Butts on...


 
K Kruger

K Kruger

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Two butts, 9.3 lbs each, salted and awaiting rub:



Here, rubbed with a mix of hot NM chile, onion, garlic, Aleppo, thyme, sage, marjoram, organic sugar, ginger and celery:




Minioned the start with 30 lit. Empty foiled pan. Hickory-apple mix on the wood. Butts in and cooker assembled at 10:30 EDT. Cut the vents back when the temps reached 255 lid. Now at 317. Will cheat closed slightly more now.
 
Big ol' butts...
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I like the sound of your rub combination.

Looking at your temps, I find that I'm tending to cook hotter more and more these days. Rarely do I run under 275 anymore, whether it be in the WSMs or the big cookers.

Keri C
 
The rub is listed in order of volumes, high to low, just so that you have an idea.

Checked now. 316. Works for me. The breeze has picked up (there was none--of course!--at the outset). Cooker in full sun and it's a warm day. Just popped to 320--two vents are closed and the third I'll see what I can do. Gotta run to the ag center and (now 325) don't need a major run-up in temps.

Occasionally doing butts overnight works better for me time-wise--and then I'll low/slow--but other than bacon/sausage and other cured meat cooks that are best done at low temps I don't often cook very low.
 
312 when I checked 15 min ago; now 306. The trend looks slowly lower so I might crack a vent ever so slightly in a bit.

Gary/Mike-- Yes, store bought. I have a few pigs again, live, and some (I think) frozen quarters from the last slaughter but no time to check/thaw/etc. (I do my own at lower temps because they are significantly fattier.)

Standard supermarket butts vary here but generally one can find ~6.5-pounders. The ones I'm doing here are from the local butcher. He knows better than to trim for sale or to halve them. $1.69/lb, about the lowest he can go. He is the only one to carry nice thick packers as well. Yesterday for the first time I saw 'whole' briskets at Publix. They were a joke. They were the proportional size of a packer but had been trimmed so as to be perfectly flat--no bulge at the point whatsoever. Looked like a grainy flat steak--a good 15-17 inches long by, what, 10+ inches wide--perfectly even thickness throughout, a measly 1.5-inch or so thick. Who on earth would buy those for anything?
 
A little less then 5 hours along. Lid 305. I temped just to see: 156 lower butt, 152 upper.
 
At the 7-hour mark, lid 286 (been trending lower as the fuel pile shrinks). Just started raining now at just shy of 7.5 hours. I'm thinking another hour or so if the temps hold, perhaps 2 if not.

Chicken-andouille gumbo for dinner tonight which finished a little while ago. Still need to make the rice. Butts are for freezing...
 
Removed the butts at ~8 hours. The rain got pretty steady and I figured they were done or done enough. Probed indicated soft meat; bone not loose though--fine with me. They are resting, just tented with foil, on the counter.



Meanwhile, chicken-andouille gumbo for dinner. Coincidentally, today, Pat Barnes, a member here and a good friend from Victoria, Tex (originally from La), sent me my favorite hot sauce completely unexpectedly--Pepperdoux's. Hoo-hah!




 
Both the butts and gumbo look fantastic Bud, now I'm hungry. I also got some big butts today and a 17lb belly. I sent you a pic.
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Got it. Huge!

The gumbo was delicious-ate too much. Then I pulled/chopped the pork, nibbling here and there of course. Stuffed. (The pork was pullable in some spots, the rest choppable, as expected. I lost cooktemp in the rain for the last hour and really didn't have the time to continue cooking. Chopped is fine for me. I leave in a few hours to go back out on the road...)

Now, sated, I'm nursing a calamondin-cello on the rocks.

 
Lane-- The recipe essentially follows the flow of the one I wrote here. The difference: For this one, use 2 quarts low-salt chicken stock. Put your largest saute pan or rondeau on a free burner and add a little oil to it when you get the roux going but leave the burner off for the time being. When the roux is almost ready, light the burner under the pan and set the heat low. Finish the roux then add the vegs to it. While it cooks, increase the heat under the rondeau to med-high and when the oil is hot, saute the andouille till lightly browned, stirring occasionally; remove the andouile with a slotted spoon to a plate; reserve. Lower the heat under the rondeau to keep the pan warm.

When the vegs in the gumbo pot are soft, add the stock as directed in the recipe. Once it is well mixed with the vegs and is simmering, crank the heat under the rondeau then add your chicken, skin side down, to the pan (I used 12 thighs; use 8-12 chicken pieces of your choice). Cover the pan and reduce the heat to med-low. Allow the chicken to cook somewhat and the skin to brown, about 15-20 min.

Remove the chicken from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in the gumbo pot. Reduce the heat, if necessary, under the pot to maintain a slow simmer. Cook 20 min then add the andouille. Partially cover, cook another 40 min or so (the chicken is done before that but I like it very soft). Finish as the recipe notes.
 
A good day you've had by any standards.
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It was a good day. I'm a bit beat. (Several ranch chores in mid-flow today, plus some truck stuff, laundry, etc.) I was going to leave tonight but I still haven't got the truck completely ready. Guess it'll be early in the morning. St. Paul...spring yet there?
 
Nice cook. It is good to hear you be so flexible...the temps were ok, the degree of doneness was ok...but the butts look great!

Is there ANY cut of meat that is as flexible and forgiving as butt? Cook it at 210 to 350, with or without foil, to slicing temp or pulling temp.
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:

Here, rubbed with a mix of hot NM chile, onion, garlic, Aleppo, thyme, sage, marjoram, organic sugar, ginger and celery:
Click to expand...

Kevin the butts and gumbo looked great.

Curious though about the omission of salt in your rub mixture? Any particular reason?
 
Larry-- I don't put salt in any rubs. I salt the meat first (see top pic) then allow the salt to draw moisture to the surface, 5-15 min depending on the meat. I appply the rub over the salt. hte moisture helps it stick well. If I want to apply more (like on butts; I like a heavy rub) I wailt a few more minutes after the first application and apply another.

Applying the salt first and keeping it out of the rub means I can apply as much or as little rub as I wish without affecting the salt level. It also means that, when making the rub, I can focus on the flavor blend without worrying about the salt-to-spice/herb ratio.
 
First post in...forever?
I go along with Kevin as far as salt-free seasoning mixes and rubs. Therefore I make most of my own or get the salt-free mixes from Penzey's if I'm not sure of proportions. Most of the commercially available mixes are mostly salt because salt is cheap and people like it. Ever see a recipe for Tony's? First ingredient is 26 oz. box of salt! Also has MSG. We grow and dry our own herbs whenever possible so that helps with freshness. It's fun to try different combos.
Hit a home run with the hot sauce. Had no idea Kev was doing Gumbo that day. Saw the stuff in Houston and rememebred he liked it. Us foodies gotta look out for each other!!!
 
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