Pulled pork
Note: Sorry for the formating disaster. I tried copying and pasting this in from Word and well it turned out with a horrible font and even worse formating.
Pulled pork is probably one of the easiest things on the face of this earth to do on a smoker and is the perfect starter for someone just starting out or learning a new smoker.
Pulled pork is normally made from a cut of pig called the Boston Butt. The Boston butt despites its name is actually comes from the upper part of the shoulder and the one you purchased should have the blade bone still in it.
The Boston Butt because of its location on the pig has a lot of connective tissue, muscle fibers, and fat in it. This makes the cut of meat perfect for the smoker because over a long time and low temperatures on the smoker the tissue, muscle, and fat will break down and basically melt in the meat.
As with any cooking adventure everything is dependant upon the setup. Nothing is sadder than seeing a cook running around at the last minute cussing because they do not have an specific ingredient that is a necessity for the dish.
Day before the cook you want to create the rub and verify you have everything you need. Do not buy pre-made rubs they are so cheap to make and you can control everything that goes into your creation. There are hundreds of thousands of possible rub recipes available on the net and I can’t tell you which one is perfect for you. Some people like a spicy taste and some are going to like a sweet taste. Below is a good base to start with. It is simple and can be added to. One trick with rubs is to add small. You are working with dried ingredients which are more potent than the fresh counterparts. Also, realize spices will not stay forever so that huge box of garlic powder you got on sale two years ago is crap now and needs to be thrown in the trash.
Dry Rub Base Recipe
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1/4 cup paprika
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2 tb salt
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2 tb pepper
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1/4 cup brown sugar
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1 tb onion powder
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1 tb garlic powder
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pinch of cayenne
Besides the rub you are going to need to make sure you have a couple more key items.
1) Mustard just plain old yellow. Mustard is perfect because it adheres to the meat and gives you a great sticky surface for the rub. You can try using different varieties such as jalapeno mustard but from what I have seen the taste variations are so minimal I would rather add some jalapeno powder into the rub. Relax the mustard taste will cook out for those of you who hate mustard.
2) Pans to carry the meat to and from the smoker. Disposable aluminum pans work perfectly for this because they are cheap and the high sides make them perfect for applying the mustard and rub to the meat, shredding the meat, and fit most steamer racks easily. Plus they are disposable which means cleanup is even easier. Make sure you use one pan for the raw meat and another pan for the cooked meat no need to risk cross contamination and getting people sick.
3) Meat thermometer. That one that is used once a year for the thanksgiving turkey is perfect you just want to make sure it is able to stay inside the meat the whole time. Now if you want to really spoil yourself invest in the Maverick ET-73. I love this thermometer because it has two probes in it one for the smoker and another for the meat. Also, the best part is it is wireless which means I can sit my lazy butt on the couch watch TV and see what everything is doing without having to leave till it is necessary. If you do not have one and don’t want to invest the 5 dollars in a thermometer relax there is a way near the end that tells you how to check for meat doneness.
4) Wood. Depending on what your smoker is depends on the wood you will need. If your smoker is a good size horizontal with a nice fire pit use seasoned logs (seasoned just basically means it has dried out and two pieces hit together will sound like bowling pins). If your smoker is a vertical like the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) then buy chunks. Chips are good for well pretty much nothing because they burn up way to quickly. If you are using a gas grill then buy chips, soaking them in water, and wrapping the chips in a foil pouch. Poke a couple holes in top and throw it on top of the flame. This will add a smokey flavor but well you are cooking with gas and boo you. There is also much debate about what type of wood to use. Personally just starting out I would stick with the basics of hickory or mesquite.
5) Charcoal. You need something to start the wood with and charcoal is a good cheap heat source. Some people swear by natural but me personally I like being cheap and will buy the 44lb Kingsford special from Sam’s Club. Yes Kingsford leaves a ton of ash but well cleanup is easy. Heck most professional BBQ teams I have seen use Kingsford also.
6) Charcoal chimney. This 10-15 dollar investment is the greatest purchase a charcoal griller can ever make. Nothing ruins a piece of meat quicker than the faintest hint of lighter fluid.
7) Lighter and paper. Really you need an explanation?
Next we want to trim up the meat. You will notice on the backside of the Boston Butt is a large piece of fat. We want this gone simply because we want to get all the available rub on the piece of meat that is possible. 
So everything is in place and your rub is made. You are done through the hardest part of the smoke and you have not even started. Now relax and get some sleep for tomorrow will be a long day.
As far as how long does it take to cook a Boston Butt I like to bank on 1 to 1.5 hours per pound of meat. Realize you can get done early and hold the meat but you can’t speed up the process so if you are expecting company bank on the 1.5 hours per pound. Besides the cook time I also like to factor in about an hour of holding time to let the meat settle and cool down a little bit before trying to pull it. I also like to factor in an hour just to get the smoker up to temperature and stabilized before adding the meat. So for a 7 pound Boston Butt you are looking at 12.5 hours which means if company is arriving at 5:30 p.m. you better be starting at 5:00 a.m.
I cook on a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) so from here on out the instructions are tailored to that. For 200 dollars this is the perfect smoker. I know you can pick up smokers at your local hardware shop for 60 bucks and they will do a great job but remember you get what you pay for and nothing ruins a great smoke like having to constantly add fuel or adjust vents because the flimsy piece of shit won’t keep a stable temperature.
