Looking for a Boston Butt Rub Receipe

1/4 cup black or white pepper or mix
1/4 cup your favorite paprika
1/8 cup sugar (cane, beet, light brown, dark brown, turbinado, or mix)
1/8 cup kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon cayenne powder

Start with that basic pulled pork rub recipe and adjust for your tastes. Add more sugar if too much heat. Add more salt if too sweet.

Think balance.

You can also add:

cumin
cloves
celery seed
rosemary
garlic
onion
jalapeno dust
other sweet or hot pepper

etc.

Experiment, take good notes, have fun, enjoy!

GLH:

How do you recommend applying the rub mixture and how long does it need to absorb/soak in before I can start smoking? Since I have never done a Boston Butt I need a bit more help. My friend suggested a light spray of apple juice every hour to keep the meat moist do you think this is necessary or will it just make the cooking time longer?

My MECO water smoker has one of those idiot temperature dials it reads warm/ideal/hot I have no idea of the temp when it is "IDEAL" but that is where I try to keep it when doing chickens or a turkey it has worked so far even though it is a pain in the "Butt".

BTW I bought a digital temp probe that has a 3" cable so I can know the meat temperature and I can
"keep the door closed"

Thanks for your help GHL or others that have suggestions.


Swede

Slather on some plain yellow mustard first, then a thick coat of rub. Alternatively, you can make a sort of paste with the mustard and the rub, and slather it on heavy. Apply the rub and/or paste the night before and put back in the fridge.

I think you might need to get that water smoker in between the ideal and the hot reading for that butt. You will never get the butt to 195* if you open every hour and spray.

Good luck. Let us know.

Swede -- regarding your temp in the smoker: take your probe and run it thru a potato or a ball of aluminum foil and set it in the smoker with the lid on. The tip of the probe is where the heat is detected. Take note of where your El Cheapo therm is (low, ideal, hot) when your digital reaches 225˚ - 250˚ and use that for your gage. This way you will have some idea of the temp of the smoker.

Now you can put the probe in the butt and keep an eye on the internal temp.

Just a simple sugestion.

Good luck!

I bought a Brinkman temperature gage at Sutherland Lumber drilled a hole in the lid where I can see the temp. With the smoker setting inside a cardboard wind shield the temp is running about 250 inside the smoker. I had to cover the top to keep the heat in we cut some holes in the cardboard to be able to read the heat temp. I stuck the meat probe in the butt so I can read the meat temp I also stuck my chicken temp probe in the cardboard so I could monitor it's temp so it don't get to hot and catch fire.

I will be a lot easier when I get a Model 55 this is to much effort and not so much fun. I told the wife at least we will have something good to eat when it gets done. I will let you know how it turns out.

Swede

Whew! That's a lot of work. May seem like fun at first but gets old fast!

Hope your 55 arrives soon!

With the help of GHL &
Wheelz
Smmmmoooookin'!

I was able to make some fine eating.
Thanks guys.

I started the butt at 9:30am at 11:30pm 14 hours later it hit the 195 degree mark. I took it off the smoker with the help of a large spatula hot, hot, hot don't touch the meat it will burn your fingers. I wrapped it in aluminum foil and let it set for 30 minutes then we started with a fork separating the meat from the fat. Did I say it was hot? About 20 minutes later it was separated. Man this is still hot and it still burns my fingers. The wife and I both agree it is good. All I can say is if you're in a hurry make a peanut butter sandwich because it is going to take a loooooong time. I managed to keep the water smoker at 250 or a little hotter through the whole process and the bone just slid out with no effort.

Now I am ready to try some ribs.

Swede

Good job!

Can you tell me what the temp gauge on the MECO was reading when it was at 250?

I have a MECO I'm going to give to a son-in-law and would like to be able to tell him.

Thanks!

Swede, invest in some welding gloves. You can handle those 195* butts with ease. they cost from $5-$20 at various tool shops.

This is what I have always done. I apply about 1 tsp of olive oil on the meat and rub it all over. Then put the rub on it an place it in the smoker. I have done the overnight rub but have never been able to tell a difference. Then smoke at 225 for about 14 hours. I have never seen my taylor temp gauges hit 195. They have always been 185. I simply open the door at 14 hours and pull on the bone. If the meat separates from the bone, then the butt is done. Wrap butt in foil and put in dry igloo cooler for 1hr,pull apart,apply smokin okies finishing vinegar sauce,consume.

A rub should be 1 part salt,1 part sugar, 1 part spices

quote:

Originally posted by Qnorth:
Can you tell me what the temp gauge on the MECO was reading when it was at 250?

I have a MECO I'm going to give to a son-in-law and would like to be able to tell him.

Thanks!

On the line between Ideal & Hot.

quote:

Originally posted by JustADude:
Swede, invest in some welding gloves. You can handle those 195* butts with ease. they cost from $5-$20 at various tool shops.

Thanks for the idea.

Swede

I have no idea what welding gloves are made of, but the site below has neopreme gloves for $10 a pair and free shipping. They have some pretty good rubs, too.

http://texasbbqrub.com/index.html

quote:

Originally posted by Brown274:
This is what I have always done. I apply about 1 tsp of olive oil on the meat and rub it all over. Then put the rub on it an place it in the smoker. I have done the overnight rub but have never been able to tell a difference. Then smoke at 225 for about 14 hours. I have never seen my taylor temp gauges hit 195. They have always been 185. I simply open the door at 14 hours and pull on the bone. If the meat separates from the bone, then the butt is done. Wrap butt in foil and put in dry igloo cooler for 1hr,pull apart,apply smokin okies finishing vinegar sauce,consume.

A rub should be 1 part salt,1 part sugar, 1 part spices

Not sure why we need to add oil to a cut as fat as a butt.

When you wrap up that 185* butt real tight and place in a cooler to rest, betcha the meat temp will rise close to 195*.

Everyone's tastes are different as far as spices and rubs go. I posted a very basic and proven pork butt rub recipe. It can be modified to anyone's taste.

Disagreement is good and a part of any forum/discussion.

You use oil, I use mustard, let's agree to disagree.

As long as you like what you're using, if it floats your boat I can't knock it!

Part of this BBQ thing is experimenting and trying what others do and using different methods.

Peace!

I use Worcestershire before I rub. To each his own.

I have tried mustard 2 times before, I really don't care for it. I only use about a tsp of olive oil for the whole butt, It makes the rub go on good. I have used other stuff before, I just think it gives it a nice crust. But then again, I use olive oil for everything. I drink tablespoons of it when I'm bodybuilding to get my fat % high enough.

Brown -- If you are using enough mustard to effect the taste you are using way too much. All we need is a very thin film of mustard to help the rub stick - about the same as your olive oil.

But again, whatever floats your boat works!

Won 6th last week out of 49 without ANYthing on the butt but the rub, so there, see there are lots of ways to do it.

No right, no wrong, just different

You da man, Russ! Keep up the good work.

Thanks for your help