Boston Butts Cook


 
M

Matt in MD

TVWBB Fan
Hi all - I am smoking 2 Boston butts, each almost 7 pounds right now. I followed everyone's advice and the smoker has been holding a perfect 225 since about 7 am, measured with a Maverick. My recipe calls to take them off and wrap them in foil when they hit 160, then smoke again until they hit 190. The recipe then calls to take them off the smoker and let them sit in the foil for one hour.

After that is it ok to unwrap them and keep them in a cooler for another 2 or 3 hours before I pull them? Thanks - I will put up some pictures when I am done.

Matt
 
When they are done and you are ready to pull them off the heat, if you want to hold them for a period of time before pulling them apart I would tightly double wrap them in heavy foil, and place them into a cooler wrapped in the foil. Then wrap / cover them securely with some towels (ones that you don't mind getting some grease on in case the foil leaks). They will hold at temp this way for 3-4 hours easily.

Others will probably say to first pour hot water into the cooler for 30+ minutes before adding the meat. I think this is fine but I've never done that step and just used a room temp cooler and it worked out fine for me.

Good luck. Hope that helps.
 
Here are some picture so far - this recipe is for "quintessential pork sandwiches" in Weber's book "Smoke" by Jamie Purviance. I really like almost all his recipes; I have tried about 40 so far.

Using the tin can method worked great, I then added 20 lit briquettes:

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Here they are out of the fridge. These were purchased from a local butcher in Baltimore County, JW Treuths.

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Rubbed and ready:

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After about 4.5 hours at 225 smoking with hickory:

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I'll add more later! I'm also making cole slaw, apple baked beans that I found a recipe for here, and Pecan Pie. :wsm22::p
 
Matt:

I lived in Montgomery County, MD for 14 years and found the BEST butcher shop. You should check this place out if you get a chance. They raise their own animals and slaughter them on site.

http://www.hempsmeat.com/
 
Thanks Jeff! They're about 45 minutes away so not too far. The place I go is only 10 minutes away and their beef is raised and slaughtered onsite but everything else is locally imported.
 
One thought Matt. At 190*, you should probe for tender and not worry about the exact temp. Pork butt and brisket are both ones that you want to probe for tender once the reach 195*. If they do not probe tender at 190* or 195*, leave on smoker for 30 more minutes and probe for tender again. Do this until they probe tender. At that time, take off of smoker and open foil to allow meat to stop carry over cooking. When temp is down to 170*, double wrap in heavy aluminum foil and place in cooler with towels as others have stated. To many times when you just go to a specific temp, the meat will be either under cooked or over cooked and won't be tender. Good luck with the cook.
 
Bob Ivey said:
One thought Matt. At 190*, you should probe for tender and not worry about the exact temp. Pork butt and brisket are both ones that you want to probe for tender once the reach 195*. If they do not probe tender at 190* or 195*, leave on smoker for 30 more minutes and probe for tender again. Do this until they probe tender. At that time, take off of smoker and open foil to allow meat to stop carry over cooking. When temp is down to 170*, double wrap in heavy aluminum foil and place in cooler with towels as others have stated. To many times when you just go to a specific temp, the meat will be either under cooked or over cooked and won't be tender. Good luck with the cook.
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Carry over may spoil your cook!
 
Yes Matt. A skewer or tooth pick or anything like that. It should go in like a knife going in to warm butter. Works every time. Good Luck.

Matt Door said:
Thanks, Bob - do you mean just putting a skewer in to make sure it slides in super easily?
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