A pork butt is criss cross carved on the outside to create more surface area for that tasty bark. The pork is then injected and slathered with Andria’s steak sauce. The butt is smoked and then dusted with BBQ seasoning before being foiled to push through the stall. When the pork butt hits 203F it goes in a Cambro for 2 hours before pulling and serving the injected and smoked pork butt.
The best part of a pork butt is the outer inch of the meat. That bark that forms around the outside is absolutely heaven.
The problem is that pork butt is many inches thick and once we pull that outer bark away, the remaining pork is bland.
No seasoning, no smoke and no sauce. Thus, it’s simply steamed pork.
So how do we get flavor to all that meat in the middle of the pork butt? There are three ways to add flavor to that boring interior pork.
Indeed, the first is in the title. The other two are in “Pro Tips” below.
One more way to get some flavor to the interior of a pork butt is to insert slivers of garlic into the pork shoulder.
Coincidentally, leftover pulled pork makes for an amazing pizza, particularly with pickles on it (trust me here). Or just skip the pickles and go with the rest of that recipe.
Injected and Smoked Pork Butt Ingredients:
- 1 pork shoulder
- Salt
- 1 cup of Andria’s steak sauce, divided
- 1 tablespoon your favorite BBQ seasoning
- Buns
- Your favorite BBQ sauce, we ised Andria’s BBQ Sauce – optional
- Cole slaw – optional
Other Equipment Needed:
- Injector**
- Two aluminum pans, half size pans
- Aluminum foil
- Probe thermometer
- Cambro or empty cooler or microwave
**For an injector, grab one of those Tony Chacherie’s turkey injection bottles.
That’s what I used here.
Then I cleaned the injector and attached it back to the unopened bottle with a rubber band and I’ll use it on Thanksgiving.
Let’s clear up a couple questions.
Is it a Pork Butt, Pork Shoulder, Boston Butt, Boston Shoulder Butt or Pulled Pork?
It’s all of the above. Pork shoulders were packed in barrels full of salt called butts to feed sailers on long voyages. Often out of Boston. Hence a shoulder is called a butt or Boston Butt. It’s named after the wooden barrel not the rear end of a pig which is actually the ham.
Please understand I will be using all of these terms interchangeably throughout this recipe for both readability and to improve the SEO score of this recipe.
Fat Cap Up or Fat Cap Down?
Doesn’t matter. It’s not that one is great and one sucks. There just isn’t enough of a difference for this to matter. Both work and there is nothing else to say about it.
Begin by Carving the top of the pork shoulder with a sharp knife, running it about half an inch deep every inch along the top of the pork shoulder:
Then rotate 90ish degrees and repeat the carving every inch:
Season the outside of the pork butt with coarse salt (not shown) and then grab the steak sauce and injector and go to town throughout that shoulder:
I injected many more than three times.
Next, coat the outside:
Ready for the grill:
After I got done injecting and coating the outside, about half the bottle was gone therefore I used about 8 ounces.
Also, this is where I should’ve seasoned with my BBQ seasoning, but I forgot.
More on that below
How to Cook Injected and Smoked Pork Butt
Criss cross cut the outside about half an inch deep every inch or so. Inject the pork shoulder and slather the outside with your injection mixture. Season the outside with Place the pork butt into a double stack of aluminum pans and then into a 275F (+/- 25F) smoker and close the lid. When the shoulder gets to a nice mahogany color, cover the top of the shoulder with a couple sheets of foil (aka the Texas Crutch). The foil will speed up the cooking process and keep the shoulder from darkening any more. When the shoulder hits 203F place it in a cambro, empty cooler, or even in the microwave to rest for at least an hour.
After the pork butt rests, pull and serve, but only after you read the two Pro Tips below.
Then, head out and light the grill.
In this case, I cranked up my Primo Oval Kamado grill:
Here’s Where Things Went South
I dropped the pork butt in the smoker and then forgot a couple things right here:
I forgot to drop my shoulder into a couple aluminum pans which would make it easier to wrap in foil at the proper time, easier to get it in and out of the Cambro and easier to collect the juices as it cooks.
Also, I forgot to add the BBQ rub to the outside.
But bigger than that, I opened the bottom vent to get the fire going and left that dude WIDE open.
Fire management on a precision grill like the Primo should be called oxygen management. Thus, the vents completely control the fire.
Normally I have that bottom vent open a half inch and the top vent set to number 1. But today, I had that bottom vent open about 5 inches.
Fire in the Hole!
