Dry butt problem


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
We cooked for about 80 people the other day, doing our first over nighter. Between 3 wsm we cooked four pork butts and 1.5 chuck rolls, and started everything at 10 pm. It was an insane amount of meat and the party attendees actually finish over 75% of it so it seemed like we managed to plan things right, rather than way over doing it like we normally do.

We ended up with one butt that was so tough and dry that it almost wasn't worth serving (we saved it for the last pan out and it barely got touch so luckily we didn't need it).

Here's the particulars:

1) all 4 butts came from the same store and were between 8-9 lbs

2) I injected 2 butts with a salt/sugar/phosphate brine, the dry butt was not injected

3) the three moist butts ran for about 11 hrs around 230* and 2 hours foiled at 230* and 2 hours in a cooler before pulling

4) the dry butt was in another wsm that was running a little warmer with a slight dip for a couple of hours over night, it was foiled and pulled on the same schedule as the other three

5) around 7 am after 9 hours of cooking it was still at 140* internal while a butt on the other wsm was considerably higher

Was it a stubborn butt that needed more time to break down?
 
Unlikely.

Are you a) sure it was shoulder and not mislabled something else, b) confident in the accuracy of your probe? Was this butt pullable? Did it shred easily - but the meat was dry or...?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">4) the dry butt was in another wsm that was running a little warmer with a slight dip for a couple of hours over night, it was foiled and pulled on the same schedule as the other three

5) around 7 am after 9 hours of cooking it was still at 140* internal while a butt on the other wsm was considerably higher

Was it a stubborn butt that needed more time to break down? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I think it's pretty likely that's all it was. It just needed more time ... the temp dip for a couple of hours had that much of an impact.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Are you a) sure it was shoulder and not mislabled something else, b) confident in the accuracy of your probe? Was this butt pullable? Did it shred easily - but the meat was dry or...? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

it was definitely a butt. I'm confident in the probe.

It did not pull as easily as the other three, but it could be pulled. The meat seemed very white and dry like a loin cook to the same internal.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">It did not pull as easily as the other three, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Undercooked, it appears.

The dip likely did it, as Shawn notes.
 
I've never injected so I can't speak from experience but I have read that injected butts tend to cook quicker than non-injected. Brined meats tend to cook quicker than non-brined meats as well. Also, I cook in the 220-225º range and an 8+ lb butt would easily take me 16 - 20 hrs. in either of my WSM's. You know your smokers better than anyone so...
icon_smile.gif
140º after 9 hours seems pretty low to me though. I've cooked butts twice where they were stubborn but both were moist and pullable, just took forever to get to temp (actually, neither never did, i just took the butts off and rested). The bones pulled clean but only got into the low 180's.

So, I thinks it was a combination of stubborn butt, dip in the pit temp overnight and undercooked.

Bill

EDIT: Fixed typo
 
Under cooked is my guess. Interestingly in your description you don't talk about checking for "done". It seems like time/schedule was the priority. So I'm thinking it needed more time to finish is all, else it was a bad piece of meat. Did you do a probe test or move the bone to check to see if it was ready?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Under cooked is my guess. Interestingly in your description you don't talk about checking for "done". It seems like time/schedule was the priority. So I'm thinking it needed more time to finish is all, else it was a bad piece of meat. Did you do a probe test or move the bone to check to see if it was ready? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

nope, never checked it for done. we were working around schedules. everybody had something to do at about 12 hours in, so we made the call to foil, and would check them when we all got back. 2 hours later, I opened one foiled butt and it was doooone, so I tossed them all in the cooler without checking the others.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I've never injected so I can't speak from experience but I have read that injected butts tend to cook quicker than non-injected. Brined meats tend to cook quicker than non-brined meats as well. Also, I cook in the 220-225º range and an 8+ lb butt would easily take me 16 - 20 lbs in either of my WSM's. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

There was a non-injected butt on with the 2 injected ones, and it was done, so I'm not sure that lack of brining would have made the difference. the chuck roast that was on with the dry butt seemed to cook ok, but it was slightly smaller then the two on a different cooker that didn't experience a drop in temp over night.

I didn't think the drop would have killed the cook like we suspect it did. this wsm runs hot due to a loose vent cover, and we battled to keep it <250*. The battling is probably why it choked during the night, but the rest of the cook was running hotter than the others.

We ran into a similar problem at a comp, the wsm dropped when we were sleeping and the butt never seemed to recover.

I don't normally bother doing butts this low, but due to our schedule its what worked, so I guess I was unprepared that one would take this long. I'm glad we foiled because 16 hours wouldn't have left us much time for rest and pulling and the drive to the party.
 
I agree that the drop itself wouldn't be the issue. They're quite common on overnights, esp this time of year in Buffalo or Toronto when the temp drops a fair bit. However, I think the cook time was way short. I do butts a minimum of 16 hours, and have found the difference to be amazing.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I do butts a minimum of 16 hours, and have found the difference to be amazing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

how so? I'm used to 9-12 hours with a foiling stage to speed it up through the plateau. This was the longest I've cooked a butt, and it was good, but I attributed that to the inject. maybe I'm missing something.
 
Hi JB, I've never foiled a Butt, always had good results in the 15 to 16 hr range for a 7 to 9 lb one without injecting. Seems to be enough fat to keep meat plenty moist.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Hi JB, I've never foiled a Butt, always had good results in the 15 to 16 hr range for a 7 to 9 lb one without injecting. Seems to be enough fat to keep meat plenty moist. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

just foiling to reduce cook time. I was wondering if I missing out on some primo product by speeding up the breakdown process.
 
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