Get yourself a salt bath, a rubdown, and a smoke
I’m in charge of the meat for my wife’s family’s Zombie Jesus Day dinner. I’m making a butt-load of smoked pork butt (GET IT?). The recipe for the rub I’m using was, until this very minute, a closely guarded secret. But I’m passing it on to you! The recipe was handed down to me by … well, me, about an hour ago when I came up with it. The brine recipe is stolen from Alton Brown. NOW YOU TOO CAN BE A SMOKED PORK MASTER. Follow these easy steps. This recipe will make an 8 pound pork butt (sold separately).
Brine:
1/2 lb (about 1/2 c) molasses
12 oz (about 1 1/4 c) fine sea salt
1/2 gal cold water
Rub:
4 tsp sweet or mild paprika
4 tsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
1/2 tsp dried orange peel, ground fine
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
The morning before you cook, mix up the brine ingredients till the salt is mostly dissolved and add the pork to it, in a bowl or tub big enough to hold the pork butt, but small enough to have the brine completely cover the meat. You can also use a 2 gallon zip top bag (so they say, I’ve never seen a 2 gallon zip top bag in a store. EVER.) Let it soak for 8 - 12 hours.
That night, take the meat out of the brine and give it a good rinse to get rid of the external layer of saltiness. Pat it very dry. Let it sit for 5 - 10 min to air dry a bit as you mix up the rub.
Mix all the rub ingredients together. Rub the mixture aggressively over every exposed inch of the pork (trust me, use gloves here. You’ll waste less rub and your hands will thank me). Place the pork butt on a plate or sheet tray and cover with foil, and stash in the fridge for 12 hours.
The next morning (and yes, you’ll want to start this early in the morning), place the pork on a preheated-to-200F-smoker and cook for 10 - 12 hours, or until the pork is about 200 degrees internally, or until you can grab the bone and pull it out with nearly no resistance (that’s what she said). Let it sit for half an hour then shred with 2 forks (if you don’t have heat-proof bbq gloves) or by hand (if you’re a purist like me). And no, I’m not going to tell you how to prep your smoker, because if you have one and want to do this, you better fucking know how to use it. And if you don’t have one, get one. And then learn how to use it.
Some people suggest only using smoke for about 4 hours of the cook, and gentle heat for the rest, because they claim it gets bitter from the smoke. I’ve not had much of a problem with that, but I use very mild-smoke woods (peach and apple), and I think that mitigates some of the bitterness smoke can cause. If you want to be safe though, wrap the butt in foil after 4 hours. Or don’t. I don’t care.
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