Butt..what?


 
J

John Boehm

TVWBB Fan
A couple of butt questions.
1. When pulling there seems to be sections of darker moist meat, and whiter dryer meat. What is this?
2. Most people say to rest the meat foiled, usually in a cooler. Why? Is this necessary? I let my last butt sit 10 min on the counter then chopped it. It tasted fine, though a bit dry.
3. Many people say to cook to tender rather than temp. What specifically does tender mean, should the meat fall apart when a fork is put in?
 
1. The butt is made up of several different muscles, the different colors are those different muscles.
2. After a cooking time as long as a butt takes, the rest provides time for the juices to re-distribute throughout your meat, so it all doesn't run out on your cutting board when you're pulling it. Also, when foiled, that bark will soften back up and make it more palatable when mixed back in with your meal.
3. Cooking to tender is just that, tender is when it is done. Butts especially, when compared with other cuts, are not reliably done at X temperature, so checking them with a probe or a fork or whatever you want, is the only real way to know they are done. I use my temp probe from my remote therm, just poke it in, and it should go in like butter. No need to poke it full of holes, just one stab should tell you, as long as you don't hit the bone.
 
I'll expand just a tad on the 'doneness' versus 'tenderness' thought.

There's various ideas as to 'doneness', and a lot of it has to do with what you are going to do with the pork for processing. If you're going to go with the traditional pulled pork then obviously you're going to go longer (read higher finishing temp) than you would if you were going for sliced pork. It's virtually impossible to take a butt up to 205-208 for pulled and expect to be able to slice it. On the other hand, stopping at around 185-187 for sliced will make for some really stiff pulled pork.

That's why at a comp I will do no less than 2 butts, and generally it's 3. One for sliced, one for pulled, and sometimes a spare for the MM. Two completely different finishing temperatures. Two completely different probing feels. Obviously the sliced feel will be firmer (but not fight you) and the pulled feel will be the butter feel that everyone talks about. Learn to know the difference. That way you can plan your finished product before you ever put them on the cooker.

Russ
 
Keep in mind that it's technically safe to eat (done) 50 degrees before it's tender enough to pull. Bone-in butts are easy to check since you can generally tell by the bone, or you can check for tender with a probe or something similar. The rest is valuable because you need it to keep all the juices from running out, but the hours in a cooler never really made sense to me.
 
Hi John.

When it's suggested to foil and store in a cooler its because your meat may be ready before your ready to serve and eat. Proper foiling and wrapping in towels in a cooler can keep your butts piping hot for many hours. I've had occasions where I've had five 10lbs butts ready at around 5:00PM. I wrap them up, transport to my venue, and pulled at 7:00PM with great results. See http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/storing.html
 
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John Boehm said:
A couple of butt questions.
1. When pulling there seems to be sections of darker moist meat, and whiter dryer meat. What is this?
2. Most people say to rest the meat foiled, usually in a cooler. Why? Is this necessary? I let my last butt sit 10 min on the counter then chopped it. It tasted fine, though a bit dry.
3. Many people say to cook to tender rather than temp. What specifically does tender mean, should the meat fall apart when a fork is put in?
Click to expand...

John, as others already mentioned, the pork shoulder butt is MANY muscles, and one of them is especially lighter in color and not near as forgiving as the others. If I think to, I'll often quickly pull it into very small pieces and scatter it in the rest of the pork.

Regarding holding in a cooler, to be honest, it's not necessary if you know how to cook bbq, but is a VERY convenient way to hold til serving for a few hours if needed. Learning to time a pork butt cook is part of the learning process, and sometimes you have to hold to transport a ways or because you need to smoke some chicken or something. Keep in mind that for safety, it should stay above 140*, but usually the issue is that it's so hot that if immediately wrapped in foil it will keep cooking. I saw just the other day a video where Harry Soo, a bonified bbq champ, was suggesting letting a brisket's internal temp drop to 170-175* before holding hot in a cooler. No sense in cooking to the perfect tenderness to only let it start drying out in a cooler. Anything wrapped hot in foil WILL continue to cook. Anyhow, Harry's thought applies to pork butts, as well, but it's only pertinent if you know what you're wanting in terms of tenderness, your last question.

Don't just go by how loose the bone is. Often the butt might be done on one side, but not the other. The internal temp will vary quite a bit, so don't go by that either. Harry Soo suggests his bbq students to cover up the display on their Thermapens while probing for tenderness! For a pork butt, you want it so tender that you can stick a fork in and twist it. Longer you cook, the more fat and connective tissue will render and turn to gelatin, but if there's nothing left at all when you pull it, you probably cooked too long and have started drying it out. Don't fret, though. Pork butt is very forgiving. If you take one a little too far, just use more finishing sauce. If not cooked quite as much as you'd hoped, chop finely and you'll have a better idea for next time.

Happy BBQ'n! :wsm:
 
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