Cookin' Butt

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Guest

Guest
I did two 3.8 lb butts this weekend, and they came out great. Used the Renowned Mr. Brown recipe, and two sauces from Paul Kirk's book.

The cooking took a little longer than I thought it should, and even though the temp read 190F, it did not pull as nicely as other attempts have. I began everything about 7 AM using the Minion method. At 8, I had reached 250 and put on the meat. It seemed to take a while to get back up to 250, but from there on it stayed right around the mark. At 1, I turned and mopped them. At 3:30, I mopped and put in the Polder as I expected them to be ready between 4 and 6 PM. It was reading only 165, so I just let them go. At 6, it was still in the low 180s, so I kept it on. At about 7, it hit 190, and I took them off.

I let them sit for about 10 minutes (I had hungry people around!) and then pulled the meat. As I said, it didn't seem to pull as easy as it sometimes does. I thought that maybe the probe wasn't in far enough, but that didn't seem to make sense as it took an hour longer than I had most conservatively estimated. Has any one else ever had this experience? BTW, the outside air temp was in the mid-40s,there was little wind, and it was overcast.

Thanks.

Ken
 
Temp is only a guide, use the probe from the Polder and stick it in the butt, if goes into the butt like it's going thru butter. A small butt will take almost as long as one twice as big. The reason is the colligen takes hours to break down no matter the weight.

Because of time factor and the fact that the folks were waiting this is a case where foil would have help get the job done. Once the Butt had reached say 175? internal you could have foiled and it would have gotten you to the finished temp and texture much quicker.

Once the butt had gotten to the texture you wanted I would remove the foil and let dryout some on the cooker, say 1/2 hour or little more.

It is always easier to hold a piece of meat once it's done, rather than to try to rush and get it done.
Jim
 
Ken...

Another reason it may have taken longer is the fact that "it seemed to take a while" to get back to 250?. If that was an hour or two, it added greatly to the overall time.

Also, a few lid openings is another 30-45 minutes.

For that cook I would have planned about 9 1/2 -10 hours....2 hrs./lb. for meat and add another 1-2 hours for the extra meat. So, I think your planning was correct. When all that you have done is correct, blame it on the meat!!

I also have never had good luck pulling at less than 195?...but, I know the feeling of having guests slobbering all over the place!!
 
Thanks to both of you, Jim and Stogie. I'll let it go longer next time -- I guess I'll just have to get out of bed earlier!

The finished product was very good in any case.

Thanks again,

Ken
 
Ken,
Over Thanksgiving, I discovered the joys of smoking pork butts overnight. I'm here to tell ya that with the WSM it's a very easy labor of love and does not cut into valuable sleep time - much, anyway. If you're going to feed a crowd later in the day, say between three and five in the afternoon, I wholly suggest trying an overnight cook.

Peace. Out.

Alan Bosch
 
I sure agree with Alan about the over night cook... Was afraid of it at first, but it was a breeze... I presently have 2 Nu-Temp remotes... I set one for the high temp of 270* and the other at the low range of 220*... Got the fire going - loaded the meat - let the temps stabalize and went to bed... WIth the alarms set for the different temperature settings I knew everything would be o.k. And to top it off, neither alarm went off all night... I did wake up once about 5:00 a.m. and looked at the base unit by the bed - it was reading 252* - I just smiled, rolled over and went back to sleep !!!
Try it - it works great !!
 
Thanks, Alan and Gary. I did a brisket once overnight, and it worked very well. The only problem was the water pan ran out of water and I had a lot of burnt fat on the pan. I think that was before I upgraded to the Brinkmann pan, though.

I'll give an overnight on the butt a shot!

Ken
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top