Smoked a butt yesterday for about 7.5 hrs. Results were typical of the last
several I've done. I'm pleased with the tenderness and moistness of the
meat, and the top couple inches of the butt has an excellent flavor. After I
get further into the butt, there's just not a lot of flavor. I'm chopping it
and mixing it up, but there's a lot more "inside" than "outside", so it's
ending up pretty bland. I'm using a rub but no mop. The rub seems to be
imparting a good flavor, just not very deep into the meat. Same thing for
the smoke - I'm cooking primarily with lump, but also including hickory
and/or oak sticks as I go along. After chopping, I also toss it with a
little Lexington-style dip, but don't really want to try to create the
flavor from a heavier sauce. I'm not looking for "hot", just more smokey bbq
flavor.

About 6 months ago, I started brining all of my butts. I think it has made a
big difference with both moistness and tenderness, but I can't tell a big
impact on taste. I've resisted injecting up to this point, but beginning to
wonder if I'm missing the boat. Just curious who's injecting butts before
smoking, and any advice - ingredients for injecting? how long before
smoking? inject and brine or just injecting? etc.?

Thanks,
JW

wonder if I'm missing the boat. Just curious who's injecting butts before
smoking, and any advice - ingredients for injecting? how long before
smoking? inject and brine or just injecting? etc.?

Mebbe you can work on making a thicker crust using brown sugar (or more of
it)? Works for me.
I cook em till 195+ and haven't had any problems with too much of the plain
inside flavor predominating.
At that temp the fat and moisture you want gone, is gone, just leaving
enough to keep things good for eating..

Anyway, here's an old post from Ricky on injecting butt:

The pulled pork from Boston butt that I have been cooking for almost 30
years always comes out moist and tasty. I inject a 7 pound Boston butt with
1 quart of half apple juice and half water with 2 tablespoons of powdered
garlic. It gets 12 hours to marinate in competition and 24 hours at home.

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