Smoked Boston Butt Roast on a Gas Grill

Smoked Boston Butt Pork Shoulder Roast hot off the grill.

The Best Boston Butt Roast

One of my all time favorite recipes is pulled pork and my go to recipe is normally Kalua Pork but if you’ve ever had a Smoked Boston Butt Roast, you know it’s amazing. I’ve got a really great rub to share with you and, for those that don’t have a smoker, I’m going to teach you how to smoke your butt’s on a gas grill and still get the same results.

One packaged and tagged Raw Pork Butt Shoulder Roast, 7.55 lb, $9.66.

What is a Boston Butt

Some people confuse and automatically assume that a Boston Butt Roast is exactly what it sounds like, the butt or bottom muscle of the pig, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s actually the front shoulder above another famous roast portion, the picnic. So, the difference is, the Butt roast is more square and has the shoulder blade bone cut into each portion and the picnic is more like the bicep and forearm(ham hocks) of the front legs. Both cuts of meat, however, make excellent pulled pork.

Apparently, butts are named after the barrels the pork was stored in during the revolutionary war in New England. The barrels themselves were indeed called butts. New England is comprised of six states in the northeastern united states and Boston Massachusetts is considered it’s largest city, Hence, the Boston Butt.

Seasoned Boston Butt Pork Shoulder Roast ready for the grill.

Seasoning a Pork Butt

There are many different ways to prepare a Smoked Boston Butt and no one recipe is the right way. When I think of pork roasts, though, I tend to lean towards my Latin taste buds which pull me towards a spicier more flavorful seasoning. Sure you could go with a classic salt and pepper rub and you would, most likely, get fantastic results. Me, on the other hand, prefer Barbacoa and Chipotle style recipes so, I put together a rub with a little more flare. I use yellow mustard as a binder and several sweet and savory ingredients for color and flavor.

You also have to consider whether or not you want to add any Barbecue Sauce. If you do want to add it, it’s best brush a thin layer over the roast at the time of wrapping in foil. It’s also fairly common unwrap the butt, when it’s done cooking, and glaze it with a thinner sauce. Common glaze’s are generally a mix of barbecue sauce, apple juice, apple cider vinegar and sometimes blended fruits like apricots or peaches. Once a glaze is applied, the Boston Butt Roast is placed back on the grill, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes to caramelize.

Smoking on a gas grill

Thanks to cooking shows on TV and cooking channels, like mine, on YouTube, Barbecue and smoked meats have gained extraordinary popularity. I think that most folks already love a good BBQ but, I’m not really sure that everyone has ever really experienced great barbecue. It was years before I ever really appreciated it. Any meat that came out of my Mom’s kitchen was never grilled and it always chewed like leather or an old shoe. Sadly, other than fish, I had no idea that meat could melt into your mouth until I was literally a full grown man and slow and low is the way to go.

On a gas grill, unless someone is burning the food, there isn’t the luxury of smoke. Without the added flavors, that burning logs, chips, pellets and nitrates the smoke provides, you’re not going to get that infamous “smoke ring” grill masters brag about. The smoke, however, on a gas grill, can still be achieved and I show you how to do it in this video tutorial. What I don’t mention, though, is an alternative.

First know, to achieve smoke, all you have to do is introduce and burn wood chips or pellets inside the barbecue grill itself. I purchased a cheap Smoker Tube from amazon that, very easily, fills with pellets and accomplishes this task. You can, however just wrap wood chips or smoking pellets in a hand made aluminum foil pouch and, with many poked holes in the foil, get the same if not similar results.

Smoking Boston Butt Roast on the grill with thermometer probing the meat.

The Boston Pork Butt must cook over indirect heat. This means that there mustn’t be a gas burner directly under the meat. My grill, for example has 3 burners. I turn the front one on low and leave the back two off to place the butt over indirect heat. I also add a bowl of water, to regulate humidity and help to keep the roast from drying out. Another step you can take is spritzing the roast, once every hour, with apple juice or apple cider vinegar or a mix of the two in a spray bottle.

