Fatty Butts


 
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Jim Langford

TVWBB Fan
The Iberian hog, descendent of sus mediterraneus, the wild boar that at one time roamed both shores of the Mediterranean, is the only remaining free-grazing hog in Europe. It's a unique breed that is now only to be found in the far south-west corner of the Iberian Peninsula.

It possesses a genetic characteristic that allows it to store large amounts of fat, which thanks to a biological mechanism that is still not fully understood, infiltrates the muscle mass and gives Iberian cured hams their characteristic white streaks and incomparable creamy texture, aroma and flavor.

Some kind Spanish folks have been good enough to give me a pork butt from one of these black-legged hogs. My experience with these in the past has been that while they are head and shoulders above regular white pork butts in the taste department, they tend to be very, very fatty. Even when I've cooked them low 'n' slow to 200?, they've still been too greasy for my liking.

I'd like to ask what I should do differently this time so as to render out more fat in the cooking process. I'm thinking I should take it up to a higher internal temperature. Does that sound like a good idea? How high should I go? 210? maybe? Do any of you have experience cooking extremely fatty cuts of meat? Should I try to keep the WSM at a lower temperature than usual in order to prolong the cook?

Thanks,

Jim L.
 
/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Jim, That thing sure sounds good. I have always tried to keep grate temp at 225 to 250. Maybe go slower in the 210 to 220 range. This would as you mentioned prolong the cook. Upfront, I don't know a lot about this. If you go lower temp then that you might run into food poison problems. Just don't know. I'd try to bring it up to temp slower like you said, and maybe not pay so much attention to internal temp. When it looks like it has kind of flattened on you, I would think that there is not much fat left in it.
mike
 
Hi Jim, I've cooked very fat wild boar and did it in an offset pit. I cooked between 225 and 250 F for the entire cook. The fat rendered out real well and there were no complaints from the 110 people that ate it. It was for a Ducks Unlimited supper. Off of 65 lbs of meat I took about 3 gallons of rendered fat and that was after trimming most of the visible fat down to 1/4" or less. Hope this helps you.
 
I would think an extended time at a good rendering temp would be better than a higher finished temp. When the meat got to 170 I would try to slow things down and keep it in that 170-180 range for an extended time.

Cooking slow BBQ with fatty cuts isn't all about the ultimate internal temp like a beef roast or a pork loin. It's about the road to that temp. The finish temps are revered on the internet but are just one of the tools used by the best BBQ cooks I know. My pork rarely gets above 190 but it takes a long time to get there.
 
So what you are saying is that it is not necessarily the final temp that renders the fat, but actually the time spent between 170 and 180? If that is true you should be able to really slow down the fire when the meat reaches about 165, and let it go real slow the rest of the way. I'm thinking of dropping the pit temp from 225 down to maybe 200? I wonder if you could use a higher temp early on in the cook to get things going also?
What do you think Ray?

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. My first introduction to this was a book by Charlie Knote called BBQ and Sausage making SECRETS or something like that. I think it's still pretty available. Matter of fact, Charlie was the guy who started that Culinary Institute of Smoke Cooking that is now a correspondence course. The problem with the corresponence course is that Old Charlie died a few years ago and he ain't corresponding with nobody these days. Not around here anyway. Buy the book, skip the course.

So Charlie taught us that meat (butts, shoulders, hogs and briskets)begins to break down and render at 160 and it begins to lose moisture at 180. So if you can keep the meat at 175 for a long time it would render, get nice and broke down tender but with very little moisture loss.

This is obviously very hard to do but with a little practice and a lot of patience it works very well. I think this is also what happens when you put a brisket in a warm cooler at 190 and leave it for a few hours. The meat quickly drops to about 180 but then probably stays in that desirable zone for another long stretch on the way down. You also have to remember that the outside of the meat is way above 180 early on but not in the ice chest.

As for raising the temp early, I wouldn't. This is a long and slow process and patience is a virtue.
I think the 225 and then dropping to 200 for a stretch and then raising back up to finish would be best. Watch the meat temp for guidance. The plateau will take forever but that's what you want. The urge is to wrap the meat or raise the temp but that's a shortcut that hurts the product.

Speaking of the plateau, I'm sure it all ties together in some scientific way with what I'm saying.

My head hurts.
 
Wow! I am going to try that this weekend. I have a 9 pound brisket and an 8 pound boston butt. I will probalby start the WSM up late tonight if everything goes right. I think I will cook at 225 until the meat hits 160 and then drop to 195 or 200 until it hits 180. That should take quite a while, and keep the meat in the "Zone" for at least a few hours if not 5 to 7 hours. What the heck, I have all weekend, right. I will report back through the cook to keep you guys updated.

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
I suspect the meat will stay at 160-170 for a long, long time. Should be interesting, and great.
 
Thanks to all of you for the replies. I've got that butt in my freezer, and next time I go down to the beach (where I keep my WSM)I'm going to cook it extra low and extra slow. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Well, it's time for an update.

