So far, my most rewarding cut of meat has been a Boston Butt roast – part of the pork shoulder. It is the cut used to make pulled pork – usually a Carolina specialty. But, if cooked long enough, it is wonderful and I recommend it highly . I’ve cooked this cut twice so far – with great results both times. The details below are my most recent version.
A full size Boston Butt is about 7-9 pounds and takes a long time for it to become tender. This time, the store only had a cut-down 5# Boston Butt. Since we were cooking for a small gathering, the size was fine. This cut of meat is tough, and very fatty, taking about 2 hours per pound for it to finally render its fat and become tender. But, when finished – wow!
I marinated the meat overnight using the following recipe:
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
The next day, I prepared the pit by lighting a full chimney of briquettes & pouring the lit chimney of coals over a bed of unlit lump charcoal on one side. This produced a starting temp of about 350-degrees in the pit.
While waiting for the pit to burn down to a 300-degree temp, I let the roast come to room temperature, patted it dry, and applied a dry-rub of Stubb’s Bar-B-Q Spice Rub.
I placed the roast on the indirect side of the pit, away from the coals, over a drip pan filled with water, onions, and garlic.
As this was a 5# roast, I kept the pit between 250-300-degrees for about 9 hours – almost 2 hours per pound. Every hour, I added about 8 charcoal briquettes and mopped the roast.
The mop I used was:
1 bottle Stubb’s Bar-B-Q Moppin’ Sauce
1 bottle dark beer
1/2 cup cider vinegar
At one hour.
At five hours.
At 7 hours.
After over 9 hours, the finished product…
To serve, we separated the meaty parts from the bone and fatty parts. This meat is tender, juicy and wonderful. I recommend serving with the following:
– Cole Slaw – made with fresh cilantro, cumin and spicy mustard
– Carolina BBQ Sauce
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 8 oz. can Hunt’s Roasted Garlic Tomato sauce
What was left after our feast.
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Man, that Boston Butt looks absolutely fantastic!
My compliments to the Pitboss!
Juancho
PS, Could you be a bit more specific on the coleslaw? I’d like to try your recipe.
Try this meat in an Orion cooker, you’ll love it. You light it and leave it. Takes a lot less time. Everybody that has one loves how it cooks.
http://www.orioncooker.com