Is my butt smoking or what?

I've been reading a lot at the moment about restaurants like Pitt Cue and Bodean's serving pulled pork - slow roast and smoked,  so tender and juicy that it simply needs pulling apart rather than carving with a knife. A teeny bit of research (ie googling it for 5 minutes) revealed that what was needed is time. Lots and lots of time, preferably in a proper smoker.


So when the weather forecast unexpectedly indicated a whole day of dry weather and I'd tracked down a couple of examples of BBQ fiends achieving pretty good results with a bog-standard Weber, I thought I'd give it a go.


Ingredients
The websites I found urged me to accept nothing less than a bone-in Boston Butt (ooh er missus). This is half a shoulder of pork - about 3 kilos which seemed a little excessive for a family of four, even allowing for some leftovers for sandwiches. So I settled on 1.3 kg of boned and rolled shoulder.


I then marinaded this overnight with the following:
330ml of ale 
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oli
Half a head of garlic - cloves peeled and smashed
2 tsp smoked paprika (hot)
1 smoked chipotle pepper - chopped
Fresh rosemary - chopped
Salt and pepper


I did what I always do which is bung everything in a freezer bag, add the meat, suck out the air with a straw and then close tightly with a tie. This makes sure that all the meat is in contact with marinade.


Weber set up
This requires indirect cooking at a lowish heat, so you need to set up the dividers in the Weber and place a deep drip tray between them half filled with water. This does two things - stops drips causing flare-ups and ensures the air inside the Weber stays moist.


Once you've started the coals in your chimney starter simply pour half onto each side. It's really important that you set the bottom vents correctly - slightly open. Too much air and the heat will be too intense - too little and the meat won't cook through.

The vents - slightly open

Drip tray and coals in place

You can always adjust the top vents, but ideally the bottom vent should stay the same throughout. You need at least 4 hours for this - so you may need to add more charcoal or briquettes - open the top vent until they have caught then close again.


Finally you need smoke. You can get hickory chips quite easily - but you must soak them for at least an hour. You'll need a few good handfuls - the more you add the smokier the flavour. Once the charcoal is ready - put a handful of chips on each pile of coals - pop the meat on the griddle, put the lid back on. Check you're smoking and not too hot (place your hand over the slightly open vent at the top - you should feel heat but not so much you have to take it away immediately) - then do something else.

Smokin'

In my case it was trying to tame the garden - but whatever you do, check occasionally. By that I mean every hour or so - not every few minutes - the more often the lid is opened, the more heat you'll lose. I put this piece on at about 2.45. and added extra wood chips three times. It was ready after about 6.15, but could have done with longer. I also added more coals about half way through and suspect that the temperature might have got too high when I was getting them to catch.


During the final hour I also made some coleslaw (which seems to be traditional) and turned the leftover marinade into barbecue sauce by putting it in a saucepan with a couple of tomatoes, some tomato puree and reducing it by about half. 

Not looking too inspiring

I rested the meat under foil and a tea towel for about 20 minutes. And this is what I found. to be honest it looked a bit overdone - and I think it was slightly.  But amazingly, it did pull apart with a fork and was really juicy - with a great smokey flavour.

But actually really delicious

 As always the acid test is the family - 8/10, 7.5/10, 7.5/10 and a 7/10 from me. 

 

Clearly this is not a dish if you're camping or in a hurry - but for a big gathering, I'd be tempted to do this again on a bigger scale - it has the same kind of greasy share-ability as a hog roast but with a much better flavour. And none of that horrible sweet apple sauce you so often get with these.