Sometimes the best BBQ days aren’t the ones with perfect weather. Sometimes they’re the cold, gray, rainy Sundays where you fire up the kamado anyway, let the smoke roll, and spend the afternoon doing exactly what you love.

This Sunday was one of those days—a backyard BBQ cold rainy February session that turned into one of the more satisfying cooks of the year so far.

The Menu

Going into it, the plan was simple but solid:

• 3.5 lb boneless Boston butt — low and slow, the whole afternoon
• 2 split chicken breasts — quicker cook, equally good

Not a massive cook, but a purposeful one. Sometimes a focused, manageable menu is exactly what you need to actually enjoy the process instead of spending the whole day chasing temperatures across five different proteins.

The Rub Game

Getting the seasoning right before anything hits the grate is where a lot of the flavor is built, so I don’t rush this part.

Boston Butt

The butt got a two-rub treatment:

• Stubbs Texas Mesquite Rub — bold, smoky, slightly sweet with that distinctive Texas character
• Rib Rack Original Rub — a classic, well-balanced BBQ rub that layers nicely on top of the Stubbs

Layering two rubs on a pork butt isn’t just about more flavor—it’s about complexity. The Mesquite rub brings that deep smokiness, while the Rib Rack Original adds a more traditional BBQ bark. Together, they build the kind of crust that makes you want to steal a piece every time you open the lid.

Chicken Breasts

The split chicken breasts went a different direction: Texas Dust Barn Yard Pimp. It’s a great all-purpose poultry rub with enough seasoning to hold up through the full cook without overpowering the chicken.

Setting Up the Kamado

With the proteins seasoned and resting, it was time to get the kamado dialed in. The target was 250°F — the sweet spot for low and slow smoking. Getting a kamado to hold 250 on a cold, rainy day takes a little more patience than a warm summer afternoon. The cooler ambient temperature means you’re fighting the environment a bit, but a well-insulated kamado handles it better than most cookers.

Once it stabilized at 250, everything went on and the waiting game began.

The Cook

Chicken Breasts — About 2 Hours

The chicken breasts hit the grate alongside the butt and were done in roughly 2 hours. Chicken breasts on the kamado at 250 come out with a great smoke ring and stay surprisingly moist at that temperature—especially split breasts, which have a little more surface area to absorb flavor.

At 165°F internal, they came off clean, rested for a few minutes, and were ready to go.

Boston Butt — Pulled at 184°F, Finished in the Oven

The butt is where things get interesting. Low and slow pork shoulder is about patience and knowing when to intervene. I pulled it off the kamado when the internal temp hit 184°F — still a bit shy of the typical 195–205°F pull temp for fall-apart pulled pork, but exactly where I wanted it for chopped BBQ.

From there, it went into the oven wrapped to finish. Wrapping and moving to the oven at that stage locks in moisture, pushes through the stall if it hasn’t already broken, and gives you solid control over the final product. For chopped BBQ, you want the pork tender but with a little more structure than the full pulled texture — 184 off the smoker before the oven wrap lands perfectly.

Once it came out of the oven, I chopped the pork and tossed it with some Eastern NC vinegar sauce. The result? Juicy, smoke-infused chopped BBQ with a proper bark and enough residual smoke flavor to remind you it spent hours on the kamado.

The Sides

No BBQ spread is complete without the right sides, and this one kept it classic:

• Collard Greens — slow-cooked and savory, the perfect bitter counterbalance to the richness of the pork
• Kraft Mac and Cheese — sometimes you don’t overthink it, and that’s exactly the right call

There’s no shame in reaching for the blue box. After a few hours managing a kamado in the cold and rain, the last thing you need is a complicated side dish. Mac and cheese did exactly what it needed to do.

Cold Weather, Good Results

One thing worth appreciating about February BBQ: there’s something deeply satisfying about running a low-and-slow cook on a cold, gray day. The smoke hangs in the damp air differently. The warmth radiating off the kamado feels earned. And when everything comes together — the chopped pork, the chicken, the greens, the mac — it feels like you’ve made something out of a day that could have easily been spent on the couch.

Good Sunday in the back yard. That’s really what it was.

Quick-Reference Cook Log

Protein	Rub	Temp	Cook Time	Pull Temp
3.5 lb Boneless Boston Butt	Stubbs Texas Mesquite + Rib Rack Original	250°F	~5–6 hrs + oven finish	184°F (wrapped, oven)
Split Chicken Breasts (2)	Texas Dust Barn Yard Pimp	250°F	~2 hrs	165°F

Related Reading

If you’re looking for more backyard cooking content, check out our other posts for recipes, technique breakdowns, and whatever’s been coming off the grill lately.

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Cooker: Kamado Set Temp: 250°F Proteins: 3.5 lb boneless Boston butt, 2 split chicken breasts Rubs: Stubbs Texas Mesquite, Rib Rack Original, Texas Dust Barn Yard Pimp Sides: Collard greens, Kraft mac and cheese Conditions: Cold, rainy February Sunday