Cooking a Boston Butt for BBQ

[sherpa]

The wife bought a 14 pound boston butt last weekend and we want to make some BBQ with it. I know there are some fancy ways to do this but let me tell you what we were thinking.

1-Since we dont know what we are doing and this is our first time, we thought about cutting it into 3rds and expermenting 3 different ways
Do we need to forget the ideal of 3 pieces and just cook the whole thing?

2-We have a gas grill and a charcoal grill and can use either.

3-We didnt want to go out and buy a bunch of stuff to marnade it with and besides town is 20 miles away. We got some stuff here including BBQ sauce. Comment on this?

4-Do we need to wrap it in foil, been told to not do that and been told to?

Can anyone make some suggestions to us on a simple way to cook it, we need some help here?
mtnman

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

I remember seeing some BBQ recipies on the CBN site...

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Sherpa,
You might take a look over on Related Topics, Homebrews thread " Happiness #2 ". He has some experience smooking andf marinating different meats FYI.

 

[anojones]

A butt is a very forgiving piece of meat and you'll probably do fine cooking it in one piece, but cutting it into two 7lb chunks would probably work just fine. The best way to cook these is low and slow- it's a fatty piece and needs a long slow cook to bring out the best. You can count on cooking it anywhere from 10-20 hours. Choose your grill, get it warm to 225-250 F and cook until the meat is about 190 F internal, wrap in foil and let it rest in a cooler for an hour or so and then pull it apart (it will fall apart). When your cooking it will get to about 160 degrees and then slow down cooking while the collagen breaks down. During the first few hours of the cook add some hardwood chips or chunks to the grill to give it a little smoke. You'll have to manage the fire to keep the temp around 225- but it's worth it. You don't need any fancy marinades- and I wouldn't add the bbq sauce until after it's cooked. Make up a simple dry rub with some salt, pepper, a bit of brown sugar, some garlic powder, paprika- whatever (google of a good dry rub) and rub it onto the meat and then throw it on bbq. While these take a long time to cook, they turn out well even if you under of overcook a bit and the meat can be vacum packed (or put in ziplocks) and frozen and reheats well. Now if someone can tell me how to cook a brisket as well as they do in central texas- i'm all ears (not a forgiving piece of meat!).

 

[LMTC]

Do an online search for barbecue university. There you will find bbs with literally thousands of searchable posts about barbecue. We cook whole shoulders.....8-12#, three at a time on our Char-Grill smoker...the best $$ value out there in a smoker. We have $170 into the smoker and firebox. It has become a passion for us since first trying it. Shoulders, ribs, roasts, briskets and much more. Smoked jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with a slice of bacon...my oh my.

Low and slow is the key. Given proper time and temps all the fat and the cartilage will melt down, leaving bone (if there is one) and exceedingly tender meat. We usually smoke with just charcoal, sometimes adding a few sticks of apple wood. Those three aforementioned shoulders take around 18 hours. After they cool, we sit around the table and pull them, then bag with a tilia vacuum sealer and freeze for quick delicious meals. ziplock does not work nearly as well.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Do exactly as anojones (LMTC too) said. If you cut it in half, try pulling one off early so it's still slicable instead of pull-apart ... then you have the best of both worlds

 

[Highbeam]

The toughest part is regulating the temperature of a gas or charcoal "grill" to the 225 area for extended periods. Most grills don't even have a thermometer much less an accurate one.

I have also found that extended barbecues with charcoal fired cookers put plenty of smoke flavor into the meat with nothing but charcoal.

For a smaller commitment in time and money, a whole chicken stuffed into a 225 degree BBQ for 3 hours will be pull apart smooth and most pleasant.

No aluminum foil while cooking. If you want a butt from an oven then why not just use the oven. Slow and low exposed to the dry heat and aroma of the fire.

 

[forgeblast]

When we have smaller pieces we will just crock pot it. We have a very large one and let it cook for 10-12 hours and then add our seasoning. it just falls apart when we are done with it and clean up is a breeze.
forgeblast

 

[MossRoad]

I'm with the crock pot crowd. We frequently have family parties and bar-b-que is the way to go. We take any chunk of meat, beef, pork, chicken, even turkey, toss it in the crock pot and add a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's or KC Masterpiece to it, set it on low in the morning and let it cook all day. Then we take it out of the crock pot and use two forks to pull the meat apart into shreds, and taking any fat that is left away. Then we toss the meat in a pan on the stove with another bottle of sauce and let it simmer for a half an hour before serving on buns of your choice. Pulled meat bar-b-que. MMMMmmmmmm!!!!

 

[scott_vt]

I'm with the crock pot crowd. We frequently have family parties and bar-b-que is the way to go. We take any chunk of meat, beef, pork, chicken, even turkey, toss it in the crock pot and add a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's or KC Masterpiece to it, set it on low in the morning and let it cook all day. Then we take it out of the crock pot and use two forks to pull the meat apart into shreds, and taking any fat that is left away. Then we toss the meat in a pan on the stove with another bottle of sauce and let it simmer for a half an hour before serving on buns of your choice. Pulled meat bar-b-que. MMMMmmmmmm!!!!

Mossroad,
The wifes been using that technique for quite some time, and quite successfully I might add