I'm so conflicted with Myhrvold: I hate Intellectual Ventures and what they do with the passion of a thousand suns, but Modernist Cuisine is an incredible and seminal work of art and science.
The modernist methods for BBQ do consistently produce a great que, but throwing a butt on an egg slow and low tastes just about as good and takes a lot less work.
He had done some nice work providing evidence against the "it's just fat melting" theory (he prefers the idea there is water vapor around the meat, absorbing the heat). I suggested that one could wrap the butt in aluminum foil, which would eliminate the evaporation and cause much more of the low heat to stay within the body of the meat.
That would presumably affect the bark, which is why he suggested the deep fry, although I don't think that's really the same as a slow bark.
The modernist methods for BBQ do consistently produce a great que, but throwing a butt on an egg slow and low tastes just about as good and takes a lot less work.