Big Green Egg - Pork Butt (1)

Working my way through the user's manual recipes for the BGE has been a lot of fun this month. Saturday evening was the start of a long, slow, low temp cook for a 9lb pork butt.

Here's the way things went...

I trimmed the butt of exterior fat, leaving lots of marbling. Most of the fat is supposed to render out during the long, slow cook.
At least that's what Dad and Alton Brown say.



Rubbed it down heavily with a dry mixture of brown sugar, kosher salt, black pepper and everything worth using from the spice cabinet. Nutmeg? Why not?

Injected the 1 remaining tablespoon of rub along with 1/4 cup of worchestershire and cider vinegar.

Wrapped in plastic for 4 hours in the fridge

After 4 hours, took the butt out of the fridge to sit for 30 mins at room temp.

Fired up the egg for indirect heat. Including some large chunks of hickory in the coals.
Dropped in the BGE plate setter, legs up, drip pan in the gap.

Dropped in the rack and placed the butt over the drip pan.

Lots of beautiful good-smelling smoke, smoke and more smoke.












Adjusted the damper and top vents on the egg until it hung around 225 degrees.



Watched football (9 PM Saturday) went to bed (midnight)










Woke up at 7AM and went to check on the egg, which had gone out completely (DOH!!!!)

Popped the butt in the oven at 225 degrees, covered the top with foil, stuck in the probe thermometer and went about the day's activities (watching more football, diaper-changing, etc...)

Pondered what I had done wrong to make the cooker go out, lamented on the phone to David Henderson, a Big Green Egg veteran. Turns out I had not put large enough lumps of charcoal in the firebox, and sometime in the night, ash had probably fallen into the air intake holes. Chalk it up to experience.

At 5:30 PM (20 hours after starting the cook) the internal temp of the butt hit 195 F

Took the butt out of the oven and covered it in foil, set aside on the counter for 30 mins.

Unwrapped, pulled out the bone and shredded the whole thing using two forks









6:30 PM... DINNERTIME! (burp) more football, satisfaction

Got any good BBQ recipes, sauce or rub mix ideas? Email me. I won't divulge secrets... promise.


Smoke & Spice,

Travis