Smoked pork butt

I have a really hard time maintaining a steady temperature with my smoker. Because of that, I usually start with smoking the pork butt to infuse it with flavor, but then I transfer it into an oven to finish cooking at a steady temperature.

It’s definitely cheating, but the results are pretty solid.

Ingredients

  • Pork butt

  • Equal parts salt and fresh ground black pepper mixed. Go heavy on this. It’s hard to over-season pork butt.

  • Yellow mustard

  • Paprika (optional)

  • Garlic powder (optional)

  • Brown sugar (optional)

  • For gravy: Make a 1:1 ratio water to all-purpose flour ratio.

Equipment

  • Smoker

  • Meat thermometer

Instructions

  1. Fire up the charcoal smoker.

  2. While the smoker is heating up, prepare the pork butt. Slather it with the yellow mustard, and then rub on the dry ingredients.

  3. Throw it on the smoker, cover, and let it smoke for at least 3-4 hours. Keep a drip pan underneath if you want to make gravy alter. If you can maintain a steady 225 degrees Fahrenheit, keep it on the smoker. If not, there’s no shame to moving the pork butt to the oven. Let it cook until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. At this temperature, it takes about 2 hours per pound of pork butt.

  4. Remove the meat from the smoker or oven, and let it rest under foil cover for at least an hour before cutting.

  5. While the pork butt is resting, collect the drippings in a saucepan, pour in the water and flour slurry, and cook over low heat while constantly stirring. This will turn into a gravy that pairs really well with the pork butt. Adjust the flavor as needed.

Tips

The 200 degree internal temperature is key. Once the meat hits this temperature, the connective tissue breaks down, leading to a super tender and flavorful result.