Step 1

Apply the rub. For the rub, use a barbecue rub that blends well with pork. I usually use sweet rubs with pork, and you will find most pork rub recipes contain brown sugar. Check out my article on rubs for the exact recipe. You can go simple as a salt and pepper rub with pork butt, and sometimes it’s good just to keep things simple.

Step 3

Apply a binder. This step is optional, but if you want the rub to stick, apply some yellow mustard or olive oil to the meat prior to applying the seasoning.

Step 5

Fire up your smoker. The first step is to smoke your pork butt in the smoker. To do this, set your smoker at about 250° F to 275°F.

Step 7

Thow on some smoking wood. For the wood, apple, cherry, or pecan, work well with pork. Hickory is fine to be mixed in with the other woods, but it may overpower the pork, so use it with caution.

Step 9

Smoke the pork. Place the pork in the smoker and let it sit on the grill for about 3 hours before checking. That first few hours you want to leave your pork. Just let it sit there and absorb smoke.

Step 11

Develop the bark. The goal during this first phase of the cook is to develop the bark on the exterior of the pork, which should take 3 or 4 hours, maybe longer. Bark is a combination of smoke, dehydrated meat, and the rub.

Step 13

Spritz the pork. After about 3 hours, begin spritzing the pork every 30-minutes with a spray bottle containing either apple juice, apple cider vinegar or beer. Don’t spritz too early or the rub will run off the meat. If you touch the rub with your hand or with your finger, and the rub sticks, that means the bark is not yet set. Once the bark is crispy and the rub doesn’t stick to your finger, then it is just about ready to be spritzed. You’ll also notice cracks emerging in the bark, and this is a sign that it is just about ready.

Step 15

Remove the pork from the smoker. After about 4 or 5 hours in the smoker, the bark should be set and the internal temperature of the pork butt should have reached about 150°F to 160° F.

Step 17

Seal the pork butt. Once you have removed the pork from the smoker, place the meat in a vacuum sealed bag and suck the air out of the bag using a vacuum sealing machine. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, place the meat in an extra large zip-lock bag. Leave the seal open, then slowly lower the bag into a water container or pot. Once the water pressure has sucked all the air from the bag, close the zip-lock seal. *Optional: If you have a thermometer probe with no wires (similar to The MeatStick), you can insert it into the meat, then seal the bag. You won’t be able to seal the bags using other thermometers that have wires. A thermometer will allow you to track the internal temperature of the meat.

Step 19

Sous-vide the pork butt. The last step using this method is to finish the pork in a sous-vide bath. Place the meat in your sous-vide machine and cook until the meat reaches an internal meat temperature of 200°F.

Step 21

Set the temperature of the water bath. If using a sous-vide machine, set the temperature to 160°F. If you don’t have a sous-vide machine, fill a pot of water and place on the stove. Clip your meat thermometer onto the side of the pot and adjust the stove until the temperature stabilizes between 160°F and 175°F.

Step 23

Done Temp. Cook the pork shoulder until it reaches an internal temperature of 200°F.

Step 25

Insert a thermometer. The tricky part using this method is there is no way of knowing the internal temperature without piercing the vacuum sealed bag with an instant-read thermometer. If you have a Meater wire-free thermometer, you could insert the thermometer into the meat, then vacuum seal the bag. That way, the bag will seal and it won’t puncture the bag. Your only other option is trial to know when your pork butt is done is by trial and error.