About this Recipe

By: Kevin Clayton

Pork Shoulder (aka Pork Butt or Boston Butt) is among the most budget friendly and forgiving cuts of meat to smoke. Typically selling for just a few dollars per pound, you will have enough meat to feed a huge party, plus an abundance of left-overs! It is an incredibly easy and delicious meat to smoke, making it ideal for both beginners and seasoned pros alike.

As an extremely versatile staple of BBQ, enjoy pulled pork in a BBQ sandwich with some butter pickles and spicy mustard; Chopped with potato salad, fresh green beans and baked mac & cheese; or even in a skillet grilled Tex-Mex style quesadilla. With a few helpful hints, even the greenest of smokers can produce mouth watering results every time!

I typically try to find an 8 pound pork butt/shoulder or larger. The reason I prefer larger cuts is to increase smoking time (flavor) without overcooking the meat (moistness). You can use anywhere from 6-10 lbs. pork shoulder, but I would try not to use anything less than 6 lbs. if at all possible. The high fat content of pork shoulder means you do not have to worry as much about the meat drying out during the smoking process. Because of this, brining is not really necessary. As long as you are spraying the meat with an Apple Cider Vinegar solution at the 3 hour mark (and then every 30 minutes until wrapped), the pork will come out perfectly cooked.

Wrapping a piece of meat during the smoking process, once it reaches the stall, is known as the Texas crutch. This is a widely known trick which helps to insulate the meat in order to overcome what is known as ‘the stall’. The stall is a phenomenon that occurs in the smoking process, when the meat reaches about 140-150 degrees and begins a process known as evaporative cooling (similar process as sweating to help lower body temperature). Once the stall occurs, the temperature will hover around 140-150 degrees. This will typically last about 4 hours, but can range from 2-6 hours. To combat this, many Texas pit-masters began wrapping the meat in foil or butcher paper. This helps to insulate the meat (which in turn keeps it moist) while also speeding up the stall period.

A big debate in the BBQ world is whether to wrap with heavy duty aluminum foil or butcher paper. Both have pros and cons, but I have found that butcher paper (peach paper) works best. It is the perfect balance between being an insulator during the stall process, while also allowing the smoke to continue building bark & flavor. If you do not have butcher paper, it is not the end of the world, but be sure to use heavy duty aluminum foil. The reason is that here will be some fluid trapped in the wrap along with the meat, and regular aluminum foil is more prone to tearing, which could result in a huge mess!

Ingredients

Rinse pork shoulder, and pat dry. Season liberally with salt, and BBQ rub. Place in Smoker and set to 225 degrees for 2-3 hours. At the 3 hour mark, spray pork with spritzer (continue spraying every 30 minutes) Using a temperature probe or instant read thermometer, once pork reaches 160-170 degrees remove pork shoulder (give one last good spritz) and wrap in foil / butcher paper (typically around 6 hours into smoke, but varies for each smoker.) Return to the smoker and continue at 225 until pork reaches 205 degrees, and very little resistance when inserting instant read thermometer (think room temperature butter). Remove and let cool in wrap for 1-2 hours. Shred pork with meat claws, or two forks.