Meant to post this a while back when Bubba was asking for sauce recipes. I dig Boston Butts. My usual method of preparation is to throw some charcoal in the smoker, add some hickory or mesquite logs (or chips) that have been soaking in water for a few days, and smoke the butt on about 250 degrees for 7 to 9 hours. However, when in a rush for lunch, you can do one in the oven on about 350 degrees for about 30 minutes per pound.

Regardless, to prepare the butt, I either do a rub or oil marinade. The rub consists of chili powder, cumin, garlic, mustard powder, paprika, kosher salt, brown sugar and pepper. I’ve never really measured amounts and tend to eyeball it. The oil marinade consists of 3/4 cup of olive oil, 8 fresh chopped basil leaves, two table spoons of fresh chopped rosemary and a couple table spoons of garlic. Salt and pepper the butt then spoon the marinade over it. Cook as outlined above.

One of the mop sauces I use (that I used today, in fact) is a vinegar sauce. Make this about and hour before you eat because it’s good fresh and it doesn’t keep for more than a couple of days. Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1.5 cups of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 freshly chopped jalapeños (chopped thin. You can make the sauce less spicy by removing the seeds. I never do, though)
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
1 small onion chopped
2 tablespoons garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Spoon over the meat that you pull from the Boston butt. I’ll post my more traditional (i.e., tomato based) mop sauce soon. Go ahead, fix some. It’s good, I promise. Enjoy.

Posted in Recipes on August 8th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |