Pork Butt "Carnitas"

[ecowper]

Okay, it's not really carnitas ... But it has the right flavors. I've done pork butt like this before, with a rub that draws on Mexico for it's flavor profile. Last time I did it on the WSM, my family declared that I should always do pork butt this way. Since I'm huge fan of pulled pork with MMD and coleslaw and mustard sauces on it, I probably won't do it this way every time. But it is pretty darn good.

We are doing our Labor Day BBQ a day early. Cooking a pork butt and then adding to that smoked chicken breast that will be sliced and finished in fajita seasoning on the stove, plus my wife's ground beef taco meat. Her taco seasoning recipe is awesome, made from scratch and nothing but savory, fiery goodness. To go along with all that, Pico de gallo rice, black beans and your choice of hard or soft taco shells.

I rolled out of bed at 5:30 to get the WSM fired up. Got some really cool flames out of the chimney as I was doing that. WSM was hot and burning clean by 7:00 AM, pork butt was all set with its rub and on it went. Now I get to suffer through the 8-10 hours of smelling that pork cooking in the backyard.

[Stevo]

Looks great! Care to share the rub recipe?

[ecowper]

Stevo Here you go

2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp white table sugar
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground oregano
½ tsp cayenne pepper

[Jerod Broussard]

No Allpsice? Blasphemy.

[ecowper]

I'm often accused of blasphemy :-)

[Stevo]

Thanks!

[ecowper]

You're welcome .... That is enough to do one full pork butt. GIve it a whirl, see what you think.

[ecowper]

Butt has been going 4 1/2 hours now and we are deep in the stall. Internal temp has only moved from 156 to 160 over the past 30 minutes. But my wife went out in the backyard to cut some roses for the table. When she came back in, she said, "Oh my god Eric, that pork butt smells amazing!" .... Talk about good for the ego!

It's looking good, too.

[JCBBQ]

Making the sidge-nificant other happy is very rewarding!

[RonB]

That's looking really good, and the whole meal sounds great. Would your wife mind sharing the taco seasoning recipe?

[ecowper]

Ron, I'll get it from her .... She normally like to share

[ecowper]

RonB here you go .... She says this is enough for 1 lb of ground beef, so just multiply by however many pound of ground beef. She also says feel free to adjust for more, or less, fire based on taste.


1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

[RonB]

ecowper - Thanx. I'm thinking of making this with some smoked chuckie.

[ecowper]

That sounds good

[EdF]

Cumin! An often-overlooked gift!

[ecowper]

Finished product, pulled from the WSM at about 198