Seasoning Question for Pork Butts

[Delpo]

I've been smoking for close to a year now and can cook a tender pork butt consistently. Have been seasoning with various commercial rubs and the taste profile is good but it lacks salt to my taste.

My first question is how predominant should the salt flavor be in Southern bbq pork butt? Is the extra salt supposed to come from the bbq sauce? I've read about injection, brines, et al? Is that the answer to increase salt profile?

Thanks for reading.

 

[grisch]

how aggressive are you applying seasoning? difficult to overseason a butt. load r up!

also, try just salt and pepper - Kosher salt and course ground 16 mesh pepper

 

[sudsandswine]

I find seasoning the inside of the butt (brine/injection) to have a bigger impact than relatively small variances in rub recipes especially when the amount of bark:meat ratio is considered. Sometimes I'll add in a little bit of the rub I used to season the outside on cooked meat after it's pulled.

Full disclosure - I don't really care for pulled pork and think it's a little bland and boring regardless.

 

[Nuco59]

If you are pulling, slicing or chopping it - you can add more rub while you do that. I put a good bit of the kosher salt and coarse pepper on the outside - and it makes for a good bark. But I always incorporate some of the defatted drippings and more rub/seasoning with the end product.

 

[thirdeye]

The salt content is totally up to you. Most of your 'rub' is surface related, and this is why many will put pieces of bark into the pulled meats. Salts in the rub will diffuse into the meat, but if you season a few hours before smoking the salt won't get too far. Other seasonings have molecules that are too large to get into the meat more than a few millimeters. So.... right now all of the seasoning is near the surface.

The easy fix is to use some foil juices along with a 'finishing rub' when you break down the meat. A spice grinder will turn your favorite rub into a super fine dust that will practically dissolve when it hits warm meat. Even a fine grind seasoned salt is better than nothing. Injections help a lot, but the time and effort is not for everyone. For example my favorite pork injection takes a day ahead to make and adds $5 or $6 to the price of the meat.

 

[Hamdrew]

I find seasoning the inside of the butt (brine/injection) to have a bigger impact than relatively small variances in rub recipes especially when the amount of bark:meat ratio is considered. Sometimes I'll add in a little bit of the rub I used to season the outside on cooked meat after it's pulled.

Full disclosure - I don't really care for pulled pork and think it's a little bland and boring regardless.

Once i started curing it for slice-able butt ham/bacon or pulled ham, i've never been close to looking back, LOL. I do love a pork steak, but I'd rather have a cured one of those as well.




I'd recommend you try adding more rub when pulling as was suggested. Besides that, you could try making your own rubs, and use MSG instead of regular old sodium chloride. If all else fails, a salty injection may do the trick for you.

 

[Jwhitt]

Doing my first pork butt as we speak. Following the Malcom Reed pellet cook with a bone in 8lb butt. I used his AP and BBQ Rub fairly heavily so we will see how that works.

On another note, I put the butt on the grill at 200 degrees last night at 10:30PM. This morning it had an IT of 160 degrees at 7:00AM. I bumped the grill temp to 220 degrees. No wrap, just letting it sit. It is still on the grill 3:42PM with an IT of 181. This is taking a few more hours than I anticipated but looking forward to the results.

 

[thirdeye]

Doing my first pork butt as we speak. Following the Malcom Reed pellet cook with a bone in 8lb butt. I used his AP and BBQ Rub fairly heavily so we will see how that works.

On another note, I put the butt on the grill at 200 degrees last night at 10:30PM. This morning it had an IT of 160 degrees at 7:00AM. I bumped the grill temp to 220 degrees. No wrap, just letting it sit. It is still on the grill 3:42PM with an IT of 181. This is taking a few more hours than I anticipated but looking forward to the results.

Well consider the fact that your target temperature of the meat is 200°+ and your pit temp was 200° and then 220°. This will take some time. Pork butt is one of the few meats I still cook lo-n-slo, and 240° pit temp is a magic number if I can hold it that low. But.... an 8# butt can easily take 16 hours, plus I rest for 2 or 3 hours.

 

[Jwhitt]

Well consider the fact that your target temperature of the meat is 200°+ and your pit temp was 200° and then 220°. This will take some time. Pork butt is one of the few meats I still cook lo-n-slo, and 240° pit temp is a magic number if I can hold it that low. But.... an 8# butt can easily take 16 hours, plus I rest for 2 or 3 hours.

On Malcoms video he actually removes this at 190 IT and says it really only needs to rest 10 minutes or so before pulling. (Yes I am well aware there are a 1000 ways to skin a cat lol)

 

[harknii]

Never tried to brine something I smoked. Interesting idea but I go along w/ salting after pulling.

 

[93_confirmed]

Doing my first pork butt as we speak. Following the Malcom Reed pellet cook with a bone in 8lb butt. I used his AP and BBQ Rub fairly heavily so we will see how that works.

On another note, I put the butt on the grill at 200 degrees last night at 10:30PM. This morning it had an IT of 160 degrees at 7:00AM. I bumped the grill temp to 220 degrees. No wrap, just letting it sit. It is still on the grill 3:42PM with an IT of 181. This is taking a few more hours than I anticipated but looking forward to the results.

Why cook at such a low temp? Buttts can handle 275 and even into the low 300s just fine. You'll save a lot of cook time and it will have plenty of smoke.

 

[Jwhitt]

Why cook at such a low temp? Buttts can handle 275 and even into the low 300s just fine. You'll save a lot of cook time and it will have plenty of smoke.

I agree but just feel compelled to try new things. I saw this cook with Malcom Reed on "how to BBQ right" and am just trying it out. Next I will try it at 250 for a few hours and then do a wrap to push through the stall. I'm just having fun

 

[Jwhitt]

OK, after nearly 20 hours it reached 190. Let it rest for 20 minutes and pulled it. I thought the bark was phenomenal. Wife says it was just a hair too salty as did my son. Non bark pieces perfect apparently.

(disclaimer: I had head/neck radiation a few years ago and it threw my taste buds all to heck so I cant truly give accurate opinions as to what is too salty or not....since radiation I need more salt than normal to taste things)

But 20 hours at 200 then 220 non wrapped pork butt came out very moist and tender and tons of flavor. This was a winner

 

[Hamdrew]

I can't say I know from experience, but you may want to try adding more (black/white) pepper and chile heat? In studies they've shown to satisfy that craving. Obviously you wanna be able to taste your food, lol, so start small and work your way up.

 

[jwilliamson1000]

Lots of answers to your question.
Here is one. Use a rub with the amount of salt you like, or make one. Salt, pepper, amd garlic works..
Place the butt on a rack in a pan. Smoke the butt and the juices will collect in the pan. When tje butt is done remove the fat from the juices amd taste what is left. It should be plenty salt. Pull the pork amd add the juices.

 

[Delpo]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Will trimming part of the fat cap contribute to seasoning getting deeper into the meat?

 

[Hamdrew]

If you slash/cross-hatch through to the meat, yes, but you will probably get more results injecting (boil any spices too big to inject).