Cooking times for pork butt


 
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Dale Groetsema

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In the various BBQ cookbooks, I keep seeing cooking times for pork butt (and other meats) that, from my personal experience, are way too short.

Last night, I put two pork butts into my WSM. One weighed 10 lbs, the other was 7 lbs. I put the larger one on the lower rack as I wanted the smaller one ready for when I went to work the next day.

Both went on at 830pm. Dome temperature, measured with a polder, which I calibrated with boiling water, and also compared to three "candy" therms, was 240 - 245 throughout the cooking process. I checked every 30-45 minutes until 1:30am, and got up at 6am to check again. At 8:30, 12 hours after starting the cook, the smaller butt was at 162 degrees, the larger about 150.

I expected the difference, but I thought that 7 lbs would be done in 10-12 hours. I wrapped it in foil, placed on lower rack, and went to work. I came home around noon, and the wrapped butt was perfectly done for pulling into nice fine threads of meat. So, I am not disappointed with the taste and texture, but, it took 16 hours to cook.

I took out the larger butt at 1:30pm, 17 hours after starting, and placed in foil til it was cool enough to refridgerate. Around 5pm, I sliced perfect, tender, tasty, and moist slices for diner.

So, the question, after this long dissertation is this:

How long (hours per pound) do you allow for cooking pork butt to get to the correct temp for a)slicing, b)pulling??

thanks

Dale
 
The rule of thimb, I was told, is 2 hours per pound. I tried it and it worked out to about that and a bit more. The deal is when the internal temp reaches 160 it takes quite a while to get to 185-190.
 
Ron,
That has been my rule of thumb as well, 2 hours per pound, but if you read Smoke and Spice and other "respectable" cookbooks, they talk about 1 1/2 or less.

Dale
 
I agree that 2 hours per pound is about right for pulled pork. The other thing you can try is to run your dome temp a little higher, around 260? or so after the first 2 or 3 hours. This should help you finish a little faster. The main thing is, was it worth the wait?!

Doug W
 
Hi Dale!

Smoke and Spice is very wrong on most of the their times. One big reason is because they are using an offset smoker. When I first got my WSM I was amazed at how much longer it took to cook things. I think because of the mositure content the cooking times are greatly extended.

After hanging around the big water smokers made by Jimmy Maxey and used by many teams on the MIM circuit, it confirmed that suspicion...they also take 6 hours to cook baby backs at 225?.

I'm sure you know this, but keep in mind your grate level temps were around 220?-225?. I have never completed a butt in under 2 hour/lb....that is after 5 years and many, many butts.

You still thinking about the Michigan cook-off?

Stogie
 
Stogie,

I did calibrate the dome temp versus the temp at the grate level--18 degrees cooler for top grate and 25 degrees cooler for the lower grate, so my 245-250 at the dome gave me my target of 225 on the top and still above 210 on the lower grate.

Your point about the offset cooker makes sense--at least it helps to explain the differences from their recipes to what I actually experience. I will have to try that in my offset and see how that goes.

I was certain that I sent you an email the other day about Michigan--guess I got too much smoke on the brain. I need to be back here in the Northwest that weekend so I will not be able to join you in Michigan. Let's hope to catch another competition later this year.

Dale
 
Doug

It was definitely worth the wait. I brought the smaller butt (pulled and a little added mustard-based sauce) to the office and announced at 2:30 that a mid-afternoon snack was available in the kitchen.

By 3:00, it was gone--7 lbs of pork, homemade coleslaw, and 16 onion rolls!! Guess I might have spoiled some folks appetite for dinner. I do know that more than one pleaded that I do not proceed with moving to Chicago (transferred with my job), or that I come back monthly for a department cookout.

thanks for sharing your experience and advice.

Dale
 
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