I try to maintain a temperature around 275° F on my lowest setting but, on hotter days, sometimes the grill will heat up as high as 325° F so, don’t freak out if yours does. The look of the outside and the actual internal temp of the pork butt is what really matters.

Half of a Smoked Butt Roast shredded into pulled pork with Au Jus.

The smoker tube, on average, lasts 2 to 3 hours before more wood chips or pellets need to be added. I only add them once. When the tube burns out the second time, there’s no need for further smoke.

I probe the center of the roast with a thermometer after 4 hours. Once I’ve reached 160° F internal temp, I wrap the Boston Butt in foil and roast until internal temperature reaches 195° F. Then I remove it from the grill and let it rest 20 to 30 minutes before I shred it.

Shredded pulled pork from a 7.5 lb Boston Butt Pork Shoulder roast.

If I wrapped the the butt properly, there won’t be any leakage and there will be a puddle of roast juice in the bottom of the foil when I unwrap it. This juice or Au Jus, if you will, is essential for the pulled pork to reach maximum flavor and it provides a ton of moisture in the meat that keeps it from drying out so, don’t throw it out. If you want to chill it first to remove the heat, that’s fine but poor the whole thing over the shredded pulled pork and turn the pieces over a few times before serving.

If you’re interested in making pulled pork sandwich’s with this recipe, check out my Coleslaw recipe.

Smoked Boston Butt Roast on a Gas Grill by PoorMansGourmet.
Smoked Boston Pork Butt Ingredients:

7.5 lb Boston Pork Butt
3 tbsp Yellow Mustard

Pork But Rub

1/2 cup Smoked Paprika
3 tbsp Kosher Salt
2 tbsp Black Pepper
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Coffee grains
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder

Apple Cider Vinegar to Spritze

275° Fahrenheit for approximately 8 hours, total cook time. Wrap in foil at 160°, approximately 4 to 5 hours and cook for an additional 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 195° F, then remove from the grill and let it rest. After 20 minutes, shred into pulled pork, add the leftover juice from the roast and serve. For more flavor, shake the rub seasoning into the shredded pulled pork.

Baby Back Ribs Tin Foil Dinner

Fun Baby Back Ribs Dinner

Tin foil dinners were a regular thing for me, growing up. I was a Boy Scout and without mommy and daddy around to cook for me, I had to throw something together that could just be cooked by campfire. I didn’t like hot dogs so hamburger and vegetables was the next alternative. Well, now that I’m full grown, I don’t want little burned bits of under seasoned hamburger. I want ribs and an assortment of vegetables that any gourmet chef would be proud of and this is what I came up with.

Raw Baby Back Ribs seasoned with Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Cumin and Blackened Seasoning.

The Best Baby Back Ribs

If you want great Baby Back Ribs, they’ve got to be seasoned. We’ve all got our own specific tastes but the key is to lay it on there thick. In my opinion, the only way you can over season ribs is if you add too much salt. That’s why I use Kosher. It’s light, fluffy and a few pinches, spread evenly, seasons the meat perfectly. There’s a variety of different seasoning I use for different recipes but the key is to cook them slow and low, no matter what you decided to season your ribs with. Cook them over some hot coals, in a smoker, barbecue grill or in the oven like I do and the slow and low method will never do you wrong.

In this recipe I use Cumin and Blackened Seasoning. That means there is Smoked Paprika, Garlic and Onion Powder and a few earthy ingredients that really make pork pop. I posted a recipe for Blackened Seasoning a while back if you’d like to put together some for your self.

Waxy potatoes, sweet peppers, asparagus and carrots.

