Hi Don,
Welcome to our little party! What model do you have? Doesn't matter - they're all good, just wondering.
You've picked my favorite smoke for Sunday - the pork butt!
I recommend a bone-in Boston butt for your meat, if you haven't purchased yet. I find the Boston butt cut superior to the "picnic" cut for pulled pork.
Sounds like you have lots of questions on this, so I'll give you my 2-cents worth of answers!
First of all, trim most of the surface fat off of your butt (pork, that is) the night before you smoke it. Leave a little, but most of it can go. Next, coat it with plain old yellow mustard and coat it with the rub of your choice. Go to the "Rubs" or "Sauces" sections of the forum, or the Regional BBQ section, to find a rub and sauce that suits your taste. For an easy, commercial rub, I recommend Famous Dave's Rib Rub - good stuff!
Once you have your butt coated in mustard and rub, place it in a big Ziploc bag and put it in the fridge. Let it rest there overnight to "get happy."
Early Sunday morning, get the smoker ready. Foil the bottom of the smoker and the top of the smoker box (do NOT forget to punch a hole in the foil where the drain hole is!). If all you have of quality wood is the hickory dowels that came with your smoker, use those. Stay away from the stuff you buy at the local hardware/grocery store - it's usually way too dry. Add 5 1/2 -6 oz of wood. You'll find that weighing your wood, with these smokers, is a good thing. It doesn't take that much, and you can over-smoke if you add too much. Add a water pan full of apple juice. I use disposable aluminum "mini loaf" pans I get at WalMart, sitting on the bottom next to the smoke box. Fill it about halfway. When you're looking for good wood, check out
www.fruitawood.com.
Place your butt on a shelf, and put it in the highest rack you can, without touching the top. If you have one, use a probe-style thermometer inserted in the meat (not touching the bone). I recommend the Maverick 732 - works great! Set the temp to 225 and walk away.
A couple of things will happen now; first, you'll see smoke at around 15-20 minutes. It will bring a smile to your face. The smoke should be thin and blue, not heavy and white. This is the smoke produced by smouldering wood, not burning. The next thing that will happen is you will see the temp rise pretty quick in the first few hours. Don't panic, the butt will not be done too quickly! It will "stall" somewhere around 165-180 degrees (depends on the butt - they're all different). It will sit at the stall temp for several hours. During the stall, the meat is going through convective cooling, that is, the fat and connective tissue are breaking down and moving to the surface. The meat cools as this happens, and you'll even see the internal temp go down! Trust me, it'll freak you out a bit! But, don't worry; just let it work it's way through the stall!
Allow 1 to 1 1/2 hour per pound for cook time. Don't take it out of the smoker until it hits 200 internal; this will ensure the best pulled pork! When it hits that, double-foil wrap the butt and let it rest in a cooler (with a heavy towel on top) for at least 30-minutes. An hour is even better. This "rest" is critical!
After resting, remove the meat. Give the bone a little wiggle, and it will come right out clean. Pull the pork and dig in!
As you get used to your new smoker, you'll learn, and try, more advanced techniques like injection and brining. But, for your first pork butt, keep it simple and you'll still have a fantastic pulled pork meal!
Ask questions whenever you need - we're here to help! Also, post some pics of the finished butt, if you can (we LOVE pics!).
