Best way to hold a butt at temp after pulling off?


 
T

Taylor Martin

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I'm smoking a butt to take into work, but the time it will be off the smoker til eating time isblile 5ish hours. Any suggesting for keeping it warm? I'm thinking crock pot, but I've never tried if before?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Double wrap in aluminum foil, wrap in towels, place in cooler. Pull when you get to work, it should still be hot. You can also put a couple of containers of hot, hot water (if your cooler is big enough) and that will help it keep the temp up.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jack Bordeaux:
Double wrap in aluminum foil, wrap in towels, place in cooler. Pull when you get to work, it should still be hot. You can also put a couple of containers of hot, hot water (if your cooler is big enough) and that will help it keep the temp up. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, you could do that, but I wouldn't cook to absolute tenderness if I did. I'd take a guess at how much residual cooking I'd get for holding so long rather than cook to perfect tenderness and end up with a compromised, dry product. Wish I knew the perfect temp to pull off at in this situation, but I don't think there is one. I will say that I enjoy some chopped pork shoulder that's not quite perfect pulled pork tender, over overcooked and dry pulled pork.
 
To hold a butt 5 hours, I'd probe the center muscle of the butt at about 180-185 degrees. Double foil as suggested, then put in cooler wrapped in towels. Your internal temp will rise several degrees, and the resting period will continue to cook meat. If you foil it at the target temp (195ish) you will have way overdone meat 5 hours later.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Morrey Thomas:
To hold a butt 5 hours, I'd probe the center muscle of the butt at about 180-185 degrees. Double foil as suggested, then put in cooler wrapped in towels. Your internal temp will rise several degrees, and the resting period will continue to cook meat. If you foil it at the target temp (195ish) you will have way overdone meat 5 hours later. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Morrey, for the input. It answers my own queastion and I would only have been guessing as to the right time to pull before coolering for so long.
 
I have on occasion had that long a wait from cooker to table. I decided to do a quick cool and hold cold, then bring back to temp before service. If you have the ability to heat it at work you might think about it. Pulling at home will make reheating quicker. You could also pull at home keep moist and then put in cambro or icebox after foil wrap with towells. All will be well if the moisture is there. You could also take the crock pot to heat your sauce/glaze and add just before service.

Mark
 
I did a cook last week, Mark, and had a 4 hour wait while I set up for lunch. I had to transport the butts in my Cambro, then pull and prepare in a location 2 hours from my cooking site.
Double foiled in my Cambro, the butts still steamed and were hard to handle while pulling 4 hours later. I put meat in a wire frame steam pan system, and served 50 folks. The heated water under the steam pans kept meat at a perfect serving temp. These foil pans and wire rack are found at Sams Club for just a few bucks.
This would be ideal for the fellows serving their buddies at work. Coolers can be used instead of a Cambro ($$$), and the wire rack system is affordable for anyone. I pulled the butts at 185 internal, and they were melt in your mouth perfectly tender 4 hours later.
 
Yep what they said! Cook yer butt till it is about 180 - 185 degrees average, no more. When you foil it and wrap it in towels it will keep cooking some more...
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dean:
Yep what they said! Cook yer butt till it is about 180 - 185 degrees average, no more. When you foil it and wrap it in towels it will keep cooking some more... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Dean.

Took me a while to put two and two together why my wsm butts weren't as moist as those I've cooked in the past without much resting...but boy am I glad I finally figured it out.
 
I used to finish my butts in the oven w foil but the bark was not as good. now I do only overnighters on butts for like 16 hours. Let em rest for about 45 minutes and walah! I used to cook them at 225 - 250 at the lid but found for me they turn out better and not over cooked if I cook em at 200 at the lid. My thermometer is prob. off a little. I installed my own into the lid.....
Dean..
 
Dean, that's a LOW temp, but folks do it, and a guy just posted on another site about cooking pork butts for about 24hrs in an egg, temp managed by a stoker. For a good while at the first part of the cook the egg held only 175*!

Temp was higher than yours, but I do admit that my VERY BEST butts off the wsm so far was on a 16 hr cook, with even less a rest than your's, maybe 30 at most. I guess that was probably in August. Anyway, I tried cooking at 250* and had a good day cook last Friday, but although the bark wasn't hard, the texture just wasn't quite as good as those two big 9+lb ones I cooked back in August.
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Only additional comment I have is that you may want to preheat your cooler with a kettle of hot water (add and close for 15 mins then dump and dry) before adding the foiled, toweled meat. Also, leave the cooler in the sun if you can while holding.
 
Dave;

Refer back to the fellows talking about cooking butts at 200 on the dome temp which can be somewhat less on the grate. Then, add to that they are cooking 24 hours. Man, I don't know about you, but I think I'd be scared to eat that meat. This may give all sorts of bacteria and nasty stuff time to breed since it is barely over the temp you can put your hand on the smoker and leave it there.
What are your thought, Dave?
 
I'll defer to the food scientists, Morrey. No idea why, but if memory serves, there's not as much an issue as you'd think in extreme low-n-slow, except for in the case of slow smoking turkeys for too long. Really don't remember all the details, though.

I have no intentions on stretching out my cooks any more than I have though; that's for sure. On the wsm, anytime I keep temps under 250*, it's just for timing my cook and cutting holding time. I turned out some FINE pork butts on my old UDS in only nine hours, so I can't really see what anyone would gain by cooking so slow.
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In agree, Dave. Anyone who wants to punish themselves by cooking 24 hours while standing watch over a cooker is either one heck of a fine chef or exceptionally bored. Cant decide which, but after a butt is on 14 hours, by my calculations, that bad boy should be close to consumption!
 
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