So about 45 minutes in, I notice a lot of white smoke coming out of my grill. The grease was dripping down into the coals and a raging hot fire turned the grease into stinky white smoke. Luckily, it took quite a while for that grease to make its way to the fire so the pork was not in white smoke more than a few minutes.
That being said, my pork butt blackened more than I would’ve liked. Although it looked great from this side:
But that far side does not look so good:
It was at this point that I realized I hadn’t hit the butt with seasoning because I expected the blackening to be worse. See, the seasoning I chose had a lot of sugar in it. Had I not forgotten the seasoning, all the sugar in the rub would’ve been burnt.
Thus, while I got my temps under control, I hit the top with some BBQ seasoning to add some more flavor:
Time to Improvise
Dropping the temp on a ceramic grill is no quick process. It’s designed to hold the heat, not drop heat. Thus, I cranked up another smoker while I cooled down the kamado because I had guests coming over.
About 90 minutes later, I got the temps down and placed the smoked pork butt back on the Primo to finish it off with some more seasoning:
When the seasoning melted into the pork, I foiled it again:
Then I waited until it hit 203F which took about 5.5 hours total:
Into the Cambro the shoulder went for about 2 hours.
Here is the smoked pork butt ready to pull:
I was not optimistic, but it actually came out very well.
A huge key to that are the two Pro Tips I’m about to drop.
First, I placed another aluminum pan next to the pans with smoked pork butt:
I pulled the shoulder blade and she was clean as a whistle:
Then I shredded the pork butt:
And despite being in the foil WAY more than this shoulder was in the smoke, check out that smoke ring:
Pro Tip #1 ~ After shredding the pork butt, hit it with a nice dose of BBQ seasoning:
Pro Tip #2 ~ Remember that pan full of tasty juices? Pour some of that back over the pan of shredded pork:
Although. don’t pour it all. Maybe a cup.
If you feel like you want more, then add more.
NOW work all that juice and seasoning through the pulled pork and book a one way ticket to Flavortown, indeed:
If you doubt either of these tips, simply reserve some of the pork before seasoning and drizzling and do a side by side taste test.
Let’s Make a Sammich
Finally, make yourself a fat BBQ Pork Sando:
I’m a firm believer that cole slaw is an amazing condiment but a terrible side dish:
Injected and Smoked Pork Butt Summary
Luckily, the really blackened stuff wasn’t burnt. I caught it in the nick of time and the foil deflected the direct heat to keep it from darkening much more. Additionally, the pork had flavor through and through thanks to the injection, re-seasoning of the pulled pork and the drizzling of those juices. Those last three items are the real keys here.
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Recipe Card
Print
Injected and Smoked Pork Butt
A pork butt is criss cross sliced, injected and then smoked until 203F before the injected and smoked pork butt is pulled and served.
Course Barbecue, BBQ, Finger Food, Main Course, Sandwich
Cuisine American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Pulled Pork, Sando, Sandwich
Keyword #Smoked, Aluminum Foil, Andria's, Andria's Barbecue Sauce, Andria's BBQ Sauce, Andria's Steak Sauce, Andrias Brush-On Steak Sauce, Bark, BBQ Pork, BBQ Rub, BBQ Seasoning, Criss Cross Cut, Flavor Bark, Foiled, Inject, Injected, Injected Pork Butt, Injected Pork Shoulder, Leftover Pulled Pork, Pork Butt, Smoked Pork Butt, Texas Crutch Prep Time 7 minutes minutes
Cook Time 5 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
Resting Time 1 hour hour
Servings 20 People
Carve lines about a half inch deep in parallel every inch along the top. Rotate the pork butt 90ish degrees and carve more lines to complete the criss cross pattern
Season the outside with salt and inject the pork shoulder with the Andria's steak sauce. Pour a couple ounces of the steak sauce over the top and work it around the entire surface area of the shoulder.
Prepare the smoker for 275F and add your favorite smoke wood. Place the shoulder in doubled up, half aluminum pans and place in the cooker and close the lid
After an hour, give the top of the pork shoulder a dusting of BBQ Seasoning. When the shoulder gets to a color you like, usually around the stall (between 160F-170F) cover the top with foil and take the smoked pork butt to 203F and then place it in a Cambro, or empty cooler or a microwave for at least an hour. We did 2 hours.
Finally, pull the pork into a separate aluminum pan and season with more BBQ rub and drizzle that juice over the top of the pulled pork. Work the seasoning and juice through the meat and make sandwiches with the optional cole slaw and Andria's BBQ Sauce
Additional pics from this cook:
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