Prep. To create the smoked chili powder, combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix all the ingredients together thoroughly. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place until ready to use.
To make the Cool Smoke Rub, combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix the ingredients together thoroughly. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place until ready to use.
To create the pork injection, thoroughly whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. The injection will keep in refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Prepare the Cool Smoke Barbecue Sauce. In a 4-quart (.9 L) saucepan, whisk together all the ingredients with ¾ cup (177.4 mL) water. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring continuously, for 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Set aside to cool completely. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 2 weeks. (Tips: For a sweeter version of this sauce, increase brown sugar or reduce amount of vinegar. The sauce is best if it sits overnight).
On a clean work surface, use a shaker to dust the pork butt evenly all over with the Cool Smoke Rub. Place the pork butt fat cap down and fill a meat injector with the Pork Injection. Using 1 ounce (29.6 mL) of the liquid per injection, repeatedly inject the meat 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart over the surface of the pork. Refill the injector as needed. Refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
Fire up. When you are ready to cook, heat the smoker to 300°F (148.9°C) pit temperature. Alternatively, heat the grill to 300°F (148.9°C), using the 2-zone setup, using five or six chunks of your favorite wood in addition to the charcoal or gas.
Cook. Place the pork butt in the smoker, or on the cool side of the grill, close the lid, and cook for 1 hour, then spray with apple juice to moisten. Cook for 3 hours more with the lid closed, spraying the shoulder every 30 minutes.
Cut two 18 x 24-inch (46 x 64 cm) pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil and join them lengthwise by crimping the edges. Lay the resulting piece out flat on a clean work surface.
Remove the pork butt from the smoker or grill and wrap it tightly in the length of foil. Return it to the smoker or to the cool side of the grill. Cook for 2½ to 3½ hours more, checking the temperature after 2½ hours with a meat thermometer. The meat will be done when a thermometer placed in the thickest part of the shoulder reads an internal temperature of 195°F (90.6°C).
Remove the pork butt from the foil and brush with ½ cup (118.3 mL) of the Cool Smoke Barbecue Sauce. Return the pork, uncovered, to the smoker, or to the cool side of the grill, and cook for another 10 minutes to set the sauce. Remove from the heat and let the shoulder rest for 45 minutes.
Serve. Serve the pork sliced, chopped, or pulled, with the remaining Cool Smoke Barbecue Sauce on the side.
This recipe is adapted with permission from “Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue” (May 2018, St. Martin’s Griffin Publishing) by Tuffy Stone.

High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!

Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.

Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.

Click here to learn more and take a free 30-day trial membership

Post comments and questions below

1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.

2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.

3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.

4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.

5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.