Just smoked my first Butt (bone in) on Saturday. I live in NY and don't think I've ever even eaten pulled pork before! Smoked it for 12 hours (was about 9#). Bones pulled right out easily and meat pulled easily as well. I have 2 questions. The meat was a little on the dry side -- is this normal? The internal temp, according to my thermometer, was almost 190. Also, I had to add some lump to keep towards the end of the cook to keep temps up (maybe there's a better way) about 8 hours into it, but I thought I shouldn't have to add fuel? Thanks for your input.
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First Butt
- Thread starter S Hawk
- Start date
Craig Castille
TVWBB Wizard
Sometimes a butt can turn out dry...but you can easily fix that when you pull the meat (many add some sauce and/or apple juice mixture to the pulled meat). Just do it incrementally to siut your tastes.
When loading lump, be sure to "fit" all the lump in so that there are very few gaps between pieces. Since every piece of lump is unique you just kinda have to make it all fit.
As for adding fuel during your cook, a couple of factors come in to play.
1- temp cooked at
2- brand of lump used
If I use Royal Oak lump, I'll expect about a 10-12 hour burn.
If I use Picnic or Wicked Good, then I'll expect about 18-20 hours.
So it just kinda depends.
When loading lump, be sure to "fit" all the lump in so that there are very few gaps between pieces. Since every piece of lump is unique you just kinda have to make it all fit.
As for adding fuel during your cook, a couple of factors come in to play.
1- temp cooked at
2- brand of lump used
If I use Royal Oak lump, I'll expect about a 10-12 hour burn.
If I use Picnic or Wicked Good, then I'll expect about 18-20 hours.
So it just kinda depends.
Joe McManus
TVWBB All-Star
Not sure what could have dried it out. Even triming off almost all visible fat from a butt leaves plenty to render. Did you foil and let it rest for a little? And I guess sometimes, they just like being alittle dry.
If the bone pulled out easily, my guess is that you were above 190. Might want to check your meat therm for accuracy with boiling water. If the meat was over 200, it could be a little drier than usual. Also, a high temp spike during the cook could cause some hint of dryness. You may have simply had a view of how moist the meat was going to be and when it wasn't it seemed dry. I guess its all in what you're expecting, to some degree ... ?
Paul
Paul
Thanks for all the input, guys. Probably I should have just added some sauce to it after I pulled it. I just wasn't really sure what to expect. Still tasted great and the guests loved it! I did foil and let rest. There is definitely a chance that my thermometers are off. As for checking temps during the cook, I just used an extra gas grill therm that I have in the hood and "assumed" that the grate temp was probably 10-14 degrees cooler. Trying ribs today for the first time. Will let you know the results!