Cooking my first pork butt

[Lisa Yoskin]

Funny, I had the same question. I'm cooking a butt right now. it's 9lbs, went on at 1am. Woke up this morning and the temp fell to 150. 16hrs later and the butt is just at 180.
I hope it goes up quick, I'm starving!
My cooker seems like it never gets hotter than 230?

Is that strange?

 

[K Kruger]

What are your vent positions Lisa?

 

[Paul Balzotti]

I know its a little late but the Butts ended up coming out awesome!!!! I do think because I bumped up the temp at the end it got a little more crusty than it should but the inside was moist as moist could be. I brought in some left overs to work that Monday and made some impressions. I love the minion think I am going to use that for the next set of ribs I do so much easier to control the temp.

 

[John Swanson]

Crusty is not a bad thing. Just mix that bark in with all of the inside meat and most people will love the Q!!

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

Originally posted by K Kruger:
What are your vent positions Lisa?

Sorry I was busy eating and cooking, my vent positions at the time were about 25% open.

That butt finially finished and came out soooo good!

I just did another one this weekend and used lump for the first time. I took the butt off at about 195 degrees and wrapped it. This one was not as tender. Don't know what went wrong, maybe this piggy wasn't as lazy as the last one! Any ideas?

 

[K Kruger]

If your vents are closed, somewhat closed, or slightly closed, and you are not hitting the cook temps you'd wish, open the vents some and see what happens in 20 minutes time. If not quite there yet, cheat them open slightly more.

Butts from the supermarket are more homogeneous than they seem: What was the size of the butt? Bone in? What was the average cook temp do you think? -measured at lid or grate? Was the bone (if bone-in) loose when you wiggled it? How long was the resting period? What type of therm are you using and is it accurate?

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

O.K. Let's see my vents all three are always a bit less than half open. I thought if they are open all the way that's not the right way to do it. Im still very new at this.

THe second butt was 8.32 lbs before I trimmed the top layer of fat off. Bone in.I thing the temps were running between 230 -250. I stuck a cooking gauge in the top holes on the lid and leave it sit there. The bone came out totally cleanwhen I pulled the pork. I wrapped it in foil and stuck it ina cooler with a towel for about an hour before pulling it. The gauge I ues is just a cheap one that you get at the supermaket.Is it accurate? Good question, it's the one I've been using and I had two butts come out so good I was ready to open a shack!

What do you think?

Lisa

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by Lisa Yoskin:
I trimmed the top layer of fat off.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, I posted this several days ago and I feel I must this post again. Here it is and try it once and see what you think.

Not related to your problem but I feel I must post about this because I read about so people doing this too many times.

If you know this sorry but for those who don't I'm posting because of the best part of the butt is lost in doing this, cutting off the fat cap. If you buy untrimmed butts please don't cut the fat caps off. See there are 2 fat caps on a butt the one you see is a false cap and the true fat cap. There's a very thin piece of meat that lies under the false cap and on top of the true fat cap. Now let me tell you that when your butt is done cooking and after the rest and you got to pull it here is where you will be rewarded for your efforts. I consider this the cooks reward and I hardly ever share it.

Gently push the false fat cap aside with your thumb to expose that very thin layer of meat that is sitting on top of the true fat cap and quickly eat it while no one is looking. Trust me you will be eating Pork Butt Nirvana.

 

[K Kruger]

Bryan, god of chuck rolls, is, also, the (secret) god of the false-cap-of-the-butt. He knows.

I thought if they are open all the way that's not the right way to do it. Im still very new at this.

Perectly fine to be new at this. The vents are for temps/temp control. Closing the vents somewhat or all the way reduces the amount of air available to the lit fuel. Opening them increases the amount. The trick is (and you'll get this after a few more cooks; it's like learning to drive--in the beginning you think about it constantly then, all of a sudden, it's second nature and you laugh at yourself that you ever thought you'd have a problem 'getting' it), that in the very beginning of the cook you use the vents to allow or limit air intake to try to hone in on a desired cook temp. For a standard method start-up you'll likely close all vents to disallow air intake and cause the temps to lowr; for a Minion start-up you'll leave them fully open till the temp is ~35-50 degrees lower than your target, then you'll close them partially (often to about 1/4 or 1/3 open) and let the temp rise slow, then stabilize. Once this occurs (or, if using the standard method, once the meat is in and a little time has passed and the temps settle), you then can feel free to cheat the vents open or closed--slightly--in order to more closely hone in on your target cook temp. Two important things: It often takes 15-35 minute after a vent adjustment for the full affect to be realized--so be patient; and it is not a good idea to 'chase temps', i.e., make contant tiny vent adjustments to target THE temp you had in mind. You'll make yourself crazy. A precise temp is not needed.

