Pork butts & ribs


 
C

Costas C.

TVWBB Member
Guys,

Planning dinner for about 20 people, I was figuring on pork butt and baby backs (loin backs) with some MOINK balls as appetizers.

Went to Costco and bought 16lb boneless pork butt in CRYO pack, which would end up being 2 butts. Several questions come to mind:

1. When doing multiple meats, do you guys put the one that will be cooking the longest on the bottom grate?

2. If the butts are done to pull tenderness, how do you get them off the bottom rack without having them fall apart on you? Do you just handle them by hand? I figured reaching in there would be kinda hot.

3. Will the butts cook quicker on the bottom grate?

4 Should I tie up the butts with kitchen twine, since they are boneless?

5. I'm guesstimating about 11-13 hours of cooking time for the butts, last few times I let them rest for about 45 minutes wrapped in foil before pulling. Should I let them rest longer? I'll have a cooler and towels available this time.

6. For the MOINK balls, should I put them in a pan in the smoker, or just right on the grille?

Thanks guys!

Costas
 
Last edited:
1. yes
2. use gloves and gently lift
3. with water in the pan i find it is a little hotter on the top grate
4. two 8 lb butts could take up to 16 hrs depending on temp if 225, you should shoot for 250-275 if you want to be done in 11 to 13, check for tenderness when probes hit around 195.
5. have not done moinks, but would love to. I think i would put them in a pan

Good luck and keep us updated, especially iwth pics
 
James H said:
1. yes
2. use gloves and gently lift
3. with water in the pan i find it is a little hotter on the top grate
5. two 8 lb butts could take up to 16 hrs depending on temp if 225, you should shoot for 250-275 if you want to be done in 11 to 13, check for tenderness when probes hit around 195.
6. have not done moinks, but would love to. I think i would put them in a pan

Good luck and keep us updated, especially iwth pics
Click to expand...

OK, bottom grate it is. Don't really have time to order bbq gloves, what can I use instead that might be available at HD or the supermarket?

Last time I did a 7 lb bone in pork butt, I went with no water in the pan, and it took 12hrs @ 250. I think i will shoot for 275 on average this time.

I've heard it takes longer if I tie it up too....
 
Depending on what time dinner is I would:

1,2a,4: Do an overnight cook on the butts so they are done around 12 or 1. Remove the butts from the top grate with two pairs of tongs, a fork and spatula or gloved hands. Foil and wrap in towels and place in cooler. Then do the ribs so they are done 1/2 hour before you want to eat. Takes all the guess work out of trying to have 2 different meats done at the same time.

3: The butts I buy come in a twine mesh that keeps a uniform shape. I remove this because it will destroy the bark if you remove it afterward and then tie it with a couple strands of twine.

5: Not sure how you make your Moink balls but if you wrap in bacon I would do them on the grate so it cooks uniformally all round.
 
you can use clean pot holders or dish towels to lift the butts off the grill....lifting from as low on the butt as possible.
 
I usually have wrapped my butts earlier in the cook so they are pretty simple to get off. Before I used to wrap I have a big spatula I would slide under. I cook my MOINKS directly on the grate and pretty high temp (between 275 & 300) to give that bacon a little crisp.
 
Thanks for all the help everyone. It was a semi-successful cook in my eyes (everyone said they loved it, but I didn't think it was my best work.) A little more background on the get-together, its my wife's family's annual "reunion" out at her grandma's house. Her uncle's and I usually bring a bunch of different bourbons to try out, but the twist this year, was that my bro-in-law also brought out a couple of bottles of tequila (Patron and Cabo Wabo i think). I ended up crashing at 1am the night of the cook, somehow woke up at 3:30am to light the smoker and prep the butts for 4:30am start....Thank god for the iGrill btw. I was able to crash on the couch and keep my phone next to me to keep me updated till I got up at 8am.

Here are some pics from whenever I remembered to take them:

Just put the butts on @ 4:30am
13-1.jpg



The butts at about 7 hrs in. Internal temp was 165F at this point.
IMG_20130726_112256.jpg


The baby backs after a couple of hours @ 250F.
IMG_20130726_140758.jpg


Butt #1 off at 4pm.
IMG_20130726_142207.jpg


Butt #2 (definitely should have tied with twine, this one splayed out a bit in the smoker and the tip of it got a bit dry).
IMG_20130726_142235.jpg


The MOINK balls.
IMG_20130726_172354.jpg


I let the butts sit for about 20 mins after taking them out of the smoker and then wrapped them in foil and put them in a cooler until everything else was ready. I let my wife's uncle and son (both are professional chefs) shred the butts and they said that besides the tip of the one butt that was dry, the rest came out spot on as far as tenderness goes.

The ribs came out not quite fall of the bone, which is good for me.

Dinner was served at 6pm, sorry I did not have pics of the spread...as everyone was eating, all I wanted to do was put my feet up and for a bit! Everyone said the pulled pork and the ribs were great, but I have to admit it didn't knock my socks off. Used the Jane's butt rub recipe that I found in these forums for the butts, 2 of the racks had the BRITU rub on them, and the remaining rack had Plowboys Yardbird on it.

Maybe it was a case of me just being around the smoker most of the day and being wiped out, but I was just not enthused.
 
1. When doing multiple meats, do you guys put the one that will be cooking the longest on the bottom grate?
No, I put whatever needs no attention on the bottom. For example if I'm doing a brisket and a butt, the butt goes on bottom because the brisket gets poked a lot.

2. If the butts are done to pull tenderness, how do you get them off the bottom rack without having them fall apart on you? Do you just handle them by hand? I figured reaching in there would be kinda hot.
Done to pull doesn't necessarily mean falling apart. I've always been able to pick up an entire butt pretty easily then pull it after it rests.

3. Will the butts cook quicker on the bottom grate?
Probably, it'll be slightly higher temp than the top grate.

4 Should I tie up the butts with kitchen twine, since they are boneless?
Not necessary unless they're just flopping all over the place.

5. I'm guesstimating about 11-13 hours of cooking time for the butts, last few times I let them rest for about 45 minutes wrapped in foil before pulling. Should I let them rest longer? I'll have a cooler and towels available this time.
Time doesn't matter, temperature does. Let them get back to 160F-170F before you pull.

6. For the MOINK balls, should I put them in a pan in the smoker, or just right on the grille?
Whatever fits.
 
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