cook times

[Ron Hunter]

In reading through the various info on this site it often says to expect 1- 1 1/2 hours per lb for pork butt.

How do you adjust these times - for instance 3 eight lb butts vs 2 twelve lb. The total weight is the same - but the smaller butts should cook faster than the larger. Is there a rule-of-thumb you go by as to when to start checking to see if the meat is cooked? Is there a similar rule for other meats - chicken, brisket, etc?

Thanks

 

[Doug D]

The rule of thumb applies to the individual piece of meat, rather than the cumulative weight of all meat being cooked. It's actually more often quoted at 1½ - 2 hours per pound. If you can maintain your cooker temp in the range you desire, multiple roasts of the same weight should cook in about the same timeframe as a single. Given your example above, yes, 3 eight pounders should finish more quickly than 2 twelve pounders, all other things being equal.

 

[J Reyes]

Ron it's not total weight but the weight of each piece.

For example figure 2 hours per lb
one 12 lb butt = 24 hours (2x12)
three 8 lb butts = 16 hours (2x8)

Now the timing varies based on the average temps over the cook and the amount of meat in the WSM.

For exmaple my last pork butt cook I did were two butts on the top rack (nothing on bottom rack) each aprx. 5.5 lbs, they cooked at an average temp of 226.17 (averaged out over the entire cook). At the 15 hour mark one was at 191 and the other at 194 when they were foiled and placed in a cooler.

They took apprx. 2 hours and 45 minutes per pound. I think unless they are cooked at higher temps that over 2 hours per pound is closer to what most people expect to finish a pork butt cook.

Somewhere on this web site is a cook log that you can download both in PDF and excel. I highly advise keeping track of your first few cooks.

John