Lighting the charcoal is easy. In the bottom of the WSM fill the charcoal ring with unlit charcoal and then scatter 4-5 chunks of wood within the charcoal. I know this does not seem like a lot but a little bit goes a long way and we are looking for ghostly images of smoke coming out not nuclear reactor style. We want the smoke to move through the chamber, touch the meat, and exit quickly. If you have nuclear reactor style you will end up with a lot of smoke in the chamber that is not exiting quickly and will put a stale taste to the meat.
In the charcoal chimney light 18-20 briquettes. I prefer to use a weed burner which can be bought for 15 bucks anywhere. It hooks up to a propane tank and well is great for parties and lighting cigars. If you lack this then fill the bottom part with paper and use a lighter to light it.
Once the charcoal has grayed over add it to the charcoal ring and assemble everything. If you are using a smoker that requires a water pan make sure you fill it up to the top. Don’t worry about adding beer to the water pan or wine or whatever creation involving herbs, flavored oils, and incense you mixed up. Very little flavor will be imparted to the meat from it so save your good stuff and use water. Put those flavors in the rub where they will actually do some good.
I like to keep the vents open till the smoker comes up to 200 degrees. While I am waiting for this I will prepare the meat. This is basically rubbing mustard all over it and then applying the rub. Rubs main purpose is to get flavors quickly into the meat so an overnight marinade is worthless on them and in fact could potentially cause problems if there is a lot of salt in the rub since salt will draw moisture out of the meat.
Once the smoker has reached 200 degrees I will start closing vents and let it creep up to 225. This is where I like to keep the smoker at and depending on the weather, time of day, humidity, temperature, and about a million other variables depends on where the vents stay. This will be something you will figure out over usage of your smoker. However, once again if you make changes make them small. A good starting place is close them all to 1/3 open. Now once the smoker has reached 225. Stick your meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat, place it on the smoker, close the smoker, and walk away. No need to keep checking the smoker to make sure your meat is still there. Only time it is acceptable to touch the smoker at this point is to add more water to the water pan if necessary or adjust the vents. By filling up the charcoal ring with charcoal you have a good 10+ hours of available fuel. 
If you lack the fancy wireless setup then after 5 hours pull the lid and check to see what the meat thermometer is registering. Some people recommend when the meat has reached 160 degrees internal to pull it off, wrap it in foil, and place it back on the smoker. I spit on this idea because we are working on getting a great crispy crust on the meat and all the foil is going to do is trap moisture in and make it soggy.
At 190 degrees pull the meat off of the smoker and let it sit loosely covered with foil and let it rest for an hour. Keep the thermometer in still till we are ready to pull. 
If you do not have a meat thermometer to determine if it is done or not is wiggle the bone. If it comes free the meat is done. After an hour grab a couple of forks and start pulling. If you want buy some heat resistant food gloves at a kitchen store and get in and get your hands dirty.
One word of caution is keep the sauce on the side. Sauce is for restaurants that boil their meat and have no clue what proper smokey flavor is. 
use Verdana … your font sucks.
edit: :wtc: I know I pasted it in from Word and it turned out horrible. Last time I ever do that again.
I plan to try this out very soon, however I couldn’t find a ‘Boston Butt’ at the local supermarket. Where can i go to find one of these, and roughly how big are the ones that you have pictured?
edit: If you can’t find Boston Butt it maybe just called pork shoulder depending on your area. A butcher shop will be the best bet or a Sam’s Club. I usually pay anywhere from 1-2 dollars/lb and the one I had pictured was about 6 lbs I believe.
Thank you for this post. Over the last year I have gone from simple steps to over complicating the process for making great pork. (Marinating, Wrapping, etc) These instructions reminded me how I used to do it and how simple and enjoyable making great BBQ can be. P.S. I could not miss the irony of the picture of the weed burner with weeds growing through the concrete. “There’s no sense wasting time and fuel on weed control when you can use it for smokin’ instead” -Jim
My reponse: Hahahaha I never noticed that. Yeah on the list of things to get fixed at the house driveway low on the list. Plus I think my neighbors would officially freak out if they saw me outside using the weed burner for what it was actually suppose to be used for.
Two and a half hours into letting this sit on the smoker, seems to be going great. Can’t wait to taste it, though I know I’m some five to eight hours away from that. The whole neighborhood smells fantastic. Neighbors are jealous I CAN SEE THEM WATCHING AND LICKING THEIR CHOPS.
The little lady and I are trying to figure out how best to integrate our favorite seasoning into this recipe: the habanero pepper. Better to: (A) dry them out, crush, and integrate into rub, or (B) let several soak in the water pan? If B, do we cut them up, slice them open, leave them whole… ?
The only bad part is, I’m using a Brinkmann instead of a WSM.
jason: I work work them into the rub. Letting them soak in the water pan really won’t do a whole lot but make a spicy water. In my experience adding any liquid but water to the pan is a waste. Some people swear beer in the pan adds better flavor but if I wanted that taste I could do 1/2 mustard and 1/2 beer and rub the meat with that instead of the straight mustard.
I just did my first Pork Butt/WSM using your recipe, setup. Turned out fantastic.
I started mine at 6:00 pm, ran great all night and by 6:30am the meat was reading 185. A good friend and experienced smoker recomennded that temp . The bone came out nice and clean, meat was tender and moist.
Pulled pork for breakfast is great!!