Foiled Boneless Pork Butt

Should you be thinking about foiling your boneless Pork Butt or sticking with the time honored Low-and-Slow method of smoking your Pork Butts for 14-20 hours plus the inclusion of 3-4 hours FTC?  Having used both methods over the years I believe you should seriously consider foiling your Pork Butt(s) which incorporate the best of both worlds.  Foiling your Pork Butt provides that scrumptious bark we all enjoy and the stunning smoke ring we wear like a badge of honor!  I know that the smoke ring does not influence the taste of your pulled Pork but it really highlights the Apple smoked Pulled Pork Butt.

When you foil your boneless pork butt it does not infer that you foil the butt from the beginning of the cook.  This method is primarily used to accelerate the cooking process through the "stall" which will happen and normally take four or more hours.

Trim the fat cap and any excess fat prior to rubbing the butt with Extra Virgin Olive Oil & a nice pork rub like Plowboy's Bovine Bold.  Wrap the butt in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat your smoker-grill to 225ºF using Pacific Pellet BBQ Apple pellets.  Apple smoke the boneless pork butt for 3 hours.  This stage not only infuses the pork butt with Apple smoke but also begins the bark and smoke ring formation.

After a 3 hour Apple wood smoke on the MAK 2 Star smoker-grill at 225ºF I increased the pit temperature to 325ºF until the Internal Temperature reached 160ºF which is right in the middle of a normal stall were I to be using the Low-and-Slow method of smoking at 225ºF.  At this stage I double wrapped the apple smoked boneless pork butt in heavy duty foil and returned it to the pit until the Internal Temperature of the pork butt reached 205ºF.

Foil, Towel, Cooler (FTC) is crucial to putting the finishing touches on your smoked pork butt.  Since the butt is already double wrapped in foil proceed to the Towel stage.  Wrap the foiled boneless pork butt in a towel and place in a regular cooler for a minimum of 3 hours before pulling.