Veggies and Baby Back Ribs

One pairing that is as sure as death and taxes is vegetables in tin foil dinners and this Baby Back Ribs recipe is no exception. Vegetables that are hard and take longer to cook are the best to use because it takes a few hours for the pork to cook. I chose some small waxy potatoes, carrots, sweet peppers and asparagus. Why I didn’t think to put onion in there, until this exact moment, I’ll never know. Truthfully I was trying to film 2 videos at the same time. 2 hours of cooking time gave me nothing to do so I must have racked my brain trying to get a second video done. Anyway, where was I… oh yeah, the vegetables. They will turn out perfectly with just a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Baby Back Ribs Tin foil Dinner Ingredients:

1 rack Baby Back Ribs
Carrots
Asparagus
Small Waxy Potatoes
Small Sweet Peppers
Cumin
Blackened Seasoning
Kosher Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Cook at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours and then expose the ribs and kick up the heat 50 degrees. Bake a second time, with barbecue sauce if you’d like, for 20 minutes.

I’m not listing all of the exact amounts because it’s not necessary. I just bought a small bag of each item and just eye balled the seasoning and I’m confident that you can do the same thing and be proud of your self. Just follow the instructions in the Baby Back Ribs Tin Foil Dinner video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make this.

Country Style Barbecue Ribs

Braised and Baked Country Style Barbecue Ribs.

The Best Barbecue Country Style Ribs

If you love ribs, you’re going to love this Country Style recipe because it’s got it all. These ribs can easily be cooked outdoors on a grill or inside on a stove and in the oven. I season the ribs with my Blackened Seasoning recipe, then braise them in barbecue sauce and pineapple juice. These ribs are finished off in the oven to caramelize the sauce and firm up the out side of the rib. The results are a fall of the bone tender barbecue rib that, literally, melts in your mouth.

Store bought Country Style pork ribs.

What are Country Style Ribs

Wikipedia describes Country Style Ribs as the blade end of the loin close to the pork shoulder and they’re considered more of a chop than a rib because the bones aren’t rib bones at all. They’re the Shoulder Blade or “Scapula” bones behind the shoulder. The result is a loin cut portion that is more than 3/4 meat vs. bone. The benefit to this, if it isn’t obvious, is more bang for your buck. An average rack of baby back ribs weighs 3 to 4 pounds and so does a package of Country Style ribs but the baby backs cost twice as much. So, by purchasing these ribs instead, not only are you cutting the cost in half, you’re getting twice the eats because there’s a lot more meat.

Blackened seasoned Country Style ribs just marinating.

Seasoning Country Style Ribs

One of the secrets to any good rib recipe rings true for these Country Style ribs, as well. You’ve got to have a good rub or seasoning. For this recipe, I use my Blackened Seasoning and I showed you how to make that in the last YouTube video and blog post. There’s other substitutions that can be used like Old Bay or a Crawfish Boil Seasoning. Zatarain’s and Slap Your Mama are both good choices. Even my Brisket Rub recipe would be excellent for these ribs because all of these have the same basic ingredients with small twists and variations is all but will have very similar results.

Braising Country Style Ribs in Barbecue Sauce and Pineapple Juice.

Braised Country Style Ribs

Essentially, this Country Style Ribs recipe is braised and baked but many avid grill masters do the exact same thing on the grill. So everything you learn here can be applied to your barbecue if you want to grill this recipe instead. These ribs are braised in a mixture of barbecue sauce and Pineapple juice. You can replace the pineapple juice with beer instead, if you want to go that rout. It’s a real common practice with just as good results, just slightly different taste. Season and sear your ribs, then braise in the sauce for 1 1/2 hours and grill for 5 to 10 minutes to caramelize.

Baked Country Style Barbecue Ribs.
Oven Baked Country Style Ribs

Now that you know that you can take this Country Style Ribs recipe to the grill let’s talk about how easy it is to bake in the oven. 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, after the braising. That’s it and that’s all. So, if you don’t think you can handle cooking these ribs after you watch my video tutorial, I’ve done something terribly wrong. Good luck!

Country Style Barbecue Ribs Ingredients:

1 pkg Country Style Ribs
2 cups Barbecue Sauce, I use Baby Ray’s
1/2 cup Pineapple Juice
1 tbsp Kosher Salt, approximately
2 tbsp Blackened Seasoning, approximately