight smoke, it will need a shot of moisture every hour to keep it from drying out, but honestly, who wants to spritz it every hour? Not me. Take the fat cap and place it right on top of the butt as if you are crowning it with a little hat. It will be good enough for a king after all…right? The fat cap melts slowly, basting the butt all night and locking in moisture—brilliant, if I do say so myself. Now you can sleep like a baby knowing that your thermometer and smoker is doing all the work like a slow cooker.

Next morning, fire the smoker up to 225°F and remove the fat cap—it’s done its job. From this point on, we will spritz with straight apple juice every hour until the internal temp reaches 160°F. On this particular cook for me, the internal temp hit 140°F at 8 AM, so it was time to crank the heat. Keep in mind, every cut of meat is different, so the timing will change from cook to cook.

To BBQ Sauce or Not? – Ok, this is debatable… I prefer NOT to add any BBQ sauce of any kind for many reasons. I don’t believe in putting A1 sauce or ketchup on a filet mignon. Why ruin the natural flavor of such a prime meat? Same goes for a Boston butt. Once you add BBQ sauce and smoke it, you just committed to the taste. With countless BBQ sauce flavors and differing palates, everyone can customize their pulled pork to spice it up or add a flavor that hits their taste buds just right.

The Wrap - Once internal temp reaches 160°F, take the butt out of the smoker and place it back in the 10×12×2½-inch aluminum pan we used before. Use high-quality BBQ gloves, as the meat will be far too hot to handle with bare hands. Set the high alarm on your ThermPro to 203°F, so you get the heads-up the instant your butt reaches its mark. I don’t mess with my probes if they are in a good spot, I leave my probes in place when wrapping. (For this cook, the internal temp finally hit 10:30 AM) Do not add any BBQ sauce of any kind. For this cook, I like to drizzle lots of honey for the money (Mike’s Hot Honey is my go-to), add brown sugar approx. ½ cup liberally, and a bit of maple syrup (optional) to really wake up the flavors. Then pour in 4 oz of apple juice. Leaving the probes in place, cover the pan nice and tight with aluminum foil so no steam can escape and put the pan on the grates of the smoker. Just like a pressure cooker, this is where the final breakdown and tenderizing of the meat happen.

Once the internal temp hits 203°F on any of the probes, (my cook hit the temp at 1:30PM) take it out of the smoker and place it in a nice insulated cooler for a minimum of 1 hour. The longer you let it render, the better it will be all around. On this cook I personally let mine sit in my large Yeti cooler for 3 ½ hours and it was still too hot to pull apart. This is perfect because I set the time for people to eat at 5PM. This gave me a 3 ½ window of relaxing or getting other side dishes ready, or drinking my favorite adult beverage…..or all of the above!

The Presentation & Taste – You will know right away when you grab hold of the bone and it pulls right out and no meat will be stuck to it. Go ahead and start shredding the pork up. I sometimes use a set of Bear Claws to pull it apart, but I found it to be easier to just use your hands with gloves on. If you choose to pull by hand, be careful as the pork could still be extremely hot. Leave the juices in the pan as they’ll keep your pulled pork ultra-moist and loaded with flavor. I’ll typically offer a variety of barbecue sauce flavors, so guests can choose their preferred taste whether it’s hot and spicy or another flavor they enjoy.

Accomplishment & Joy - Nothing beats seeing the joy on my friends and family’s faces when they take that first bite of my Boston butt pulled pork. Follow this step-by-step guide, and you’ll feel like the BBQ pitmaster in your own backyard.

Rub Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoon course black pepper
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

Ingredients on Wrapping

• ½ cup brown sugar
• 8 oz honey
• 4 oz maple syrup