I put the brisket and pork on last night at about 10:00 pm. This was my first cook using the BBQGURU, and I set it at 225. It settled in quikly and I went to bed. I was hoping to get to the morning before the temp got to 160 (meat). I awoke at 3:00 to the alarm telling me that my meat was at my set temp of 160. When I checked the WSM temp it was up to 255!! The Guru was just waiting for it to come down. I pulled the fan and plugged the hole with the plug provide with the Guru. I figured I had to have air leaks, so I taped up the door and waited for the temp to come down, and it did. I turned the Guru back on and set it to just below 200 (like I had originally planned). When I got up at 6:00 the brisket, on the bottom, was actually at 160 still. I set the guru to 200 and let it go. I pulled the brisket at 185, it was 4:00! and put it in the cooler wrapped in foil. The Boston Butt was still at 175 or so, so I upped the temp to 250 to put on some crust. I pulled the butt at 5:30 and put it in the cooler, it was at 185. I couldn't even lift it off of the grate it was falling apart!!! I got it wrapped anyway and put it in the cooler along with the brisket.

I had to cut a chunk off of the big end of the brisket to fit it in the cooler. The chunk was mostly the top point that has a lot of fat in it anyway. Well, I just pulled that little cut off peice from the cooler and tried to slice it up. It completely fell apart!! I couldn't even cut it. I have cooked several briskets and have never had this happen. I almost can't wait the couple more hours before I pull the rest of it out of the cooler. My wife seldom eats my brisket, says she likes it, but just doesn't eat brisket that much. I gave her a peice and she ate all of that little chunk!

Ray, what you said was exactly right. Even though my cook was off timed by the air leaks and taking longer than I expected, the results were amazing. I now will not cook to a "final temp", but I will cook to extend the "zone" temp of 170 to 180 for all pork and brisket.

Sorry I wrote so much, I am just happy with the results.

I will post again when I slice up the rest of the brisket and pull the pork.

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
Very cool. I've never actually done it as controlled as you did so I'm pleased to see you notice a difference. The trick will be to judge when it's done since the top end isn't important. I think feel will be your best test for doneness.

Resting in the cooler just may not be necessary.

Now go buy Charlies book.
 
In the briskets that I have cooked in the past, the top has always had the most fat remaining in it. I always fest that this is what is used for "chopped" at all the restaurants. This stuff fell apart!! The only thing I could do is treat it like pulled pork! I couldn't slice it at all, I tried!

I will post again after I pull the rest of it from the cooler.

I will have that book by Monday!!

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
Well actually the book is written in a crazy fashion and it takes a while to sort through some of it but there is some great stuff there. He also talks about all the flavor being carried by the intensely carmelized bark.
 
Ray,

I just sliced up the brisket and pulled the pork. I have not seen meat like this. I am very happy with the results. The brisket wanted to fall apart and was hard to hold together to slice. The pork didn't need to be "pulled" just handled lightly, and it shredded itself! I never would have believed that this meat only saw 185 and no higher!! It did spend most of the day between 170 and 180 though. Thank you for the tip. Now I need to figure out what to do with all this meat. I guess the guys at work are going to be happy on Monday!

Hope you have a good weekend

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
Uh, Royce, I can help you figure out what to do with some of that meat. Since it was obviously an experiment gone wrong, just pack it up and send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Royce and Ray, this was a VERY interesting exchange about extending the time held at lower temps. I intend to follow its lead on my next cook. I've been doing briskets for 25 years, but it never occurred to me to intentionally extend the plateau. Thank you all for such an intriguing approach.

Keri C
Still Smokin (and learning) on Tulsa Time
 
Keri,

You need to read the post by Bill Hayes in the WSM modifications section. (Sorry, I don't know how to show the link here. somebody help!)It is a posting about the BBQ Guru. Next time I cook I am going to use the "ramp" feature that he talks about and see if the results are the same.

I have never served pulled pork to anyone, got any serving suggestions?

Royce Bunnell
Drive Safely
 
Thanks for the point to the Guru thread. I tested one when they first came out, but I just decided that I liked playing in the fire too much to go "electric". We also haul the logburner and WSM around quite a bit and don't always have access to electricity, so I'd hate to get adjusted to using the little beastie and lose my touch on temp control.

I think I'll play with the smoker temps "by hand" and see if I can replicate the extension of the plateau time in that manner. As easy as it is to maintain temp in the WSM, it will be an interesting experiment.

Keri C, Still Smokin (and playing in the fire) on Tulsa Time
 
Wife is gonna try to stop smokin' Jan1 04, so I'm gonna try to do something about my fatty butts to. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
 
I gave up on doing anything about my fatty butt a long time ago. I'm a luxury model, not a sports model. I'm built for comfort and not for speed.

Oh... you meant pig meat? /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Keri C
 
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