Boston Butt On The Smoker: Sunday August 28, 2011

On Thursday we decided we were going to have a lazy Sunday and slow cook a big hunk of meat on the smoker. On Saturday we finally purchased said hunk of meat in the form of a Boston Butt.  I spent Saturday afternoon and evening listening to my wife tell me that she could not decide what she was going to do the meat before it landed on the smoker.

Should she go with a dry rub? Should she marinate it over night? What about an injection? She is the chef and I am the loving, supportive husband that keeps the smoker at the right temperature and puts fresh wood chips on the coals every thirty minutes for ten hours. Therefore I had nothing to offer but assurance that whatever she decided would taste great and I would promise not to burn it.

Sunday morning was the big day and I woke up alone. Actually, I woke up alone in bed but with my wife standing over me. Apparently she had been in the kitchen for over two hours because she awoke before 7:00 with her idea for the meat. She was on her way to the store to get more charcoal and I needed to get up and be ready to start the smoker when she got home. 

Who am I to argue?

Smoked Boston Butt

Injection

One cup of orange juice

1/8 teaspoon of Big Daddy’s Ass Burn Hot Sauce

One teaspoon of sesame oil

One teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

¼ cup of water

Inject into meat using needle that is bigger than anything I have seen at the doctor’s office.

Rub

Brown sugar

Salt

Paprika

Ground ginger

Ground coriander

Cumin

Chipotle chili powder

Ground mustard

Cinnamon

Chinese five spice

Cook

Keep the smoker at a low, low temperature. I ignore the cheap thermometer on the smoker and keep it well below “ideal” and find better results with the middle of the “warm” range.

The meat sits above a water basin but plain water is boring so we throw some onions, garlic, and a touch more of Big Daddy’s in the water to give it some flavor at it evaporates.

 Real hardwood coals taste better and wood chips should be added every thirty minutes or so to keep the smoker smoking.

The Result: Ten hours later and this might have been our best smoker experience yet. Between the injection and the low cooking temperature this might have been the juiciest piece of pork I have ever had a hand in cooking. The bark gave a perfect crunch to the outside and the meat itself melted in my mouth.

You cannot eat just smoked pork for dinner, though, so we needed a side dish or two. We used the top rack of the smoker for corn and cauliflower to share in the delicious, smokey goodness.

Cauliflower Is A Very Underrated Vegetable

Rub whole head of cauliflower with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap in foil.

Place on top rack of smoker for two – three hours

Remove and chop it up.

Mix with feta cheese, two cloves of crushed garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil, and a bit of heavy cream.

Place on flat baking pan

“A couple dabs of butter will do you”

Bake until done. You will know when that is when you taste it.

The Result:  When we have made this in the past, I declared that it was the greatest preparation of cauliflower I had ever tasted. This prompted my wife to educate me on all the different ways you can use cauliflower with her final assessment being “cauliflower is a very underrated vegetable”. This dish made me a believer and I have called it that ever since.

Corn Salad

Ok, I am including this because Chris cooked it but I honestly cannot tell you very much about it. I know it involved whole, unshucked ears of corn on the smoker for a couple of hours. I know this because I put them on the grill and removed them when I was told. For reasons I cannot recall, I was not present for its preparation so this is the best recipe I can put together.

                Put whole, unshucked corn on the grill

                Wander off

                Return to find tasty Corn Salad magically prepared.

The Result: Of course everybody thought it was delicious but for all I know, my wife prepared it with fairy dust and the power of prayer. Whatever she did, it was a hit.

Final Thoughts

This was going to be a lazy Sunday shared with my wife and son and plenty of leftovers for lunches and dinners later in the week. John Lennon said that “life is what happens when you are busy making plans” and this statement proves itself to me every day. This Sunday was no different as we received some unexpected guests to enjoy our day with. Friends, neighbors, aunts, uncles and cousins all made their way over to our house to share my wife’s offerings with us. Kids played and adults ate, drank and laughed as our lazy Sunday turned into a festive event. Even better, the meal was fantastic and everybody went back for more until there was no more to go back for. It messed up my plans for leftovers but it was totally worth it.

*Images courtesy of Wikipedia