Smoked Pork Butt

Spending my summers three hours north of Atlanta in a small town with one grocery store, and a 5 and Dime as the only available shopping options was interesting. It was the polar opposite of strip malls and South Coast Plaza. I generally shopped at Bloomingdales with my mother, and in Hiawassee, GA there wasn't even a Wal-Mart. We would joke about Shootin' Creek, NC, across Lake Chatuge, where my Aunt's home was, having a population of 12 when we weren't there. There were no stores in that town.

At the part of the two lane road where you turned off down towards my grandparents home, there was a man who parked his truck with a smoke pit attached. It didn't have a logo on it. The first time I saw it, I asked what it was and was shocked that you could buy food from some man on the side of the road. Ah, my own ignorance of youth and inexperience! What a beautiful thing to have grown out of. The man would stay out in the heat all day by that smoker and to this day I haven't had anything that rivals that smoked pork butt. The name of the cut alone was enough to keep me away from eating it for awhile. Like I said, I was ignorant and quite spoiled.

When I finally did get around to trying it, I couldn't believe how good it was. It would be wrapped in foil and put in a paper bag for transport. The bag was always soaked through by the time we drove down the street. He would give us two sauces, one yellow and one red. The yellow as I remember it was a mustard based BBQ sauce with a hint of sweetness. Not quite a honey mustard, and it was amazing. I didn't care for the red one after I tried the yellow sauce. We would get a whole pork butt about once a week and it would last a few minutes. There were several of us, and it would disappear faster than my grandma's focaccia bread fresh out of the oven. I wonder if that guy is still there.

My dad is good at buying things. He came across smoker bags that can be used in an oven or on the grill. It's a large foil pouch with a layer of wood chips encased in the bottom. Similar to cooking a turkey in a bag, it seals in the moisture and bastes itself. The miracle of this product is that you can smoke something in your oven and there is minimal clean up and no smoke to set off the fire alarms. It might as well be a Ron Popeil product because you set it, and forget it.

Smoked Pork Butt

Whole Pork Butt (It's a shoulder cut) about 5.5 lbs
Dry Rub (I make a bunch but also have some from good Austin BBQ joints)
Oven Smoker Bag (I used Hickory but they come in many varieties)

Preheat the oven to 475F. Rinse and dry the pork. Cover in dry rub. Place it in the pouch on a sheet pan fat side up. Do not trim the fat. Allow it to cook with the fat on it and then it slides off after. Don't worry, you won't have to eat it but you will miss it if you take it off before you cook it. Fold up the open end of the pouch and put it in the oven for 15 minutes with the door slightly ajar like you would if it was on broil. Then close the door and lower the heat to 375F and let it go for five and half hours. Set it and forget it. It's a higher temperature than usual cooking for something slow in the oven but it works magically with the bag. When the time is up make a slit in the top of the pouch and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove the entire thing from the oven and allow it to sit for 20-25 minutes. Remove the fatty portion from the top and bone. Take two forks and pull the meat into strands.

It can now be used in any way you want. I recommend adding a little of your favorite BBQ sauce to some of the pulled pork and serving it on mini-Kings Hawaiian rolls. Then make some more pulled pork sliders because you will want more. Make some pulled pork tacos, serve it with a waffle for breakfast instead of bacon. The recipe takes about 10 minutes of active time and you get some of the smoke flavor with no effort. Not the same as the roadside pit in Hiawassee but delicious nonetheless.