Me, I like to pull the butt when the bome is loosening but not yet loose. I let residual cooking (that takes place during the early part of the rest) finish it. You might want to get a better therm just so that, at this stage of the game, you know what's what. You'll soon get to a point where you will seldom bother with a therm but it is a good tool to use while you are learning. Just don't depend on it to tell you 'done'. Use the way the meat feels and other, non-therm-visual cueas to tell you that.

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by K Kruger: Bryan, god of chuck rolls, is, also, the (secret) god of the false-cap-of-the-butt. He knows.

Kevin, That's funny, you crack me up.

Oh where to start people

Many would probably call me toatally 100% Nucking Futts for making such a big deal out of such a tiny vein of meat. But you know me I must dissagree with anyone who says that it's not worth going after. For me It's all I need from the butt, the rest of the meat is inferior compared to it. Don't get me wrong I love pork Butt, but it's the first part I eat so the rest is just OK compared to it. I have shared this a few of my crew at work and to see their eyes roll back into their head when eating it is proof enough for me.

As always this is just my opion, take it or leave it.

On another note:
One of the maint guys is leaving where I work this week. I told the maint guys I would do a cook for his last day and they were quite happy with my offer. I'll try and remember to take my camera to work with me and get somebody to take a few pics of said Nirvana vein of pork. When I do butts for work I try to get them on by 4:00PM as soon as i get home from work, about 3:25PM I hussle to get them on by 4:00. Cook till the AM about 6:30 wrap em up and place in a cooler and off to work I go. If you are wondering which I know you are I only live 1.7 miles from where I work, so 5 traffic lights and about 5 min I'm there.

I like to pull em there, right before serving them up. I'm Doing the Barbie beans also and I'll put em under the butts around midnight before heading off to bed, 6 hours under the butts should work out just dandy.

Also going to make the Kevin K another cole slaw recipe, hope somebody brings the buns. I should probably just get everything so I know it gets done.

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

Originally posted by Bryan S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lisa Yoskin:
I trimmed the top layer of fat off.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, I posted this several days ago and I feel I must this post again. Here it is and try it once and see what you think.

Not related to your problem but I feel I must post about this because I read about so people doing this too many times.

If you know this sorry but for those who don't I'm posting because of the best part of the butt is lost in doing this, cutting off the fat cap. If you buy untrimmed butts please don't cut the fat caps off. See there are 2 fat caps on a butt the one you see is a false cap and the true fat cap. There's a very thin piece of meat that lies under the false cap and on top of the true fat cap. Now let me tell you that when your butt is done cooking and after the rest and you got to pull it here is where you will be rewarded for your efforts. I consider this the cooks reward and I hardly ever share it.

Gently push the false fat cap aside with your thumb to expose that very thin layer of meat that is sitting on top of the true fat cap and quickly eat it while no one is looking. Trust me you will be eating Pork Butt Nirvana.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought that if you didn't take the fat cap off the smoke flavor will not penatrate the meat?

How do I tell the differnce between a false cap and a fat cap?

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by Lisa Yoskin:
I thought that if you didn't take the fat cap off the smoke flavor will not penatrate the meat?

How do I tell the differnce between a false cap and a fat cap?

Lisa, It comes with time, to tell the difference. Once cooked the two are easy to seperate and see if you buy your butts in a Cryo Vac pack and don't trim them. If you are buying trimmed butts then it's already gone.

I just whish everyone would try the meat under the false fat cap, and above the true fat cap, and then decide if you want to remove it before cooking, or leave it and eat it when pulling.

Fat = flavor, and the amount of time the butts are on the smoker no need to worry about not getting any smoke flavor. Yes by trimming off the fat you will get a nice smoke ring where the fat cap once was and a nice smoke ring. Now if you leave the fat caap on, it's only one side that will suffer, you still have the other 5 sides, out of 6 getting the smoke and the ring.

