Slowly smoked until tender and juicy, and literally falling off of the bone, my Smoked Honey Butter Pork Butt recipe will take you to pulled pork heaven. Mixed with my Homemade BBQ Sauce recipe, I use my sweet and spicy Pork Dry Rub recipe to flavor the meat overnight before smoking and my Honey Butter Mop Sauce recipe to keep the shoulder moist throughout cooking. The ‘pork shoulder butt’ or just the ‘pork butt’ is the American name for the intensely marbled upper portion of the front leg of the pig. Perfect for the long slow cooking process of smoking, the pork butt is ideal for making BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Smoking is not a difficult way to cook pork, beef, chicken, or turkey, but it does require near-fanatical attention to temperature. Maintaining a constant temperature of around 200-225F is imperative for good quality and resisting the urge to peek at the meat as it cooks is almost too much to bear sometimes. I line the bottom of my smoker with heat resistant bricks and place pans filled with hot water on top of those. The benefit is that bricks and water get hot and stay hot, so when you do need to open the smoker to baste the meat with your mop sauce or take its temperature, as soon as you close the lid, the temperature stabilizes quickly.

The shoulder blade bone is the key to determining when this Smoked Honey Butter Pork Shoulder Butt is finished cooking. When ready, the bone literally pulls free from the meat with zero effort and the meat falls to pieces. It really is a thing of beauty.

Here’s my Smoked Honey Butter Pork Butt recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 4-5 Pound Pork Butt
• 1 Recipe Dry Rub
• 1 Recipe Honey Butter Mop Sauce
• 1 Recipe BBQ Sauce

Here are each of the recipes needed:

Pork Dry Rub

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 T Paprika
• 6 Cloves Garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Dried Cumin
• 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

PROCESS:

-Combine all ingredients

-Rub all of the dry rub onto the pork should butt at least overnight, 24 hours is best

Honey Butter Mop Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• ¼ Cup Butter
• ¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ¼ Cup Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Worchester Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

PROCESS:

-Place butter and honey in a bowl, microwave until melted, add remaining ingredients

-Use mop sauce during the smoking, once every 30-60 minutes, to keep the meat moist

Here’s my Homemade BBQ Sauce recipe:

Or try my Bacon Bourbon BBQ sauce here!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Teaspoon Garlic, Crushed and Chopped
• 1 Red Onion, Finely Diced
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Ketchup
• ¼ Cup Worchester Sauce
• ¼ Cup Molasses
• ¼ Cup Malt Vinegar
• ¼ Cup Coarse Stone Ground Mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Hot sauce
• 1 Lime, Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

PROCESS:

-Place a large, covered, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onion, sauté for 3-4 minutes until softened

-Mix in the garlic and chili powder, stir constantly for 1 minute, it will stick a little, but it’s important to cook out the raw flavor of the chili powder

-Add all of the remaining ingredients stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes until nicely thickened

-Remove from heat and store in a mason jar in the refrigerator

There are no preservatives in this sauce, so I wouldn’t keep it for more than a week. This sauce is great on pretty much any grilled BBQ, chicken, brisket, ribs either directly or as a dipping sauce.

How to smoke the shoulder butt:

• Place wood chips in a bucket of water, at least an hour before you start smoking the meat.
• Remove the meat from the refrigerator, let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
• Line the bottom of the smoker with foil to make cleanup easier.
• Use disposable aluminum pans filled with water to line the bottom of the smoker underneath the grates that the meat sits on, this keeps a nice moist environment in the smoker.
• Light the charcoal and preheat the smoker to 275F.
• Drain the excess moisture from the pork should butt, place in the smoker, and smoke for 3-4 hours until an instant-read thermometer reads 160F.
• During smoking, add wood chips and additional charcoal every 30 minutes.
• Every 30 minutes brush the should butt with the honey butter mop sauce.
• When the instant-read thermometer reads 160F wrap the shoulder butt tightly in aluminum foil and return to the smoker until the internal temperature is 190F.
• Take the shoulder butt from the smoker and let rest for 30-45 minutes.
• Remove the blade bone, pull the meat into shreds and add BBQ sauce to taste.

Thank you for visiting my Food Blog, Please come back and visit again soon! Cheers and bon appetit, Steven