can a boston butt be too tender

[Mike Drewery]

I just ordered my first WSM it should be here in a week or so. I am excited about getting a smoker.

Yesterday I cooked what will be my last butt(8 lb) on my weber gas. I started it at 9:00AM and I was able to keep cooking temp at ~240 for 11 hours. At about 10 and a half hours the meat temp was 190 then it started to drop it dropped to 183. That's when I took it off. This was the tenderest butt I have ever cooked. I pulled it and the meat almost melts in your mouth. Should it have been this tender? Do you want a butt with more texture?

thanks for your replies

Mike D

 

[Jim Minion]

I will normally pull butt off the cooker at 195? internal, it pulls easily and has a good texture.
When goes much over 200? internal the texture can start getting mushy. The internal temp will continue to climb when it comes off the cooker from rediual heat stored in the meat.
If you pull at 195? you will get another 5 to 10? in the finish temp while it rests on the counter as an example.
Jim

 

[Guest]

IMO, that's right where they should be. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I've had butts do the "temp rollercoaster" too. Not only do they hit plateaus where they just stay at a temp for hours but the temp will also start dropping.

Nearest thing I can figure is that the rendering process is absorbing the heat. ???

 

[Mike Drewery]

I guess I was surprised to see the internal meat temp start to decrease and yet the meat was so tender. I think it was almost too tender for my taste.

Mike

 

[Guest]

I say if you liked it, then it is at the temperature necessary.

Troy

 

[Jim Clay]

I've done several butts and I like the temp at 195. The last time I cooked them I had two on the cooker. One was about 1lb less in weight then the other. I had the probe in the smaller butt, however, I had it in a particularly fatty part. It hit 190 so I checked the temp in a couple other places. It was as high as 205 in one part. I took it off and left the other one on til it hit 195. When I pulled the smaller butt there were parts of it that were almost liquid. However, when you mix it all together the firmer pieces offset this. The bottom line is, I take at least 4 or 5 readings and won't pull the meat off until they are all over 190. But, that's just my opinion..........I could be wrong. /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif