Recipe

BBQ Pork Butt

An early BBQ journal entry from 2006 documenting a pork butt cook on a Weber Smokey Mountain. Includes an improvised rub recipe, a detailed smoking chart tracking temperature over 9 hours, and honest lessons learned about pulling temperature.

By Luis Ramirez(Updated )

Prep

30 min

Cook

9 hrs

Total

9 hrs 30 min

Difficulty

intermediate

Yield

Method

smoking

Wood

Oak, Apple

Smoke Temp

230-250°F

Internal Temp

185°F (for pulling) / 165-170°F (for slicing)

Fuel

charcoal

I was planning on making some pulled pork this weekend, but unfortunately it's raining today. Hopefully it won't rain next weekend and I can get on with pulling some pork.

**Editorial note:** The original WordPress post was a brief stub that linked to an allrecipes.com recipe. This post needs to be expanded with an original pulled pork recipe and the storytelling treatment. Consider pulling from the much longer "BBQ Pork Butt" post (875 words, slug: bbq-pork-butt) that exists in the WordPress archive but isn't mapped to this Sanity page.

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What You Need

Ingredients

The Meat

  • 2 pork butts (5.5-6 lbs each)

Improvised Rub

  • 1 part kosher salt
  • 3 parts brown sugar
  • 1 part garlic powder
  • 1 part onion powder
  • 1 part chipotle powder
  • 2 parts chile powder

For the Smoker

  • Kingsford charcoal briquettes
  • Oak wood chunks
  • Apple wood chips

Step by Step

Instructions

  1. 1

    Prep the Meat

    Tenderize the pork butts by poking them all over with a fork. Apply the rub by sprinkling (not rubbing) it over all surfaces, then poke again to help the seasoning penetrate. This technique may help smoke penetrate the meat better.

  2. 2

    Set Up the WSM

    Soak oak chunks and apple chips in water. Start the charcoal in a chimney. Use Kingsford briquettes for consistent temperature control. Set up the WSM with water pan filled.

  3. 3

    Smoke Low and Slow

    Maintain smoker temperature between 230-250°F. Insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the largest butt. Mop and flip at approximately the 4-hour mark. Add wood as needed throughout the cook.

  4. 4

    Monitor and Finish

    Cook for approximately 9 hours. For sliced pork, pull at 165-170°F. For pulled pork, take the internal temperature to 185°F. Let the meat rest, then chop or pull and mix in additional rub for extra flavor.

Pro Tips

  • For pulled pork, take internal temp to 185°F — 165°F will be too tough to pull
  • Sprinkling rub instead of rubbing it may allow better smoke penetration
  • Kingsford briquettes are reliable for temperature control experiments
  • Keep a BBQ journal — it helps build consistency over time
  • Lesson learned: don’t rush the cook just because guests are hungry

Equipment

  • Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM)
  • Digital thermometer
  • Charcoal chimney starter
pork buttsmokingwsmjournalbeginneroakapplepulled pork