Pork butt questions


 
Chris W.

Chris W.

TVWBB Pro
The situation is this: I got my WSM last Friday night as a surprise from my wife. Saturday morning, I rushed to the local grocery store and bought 4 slabs of baby backs and 1 5-5.5 lb butt. I did half of my ribs last Saturday, and they came out great.

Now, I had planned on doing my pork butt this weekend. I had originally planned to put it on around midnight and then go to bed and check on it around 6 or 7 in the morning. From what I've been reading, pork butts usually require 1.5-2 hours per pound, so a 5 pounder should take roughly 10 hours, give or take. Is this correct?

I just found out yesterday that my family is having a going-away party for my sister, who is returning to college in Tennessee on the 13th. The party is at four on Saturday. While we're not required to bring anything, I'm toying with the idea of going ahead and cooking my butt anyway and bringing it along. The only problem is I know the butt isn't big enough for everyone that will show up. If everyone shows, there will be 14-16 people. I'm realistically expecting 9-10 people to show up. Do you guys think it would be all right if I showed up with pulled pork knowing I didn't have enough for everyone? Money is pretty tight currently and buying another butt before Saturday would be a stretch. I'd feel kind of bad doing it, but I'd also feel bad showing up with nothing.

Assuming I go ahead and do it (or somehow throw the money together for another butt and end up doing more than one), roughly what time do you guys think I should put the butt on the WSM? I'm still thinking about throwing it/them on at midnight, and then taking them off somewhere between noon and 2, and then letting it sit wrapped until we get to my parents house. Would that work?

Sorry for the newb questions, this is my second cook. Once I start doing this more often, and get a few cooks under my belt, I'm sure I won't be asking simple questions like this, but for now I'd really like to defer to your guy's experience.
 
Personally, I'd buy another butt, roughly the same size. With a 5 pound butt, after trimming and rendering, you're looking at around 2.5 pounds of cooked meat. That's not much to feed 10 people, or possibly 16. I think seeing people impressed with your culinary skill is worth it.

Butts are pretty cheap, usually under $2 a pound, less if they're on sale. Put it on a credit card if you have to. Scour your local sale papers for deals. I can usually find butts on sale at one of my five local grocery stores any given week. A lot of major chains publish their sale papers online as well, so check their respective websites.

Midnight sounds like a good time to start the cook. If they're not getting tender by noon, wrap in foil and put them in a 350* oven until 190-200 or so.
 
Thanks for the quick reply, Dan. I'll probably do that. One quick question I forgot to mention in my first post: Does temp matter for pork butt? If so, roughly what temp should I be aiming for?
 
You could get everyone a .25 lb sammy with that butt. Shoot for an internal temp of 190-200 and she will fall apart like a drunk woman!
 
One .25 pound sammy won't finish me off.
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Just personally, I'd rather have too much and freeze the leftovers instead of possibly having people go hungry.
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While I'm in agreement with the idea of grabbing another Butt, if money is tight then just do it for your family and savour it yourself. I'm sure your friends don't want you to stretch yourself if you're not in a position to do so.

As for cooking, butts are much more forgiving then we all think the first time cooking. I'm sure everyone remembers laboring over the WSM playing with vents every 10 minutes trying to get a perfect 225. The reality is you can easily cook between 225-275 and still have great results. As said before, cook to internal of around 190 (everyone will tell you different... personally I pull at 187 cuz i think my thermometer reads low... but some people pull at 200). After you pull off the meat, foil wrap for an hour and throw in a cooler if you can. Let it sit for at least an hour before you pull.

Now as for cooking time... For a first Butt cook I might not recommend a late overnighter.... or you won't sleep... trust me. Since you are looking at likely reheating anyways, you may want to cook on Friday ahead of time just to eliminate any concern about cooking overnight and/or not having it done on time.
 
I did an overnighter for my first butts, but did them in advance. We were having a party on Sunday, and I started the butts on Friday night. It allowed me to finish them by early afternoon on Saturday, then cook a few chickens. For Sunday's party, all I had to do was reheat. I agree w/ what everyone is saying about not getting much sleep. That first cook, I think I woke up and checked the temp every hour.
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Now if I were just starting out I would not want to deal with an overnight cook. A 5 lb butt can go on at 6AM. Wrap it in foil after about 3 hours of smoke and bring the heat up to about 275 to speed it along its way. Pull it off the cooker at around 2:30 and wrap up in a couple towels or put into an empty cooler until ready to pull. Be sure to check the meats temp around noon to see how things are coming along. It might get ready faster than expected. Personally I dont worry to much about temp of the meat...If the thermo goes in smooth and easy then its done.

I agree that this single butt will be a bit small for the size crowd if they are all pork eaters. Don't forget you have to factor in the amount of meat that never makes it to the table. As the person having to pull the pork you are entitled to a good sized piece every now and then while pulling and that can really cut into the final yield.

Most importantly...enjoy it and don't stress.
 
Wow guys, thanks for all the input. After all the feedback, I don't think I'll do this for the party on Saturday. I think I will instead get up at around 6 on Sunday, fire up the WSM, get it up to temp and get the meat on, hopefully around 6:30 or 7. I'll definitely light using the Minion Method, and probably use a full chimney of K to get everything started. I will then let it sit until around 3:30 or 4, pull it off and let it sit until around 5:30 or 6 for dinner on Sunday. That way, my wife and I have leftovers for lunch on Monday, and no one has to miss out at the party. Plus, it relieves me of having to do an overnight cook for one of my first cooks.

Thanks for all the advice guys! You're lifesavers.
 
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