Smoking a Pork Butt

Listen: Boats in the lake and children laughing
Drink: Ice water, ice water, beer, ice water, ice water, gin and tonic


Last night, we got our elbows juicy during our annual chopped pork sandwich feast. In our family, this is the culinary equivalent to the Super Bowl. Pork butts are discussed and selected weeks ahead. We got ours this year from The Good Shepherd Farm near Wausau, and she was a beauty. I estimate she was about 10 lbs, bone-in, with a nice marbling of fat throughout.

The day before smoking day, assemble your rub. I use paprika (not smoked) as a base and generally add chili powder, dry mustard, sugar, salt, white pepper, chipotle or cayenne powder, cumin, powdered onion or garlic, and ground sage. Pull out your pork, rinse under cold water, and pat dry. Examine carefully for blood cuts or bruises, and excise these if you see them. I also take off (per Mike Mills) any hard fat that won't render down during the smoke. A good pork butt should have plenty of fat marbled through the meat, so you don't need a great deal of fat on top of the meat. Sprinkle the pork butt all over with the rub, but for heaven's sake, don't rub the meat with the rub lest you clog the pores of the meat and prevent the smoke from penetrating. Right before you go to bed, toss chunks of hickory and apple wood into a large bucket of water to soak overnight. You can use chips if you can't find chunks, but the chips are too fussy and require too much tending in my book. You can usually find the chunks in any good hardware store.

It's also helpful before game day to make sure your grill is nice and clean. Shovel out all accumulated charcoal dust from the bottom, and empty the ash pan.

On game day, you have to get up early. A big butt will take 10-12 hours (if not more) to smoke low and slow. I can never get the meat on before 8, and the children can't wait much past 7 to eat, which is why I slice and chop the pork rather than pull it. Also, the Hy's barbecue sandwich from my youth was always chopped, so chopped feels more like the real deal to me.

Back to game day -- pull the butt out of the refrigerator while you are preparing the coals. I use an extra large chimney starter to get the coals (lump hardwood only, please) started. My father-in-law has an extra large Weber with gadgets built in to keep the charcoal to the side. If you don't have those fancy charcoal holders (you can buy them as well), just shove the hot coals to one side so that you have enough room for a large rectangular pan full of water on the other half of the bottom grill. Add hot coals and wet hickory and apple chunks over the coals. Place the meat fat side down on the top grill, positioned over the pan of water. Put the top on the grill and start playing with the top and bottom vents until you get the temperature to about 250 degrees. It will start off hot and level off. The bottom vent is your real control over the fire -- the top to a lesser extent. It usually takes my grill about 30 minutes to get down to temperature.

Smoke at around 250 degrees for about 10-12 hours. After the first hour, flip the meat over so that the fat flap is on the top. Occasionally, you may need to flip the meat but try to keep the fat side up more often than not. I have an auxiliary mini-Weber plus mini chimney starter in which I keep live coals going at all times. Ensure that the temp stays at 250 degrees to 300 degrees, and that smoke is always coming out of the top vent. After the meat starts to brown on the outside, spritz with apple juice or white wine each time you fuss with the meat.

After the meat is how you like it (180 degrees or so if you want to pull the bone clean out of the pork), wrap in foil for half hour to let steam while you get the rest of your fixings together. After about a half hour of steaming, unwrap the meat and slice and chop, or pull, the pork. Spoon the meat onto a white trash hamburger bun (no whole wheat or gourmet buns need apply), and top with slaw and dill pickle slices. Pass the sauces separately, on the side, and pile in extra napkins. We find that we have no appetite for sides except for sliced tomatoes, and Nana's rhubarb pie.

If you need sauces, look at Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, & Honest Fried Chicken for the South Carolina style marinade. Or, you can try the sauce we enjoyed this summer: saute half a minced onion in 3 tbsp. melted butter; add a half bottle of Heinz organic ketchup; add half cup or so white vinegar; half cup or so brown sugar; quarter cup Jack Daniels bourbon; 2 tbsp. molasses; pinch cayenne powder, salt, and white pepper.

Enjoy!