Pellet Grill Pork Butt (Pulled Pork)

If you are feeding a crowd, and want something that's easy, and turns out great, then pulled pork is your protein.

Ingredients:

1 Pork Butt 8-12lbs (Pork Shoulder, Pork Blade, Boston Butt, Names can Vary Depending On Area)

Rub of Choice

Mustard or other binder

Mop Sauce:

1/2 Cup Cider Vinegar

1/4 Cup Pepsi

2 tbsp BBQ sauce of choice

1 tsp Rub of choice

1 tsp Red pepper flakes

Start by turning the grill to 225-250 degrees Fahrenheit. Now with pork butt some may have a bit of extra fat on the top shown here, but with pork butts they benefit from the higher fat, to ensure juicy results every time. I generally don't remove much sometimes none at all, but one trick I do is to cut a cross thatch pattern on the fat cap side. This ensures rub can get down closer to the meat, and creates channels for all that mop and fat to run along, however therein lies the old argument, fat side up, or fat side down, but as you can guess I choose up, with the reason already mentioned above. Apply the binder, (mustard, or oil) keeping one hand dirty, and the other clean so as to shake the seasoning with the clean hand, and rub with the dirty one. Let the binder setup for 10-15 min, then onto the grill it goes, and leave it alone, no peeking, mopping, or taking unnecessary photos of it. Put together your mop sauce, you could choose to spritz with just liquid, leaving out the seasonings but trust me, you cut that nice pattern on the fat, you are going to want to mop some sauce on it.

So hopefully by now you have the time to apply the mop every hour, and perhaps its near noon on a Saturday, which means you can sit outside (weather permitting) and enjoy a cold one, while you wait for your next mopping opportunity. Carry on mopping every hour until the porks internal temperature reaches around 165 degrees fahrenheit, at this point you can speed up the process if you wrap (butcher paper to maintain bark, foil if you don't care. If you prefer to leave it unwrapped, and keep mopping, thats cool too, either way it's mostly about time. In the end you want it to be around 200 degrees internal +/- just want that probe to slip in and out nice and easy. Another way to check the blade bone in the pork, should feel loose and easily pulled out with little force. Now unlike most things you cook, pulled pork doesn't really need to rest, you can by all means let it rest for a couple hours in a cooler, or warm oven, but if you are pulling it, you will pick up all the juices that run out as you go. I use a foil pan to do this, or any large container so to keep the juices with the meat. If you like an overly sauced pork, add in all the BBQ sauce you desire, if you are like me, light on the sauce, and shake on some more rub as you pull it, this usually requires a third hand. Therefore a helper is a must, but don't allow helpers who pick at the meat, this usually results in a slap with any close utensil, or a scratch if you are wearing meat claws.