350ºF Butt


 
Shawn W

Shawn W

TVWBB Emerald Member
I finally tried a HH pork butt and the results were great! As good PP as any I've made. The butt was ~8lbs, nicely trimmed, still a nice fat cap on it.





Put it on at 10:15am, wet rub brushed on. Dry rub + a little cider vinegar and worcestershire, 2/3 ring unlit lump, 1/3 chimney lit + 4 chunks apple wood:




By 12:15pm the WSM was up to 350ºF (dry pan, clay saucer) and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the cook.

At 1:30pm (3.25 hours) it reached 165ºF internal:


I basted on another coat of wet rub and continued cooking:


Just shy of 5 hours it reached 190ºF internal. It still felt a little too firm but I double foiled and in the cooler thinking there would be lots of residual heat to finish tenderizing.


2 hours rest later it was still too firm IMO. So into a 325ºF oven for another hour, then another hour in the cooler. It was then FOTB, amazingly tender and juicy (picture is kind of a wash, wrong color setting
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, it had more color than that):


It had great bark, lots of flavor, I really don't see a downside to HH butt from this cook. Not to mention a strong BACON aroma
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.

If there was a downside it's my perpetual annoyance with too much grease/dripping smoke with an empty water pan using higher heat.

5 hours was pretty amazing. Next time I'll let it get more tender before removing it, so if it's like this one probably 6 or 7 hours. The residual heat didn't do as much work as I thought it might.

I quite like this brush on wet rub business. Would be even better overnight I think, it sticks to vertical surfaces and is less messy than sprinkling and/or mustard slather.

2 thumbs way up from me for HH butt. This one really had me cursing the time spent on overnighters trying to hold it steady at 225ºF, what a waste of good night's sleep.
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Good show Bud, pics looks great.
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I did a 2 butts and 2 picnics HH cook back in June for my Niece's graduation party. Like you, I was thrilled with the results. The picnics finished in 6 hrs while the larger butts fin in 7 hrs. I cooked both to an internal temp of about 170, then foiled and cooked till FOTB on the WSM.
 
Originally posted by george curtis:
190 deg is more near sliced pork. 200 deg is better for pulled pork.
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Yes George, I'm sure Shawn knows that. I read it as, he was counting on the carry over heat to finish the butt while it was resting in the cooler.
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Hi Shawn, I've done Butts HH on the Kettle (350+) a few years back using indirect heat over a water filled drip pan about 4 hrs with good results, but never on the WSM. You got me thinking about trying it. I still like the the low and slow the best. Overnighter's to me are a blast!
 
thanks Bryan, good to hear I'm not the only one to think this works!

george: 200ºF is great, 'till tender is better
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Craig, I hear ya, in some respects anyway. Love the smell of brisket or shoulder in the morning!
 
What about putting an aluminum lasagna pan under the butt, on the bottom rack? Could capture the dripping grease higher and result in less smoke.

What's the wet rub business? Some info on that would be appreciated.

I'm going to try this high heat approach. Thanks for displaying your process.
 
I love HH butts, it's really the only way I can do them where I live since an overnighter is really not possible. When I did mine I foiled it at about the three hour mark and let it go till tender -- about two hours more. But the way you did it sure would improve on the bark.
 
Originally posted by Shawn W:
thanks Bryan, good to hear I'm not the only one to think this works!

george: 200ºF is great, 'till tender is better
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Craig, I hear ya, in some respects anyway. Love the smell of brisket or shoulder in the morning!
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FWIW, I've never cooked a pork shoulder to 200º. Generally pull off the smoker between 190º-195º, 190º if it's going to have a long rest and by the time it's pulled it's more than tender. BUT, that's cooking much much longer and at lower temps, which gives the meat more time to break down and fat to render.

I think the difference with Shawn's high heat method and pulling at 190º and it not being pullable, was that the meat heated up too fast without breaking down connective tissue and rendering the fat. So the foil and the higher finish temps (or until tender), I 'think' will be necessary for the high heat butt cooks, as they are for high heat briskets.

Just my observation and opinion, as I have not done a full high high butt cook.


In any case, fantastic looking butt Shawn! I will be trying this method sooner than later!!
 
I cooked (2) 5 lb butts, high heat, to 200ish, on Labor Day weekend,.

Cooked to 165 then foiled, and cooked to just about 200. then put in a cooler.

Pulled one about 1 hr after putting into the cooler. It pulled okay and was pretty darn good.

Pulled the second one, after being in the cooler for about 3.5 hrs. I believe it was more tender, and possible more juicey, than the first butt.

Could it be setting in the cooler more connective tissue broke down, and rendering of the fat, and that's why It seamed more tender and juicey ?
 
Originally posted by G Dechaine:
What about putting an aluminum lasagna pan under the butt, on the bottom rack? Could capture the dripping grease higher and result in less smoke.

What's the wet rub business? Some info on that would be appreciated.

I'm going to try this high heat approach. Thanks for displaying your process.
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The extra pan might work or at least help, will have to try that and see.

Wet rub: I took about 1/3C dry rub + about 1T cider vinegar and about 1t worcestershire and mixed. I went for thick, but still thin enough to brush on.
 
Could it be setting in the cooler more connective tissue broke down, and rendering of the fat, and that's why It seamed more tender and juicey ?
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I think that's pretty likely ... the second one cooked more in the foil in the cooler.

It's possible 1 got cooked a bit more on the WSM to start with as well, say for example you used a full water pan, with the bottom grate then being somehwat cooler the butt didn't cook quite as much.
 
Hi Shawn. Very nice pics..
I like to do my butts and picnics @ 300 + most of the time.
For the fast times I need to go @ 350, I use This little time-saver.
At them temps, I just use a empty foiled pan W/ a 1" air space.
De fat them juices, and that is some liquid love.
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Tim
 
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