Christmas Pork Butt - Why a Pulled Pork Butt on Christmas? Why not! Ever get tired of the same thing every Christmas? Well then next year try Hickory smoking a nice little 8 pounder for your Christmas meal like I did this year. I really wanted to smoke a boneless 5 pounder but my local grocery store only had bone-in 8 pounders available ... Oh well, better planning next year will fix that.
Start by trimming the fat cap and any silver skin from your pork butt. A common misconception, in My Humble Opinion, is that you should leave the fat cap on or trim it down to 1/4 inch because it will baste the pork butt with magical flavors! NOT ... all the fat cap does is prevent the formation of that beautiful flavor infused bark that we all love.
Rub your trimmed pork butt with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil and season it with "Jan's Original Dry Rub" (page 168 of my cookbook, The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook). Wrap the seasoned pork butt in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat your wood pellet smoker-grill to 235ºF using CookinPellets.com 100% Apple Mash wood pellets. Smoke the pork butt for 3 hours before increasing the grill temperature to 375ºF. Cook the pork butt until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF. Remove the pork butt and double wrap it in heavy duty foil. Return the pork butt to your grill until it reaches an internal temperature of 205ºF.
Wrap the foiled pork butt using two towels and allow it to rest in a closed cooler for 2 -3 hours (FTC) before pulling. Be careful when pulling because your pork butt will still be extremely hot!
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