Prepare Your Pork
I used one 4 pound pork butt for this recipe, which will feed four to six people. Look for good marbling when buying your pork. This adds great flavor and also helps to keep the meat moist. If you look at this cut, you'll see how the marbling is consistent throughout.
Begin by cutting the pork butt into 3 or 4 equal sized sections. Since the meat will not be subjected to the normal 8 to 12 hour slow smoke, we'll need to speed things up a bit by using smaller cuts of meat.
Once your pork is cut, we're ready to move onto the brining stage.
A Light Brine
Brining a large cut of meat such as a pork butt is a waste of time because of its large size. Serious BBQ aficionados usually inject a brine into these cuts. Since we have cut our meat down in size, a brine will work well to help flavor and tenderize it.
In a glass or plastic bowl, mix the following ingredients:
1/2 gal water
1/2 gal apple juice
1/2 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
Reserve 1 cup for later and place the pork butt pieces in the bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours.
Rub That Butt
Once the pork has finished marinating, it's time to apply a meat rub. A meat rub not only adds additional flavor, it also helps in developing the crispy outside, or "bark" that really adds to what good pulled pork is all about.
Remove the pork and discard the brine. Pat dry and apply a light coating of vegetable oil or use a cooking spray. The oil not only helps the meat maintain moisture, it also gives the meat rub something to stick to.
Apply a liberal amount of your favorite meat rub, or use one of my rub recipes, which can be found here. Place the meat back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while you prepare your grill.
Fire Up The Grill!
Begin by soaking your wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
Prepare your charcoal grill for indirect cooking, or fire up your gas grill to 225-degrees F. Once the grill is up to temperature, drain your wood chips and throw them on the coals. If using a gas grill, wrap the chips in an aluminum foil packet and pierce holes with a fork.
When the wood chips begin to smoke, put on your meat and close the lid. Allow the meat to smoke for 2 hours while maintaining a temperature of 225-degrees F. The wood chips will last for about 45 minutes, so be prepared to add additional chips once you see the smoke subside.
Let's Finish Up
After the 2 hours of smoking, remove the pork from the grill and place in a baking pan. Pour in reserved cup of brine and wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Place in a 250-degree oven. Allow to bake for 2 hours.
At the end of the 2 hour bake time, remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 350-degrees F. Allow to cook for an additional hour. When done check the meat temperature with a meat thermometer. The internal temperature should be 190-degrees F.
Remove from pan and allow to rest for 30 to 45 minutes. Once the meat has cooled enough to handle, use two forks to begin to pull the pork apart, shredding it. Many people just use their hands.
Serve with small buns and BBQ Sauce. Other toppings include diced onion, jalapeno slices and of course, coleslaw.
Happy Grilling!