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

Oh, my butts are in a cyro Vac. I will try that next time. I also inject my butts. It gets kind of messy with the juice squirting out of all the pin holes! I guess most of it stays in. Have you heard of a Maverick wireless thermometer? Is that something I should have?

 

[Craig Castille]

Some kind of probe therm is advisable if you are new to this.

I have the maverick ET 73 (dual probe) and found it very unreliable in it's performance (range is bad, has communication failures). Others have modified it to improve range, while some have had flawless therms.

Do some research before you buy one.

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

Thanks, I actually found this at Costco's it's like $19.00 with a five dollar instant rebate.

It's by Maverick but it doesn't have a model number. It does say it's Digital wireless thermometer with a rapid read fork. It has a probe and says it's good for 100 feet.
I am more concerned with the temps in the cooker than the meat temp. I did an overnight cook and woke up to find the cooker was down to 150!

The butt came out good and I'm still here so no harm done, but I read that people have these sensor things that beep if the cooker goes under a certain number, I was hoping I could use this thing the same way. I'm not sure how, but hopefully someone will help me figure it out.

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

oops never mind I answered my own question, I see the difference. The one I bought only does the meat there is not another probe inside. More for steaks on the grill thing.

 

[Keri C]

Lisa, the Maverick that would be best is their Model ET-73. I've had two ever since they first came out, and other than frying and replacing a few probes, they've been great.

The Nu-Temp therms are actually my favorites. Three individual thermometer/transmitters all feed to one receiver.

Put a fast-read Thermapen on your Christmas list. THE meat temp therm to have. Pricy, but excellent quality.

If you set your pork butt down inside a 2-gallon ziplock bag before injecting it, it isn't nearly as messy.

Enjoy!

Keri C

 

[Tom Murtiashaw]

Lisa,

I typically purchase my pork shoulders in Cryovac packaging from Costco. Two to a pack, 5-6 lbs. each. They are boneless so I tie them up to give them some uniform shape and to keep loose ends from falling through the grill grates. I do not trim away any of the existing fat cap. The butts are already sufficiently trimmed when purchased. I have tried injecting, but cannot tell any noticeable difference in taste than by not injecting, and it can be kind of messy. As Keri said, injecting inside a plastic bag helps control that mess. I generously apply a rub (Southern Succor Rub) before smoking. After the meat is pulled I season the pulled pork to taste with more of the same rub and wet the pulled pork with a good vinegar based sauce or "splash". I personally think those steps taken after the cook are more effective than injecting the pork pre-cook, but again that is my opinion and one of personal taste. There are some excellent vinegar sauce or splash recipes available on this site. I have found a commercial product I like called Hog Wash that I use for the splash. I also add a homemade Western North Carolina style BBQ sauce to the pork before eating.

As to temp control on the WSM. I have found that after about 12 hours or so the meat is usually stuck at a plateau of 160 degrees and I will tolerate that for a few more hours but if the temp doesn't start moving by about hour 14, I go ahead and open all three bottom vents to wide open. By then the charcoal has died down to the point that the WSM isn't going to go much past 250 and that higher temp is what it usually takes to break through that plateau. I pull at 195-200, wrap the butt(s)in aluminum foil and rest in a cooler for several hours. I did 4 butts about 6 lbs. each over the Labor Day weekend and the cooking time was 17 hours. We consumed a couple pounds over the weekend with friends and I vacuum packed and froze the remaining 15 or so lbs. of BBQ in one pound servings.

I have had my WSM for 3 years and I learn something new each time I cook. That's the fun of it and what makes you anxious to try again.

Tom

 

[Lisa Yoskin]

Wow!

Thanks for the tip Keri! I'll try the bag thing next time. I think if I keep up doing it the way I'm doing ot the pork police will come get me! I'll google the fast read Therapen.

Thanks for the season tip Tom, I love my rub mix but never thought to put it on after I pulled it. I do use a vinegar base BBQ sauce. Yum. I'm glad you poiinted out the plateau thing. I was starting to think I was going crazy, you know like, "It's cooking but it's not cooking! AHHHH!"

 

[Joseph C]

Whole lot of excellent advice. Same that I got when I first posted.