So I 'smoked' a pork 'butt' yesterday for the 4th following Aaron Franklin's YouTube recipe but using a smoke box on a gas grill (it's what I got for now, saving up for a Yoder Smoker so I know its not 'true' smoking hence the air quotes)

It came out ok, but I did not get the black bark on the outside that he did in the video. Any ideas as to potentially why? It was cooked on a rack over a drain pan, and got rave reviews, I just noticed the bark just wasn't there. I'm wondering if my temp gauge is not off a little bit and while it was done, just didn't get what it needed to form it.

Just thought I'd see if any of you pork savants had any ideas, its something I'd like to try again because it was devoured by our party guests, just didn't look the way I thought it would.

Either not enough rub, too little smoke, or a combination of the two.

HTownAg98 said:

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Either not enough rub, too little smoke, or a combination of the two.

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Was liberal with the rub, maybe my combo of pepper was off a little bit. But the lack of smoke was something I was thinking too. Tough to get that going well on a gas grill. But still worth the effort in trying!

I'm going with not enough smoke. I finally got a Weber Kettle a couple of months ago and the bark on my ribs and pork butt is so much better than when cooking on my gas grill.

Leeman said:

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You don't even need a rub to get bark. You need smoke,

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Not true

Really? I feel quite like I could throw an unseasoned pork butt on my smoker and end up with a bark.

I can make pork butt with bark in my oven.

Oddly enough the Good Eats episode last night was on pulled pork. In choosing his smoker/grill he eliminated the gas grill because burning gas creates water vapor which inhibits bark formation. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it made sense to me.

jxs40 said:

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Oddly enough the Good Eats episode last night was on pulled pork. In choosing his smoker/grill he eliminated the gas grill because burning gas creates water vapor which inhibits bark formation. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it made sense to me.

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This would seem to make some sense to me as well. I don't know the science behind it but sounds plausible.

jxs40 said:

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Oddly enough the Good Eats episode last night was on pulled pork. In choosing his smoker/grill he eliminated the gas grill because burning gas creates water vapor which inhibits bark formation. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it made sense to me.

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Alton knows stuff. He also does most of his outdoor cooking on a basic round Weber, at least on TV. None of his recipes have ever failed me, although some are pretty out there.

That's correct about it throwing off water vapor (and a lot). My pops used to run a gas fireplace in his cabin to keep the floors and beams from drying out in the winter.

Bruce Almighty said:

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Leeman said:

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You don't even need a rub to get bark. You need smoke,

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Not true

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Wong about not needing rub or smoke ?

I've cooked pork shoulders without rub and produced nice bark.

I haven't tried without smoke, so I could be wrong there. :-)

Leeman said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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Leeman said:

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You don't even need a rub to get bark. You need smoke,

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Not true

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Wong about not needing rub or smoke ?

I've cooked pork shoulders without rub and produced nice bark.

I haven't tried without smoke, so I could be wrong there. :-)

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About needing smoke. I've done brisket and pork butt without a smoker and can produce bark. I don't own a smoker, but cooking in a sous vide and finishing in oven can get pretty damn good results.

Did you put a water bath in it? Need some humidity to get a good bark.

You might want to consider something other than a Yoder if you don't have any smokers yet. That's quite a financial investment if you haven't done much smoking. You might want to consider something like a WSM, they are pretty cheap and easy to learn on, and you can make solid bbq on them. Also if you're looking at Yoder are you looking at an offset or one of their pellet grill/smokers? Using something like a WSM is pretty straight forward so it will help you decide if you're looking to get into offsets or if you don't want to babysit a smoker all day for brisket or pork shoulder in which case a pellet grill might be better for you.

Max Power said:

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You might want to consider something other than a Yoder if you don't have any smokers yet. That's quite a financial investment if you haven't done much smoking. You might want to consider something like a WSM, they are pretty cheap and easy to learn on, and you can make solid bbq on them. Also if you're looking at Yoder are you looking at an offset or one of their pellet grill/smokers? Using something like a WSM is pretty straight forward so it will help you decide if you're looking to get into offsets or if you don't want to babysit a smoker all day for brisket or pork shoulder in which case a pellet grill might be better for you.

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Good advice. I've had smokers before and am looking at the pellet grill for sure. Not looking to get into competition or anything, just cooking for a large family and for the kid's team, etc.

What temp were you cooking at, what temp/time did you pull it at, did you wrap it?

Fleff said:

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What temp were you cooking at, what temp/time did you pull it at, did you wrap it?

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I followed Franklin's YouTube on pulled pork almost to a T. May have had less pepper in the rub on accident, but kinda hard to tell. Cooked at 275 for about 4 hours with new chips added to the smoke box every hour - 90 mins. Then pulled, and wrapped tightly with a good spritzing of apple cider vinegar and cooked at 275 for about another 4 hours.

In response to Turslops question, I did NOT have a water bath. The combination of that and the lack of smoke might be the dooming element, especially on a small gas grill. Was still tasty (there were no leftovers from the party), just didn't have the presentation I was looking for so it wasn't a huge deal, just a good conversation piece for the experts on the board as to why.

I noticed in Franklin's video they packed two butts in one package, mine was just one, about 7.5 lbs. Other than that I tried to follow his video as much as possible.

If you didn't have a good bark in advance of wrapping, you will not have one after. Adding moisture to the mix when you wrap it will also cause you to lose more of the bark you do have. Smoke will aid in you getting the dark brown bark, no smoke will be more of a dark red, depending on your rub.

IMO you need to leave it unwrapped until you have a really good bark in place, because wrapping it will weaken the bark. You shouldn't need to wrap it unless you are trying to speed up a cook, and this especially true with a pork but which has a really good amount of fat to it already. I would also consider removing the fat cap, as this will give you more of the bark on the meat when serving.

The short cook time is the biggest culprit for no/little bark IMO. I do a single bone-in pork butt on my WSM for a minimum of an hour per pound, probably closer to 90 minutes per lb. Its really tough to overcook a pork butt, so I always tend to err on the longer side. Also, after about 4 hours in, I give a quick spray every hour or so with apple juice:apple cider vinegar 1:1. Never had a bad one.

Don't wrap it

Long answer: apply rub, cook until it probes with minimal residence and the bone slides out clean. At 250, usually 1.5 hours per pound

Once you get a feel for cooking them you can get fancy and apply some different techniques. For the main part, keep pork butts simple because they are simple.