First boston butt smoke!! How does it look so far?? (5 hours in)


 
I think it looks fantastic. Bark looks great. 300*F isn't too high - some folks (Tony) cook high and hot butts routinely but I think he wraps. I would stick with 250*F but that's your prerogative.
 
Dwain Pannell said:
. ...but the guys at Chef Steps say "The shoulder should reach a core temperature of 167 °F / 75 °C and be held at this temperature for at least six hours" to get the most tender meat.
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Dwain, I did not know this… ah the beauty of this forum, right?

Anyhow, I don't think any butt I've cooked has held in the stall (155-160s) for more than 3 hours, and once past the stall the temp rise is relatively quick (for me)- I don't believe I've ever hit that "six hour" mark - might get to 5 hours, at best - but the temp would definitely be in the mid-high 170's by that 5th hour (from time of stall).

Am I misunderstanding you? Sorry if I'm being dense, but to do this wouldn't the WSM temp need to be lowered to 'hold' it at 167ish for that long?

And you're absolutely right, logging the cooks is important - I've gotten away from doing that this past several months. :o I'll blame the Digiq, cuz I go to bed…. ;)
 
Sheila Cochran said:
Dwain, I did not know this… ah the beauty of this forum, right?

Anyhow, I don't think any butt I've cooked has held in the stall (155-160s) for more than 3 hours, and once past the stall the temp rise is relatively quick (for me)- I don't believe I've ever hit that "six hour" mark - might get to 5 hours, at best - but the temp would definitely be in the mid-high 170's by that 5th hour (from time of stall).

Am I misunderstanding you? Sorry if I'm being dense, but to do this wouldn't the WSM temp need to be lowered to 'hold' it at 167ish for that long?

And you're absolutely right, logging the cooks is important - I've gotten away from doing that this past several months. :o I'll blame the Digiq, cuz I go to bed…. ;)
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I don't think I've ever had one stall for me for 6 hours either. ...but these guys have all kind of new age cooking gizmos to make weird things happen. Ck it out: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/bbq-pork-shoulder I am not advocating lowering temps - just sayin that there is a camp that says the prolonged stall is preferable.

I don't have a digi-q but I go to bed too. Once it locks in on a cooking temp, I figure it'll cook fine without me watchin it.
 
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Sheila, I was really shocked that it stalled for over 5 hours. I guess my pit temp was running lower than I thought. I'm ussing the new Maverick 733, so I'd be surprised if the temp was off though. I'll take a pic of where I placed the thermometer on the wsm.
 
Dwain, if I put the butt on earlier in the day like I had planned, I would have rode this out just to see what would happen. Kind of disappointed that I wasn't able to. At this rate, I'll be sampling it at 1am!
 
:) Thanks, I'll check Chef Steps out …but maybe I shouldn't because I'm drawn to gizmos…and I don't want to "want" more toys so soon after Christmas. HAha.

- I thought I was missing something BAD, and then thought (with a bit of whiny inner voice) "but my pulled pork is always tender"…. Dang it, see how easy it is to make me question myself! ;)
 
Tom, my first cook of a butt seemed like it took 46 days. I pulled the meat off at 1am, stashed in cooler and napped for about 2 hours, got up at 3am to pull it - was tired and mad, and I thought "I'll never do this again". But then, as I pulled that pork and tasted it - I said OUTLOUD 'Oh my God, I am SO doing this again".

And the bbq beast was born that night.
 
Sheila, you have given me my second wind!! My story seems similar to yours. I'll probably be finishing up at midnight, and then pulling it at 2am or so! Right now I'm saying never again, but I'm sure that will change in a few hours!
 
Ok, after 75 minutes in the oven at 250, it reached 201. I think I'll take it out when it hits 205, as suggested by Jeff Phillips. Now, I've heard some people let it rest for 30 minutes before foiling it. Then they foil it and wait a certain amount of time before pulling. Any opinions on that?
 
Jeff @ SMF is a pit master for sure. I cook a butt to 203*F (started as a kind of joke with SWMBO), let it sit out at room temp for 30 minutes, don insulated rubber/vinyl gloves, and pull it by hand. I separate the muscles at the seems and let it cool, then continue on. Others have a more elaborate technique.
 
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Keep the faith, brother - that last photo you posted looks great, awesome bark! When you do pull that pork, have one hand on the countertop before you taste it because your knees just may give out. :) And wake up your family, its never better than when its first pulled, imho.

The bone should pull out easily with little to no meat attached - thats another indicator of doneness.

Post up some photos of the final product, and congratulations in advance!! I'm excited for you!!

Hows the weather in Williamsburg, are you in line for that snow storm? Apparently, another wave of snow is going to hit Indy this weekend, they're warning of "significant accumulation", with below zero temps in the forecast early next week. Guess I'll be stuck cooking inside, especially with the temps so low. :(
 
WOW! I took it out, and foiled it. While I was picking it up to put the foil under it, a piece of the meat broke off so of course I had to try it. And just like Sheila, I actually said "OH MY GOD." It is freakin' amazing!! And I'm a big sauce lover, but I actually said to myself, "it doesn't even need sauce!!" Oh yeah, I'm hooked. I couldn't have done it without the help of you all, and the other forum members whose threads I've read. Ok, here is a pic right before I foiled it. I'll also post some pics of it once I pull it. (hmmm not sure why the image is appearing upside down...)



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Sheila - it's been light rain all day in the 'Burg (which could have affected the wsm I suppose). Sadly, we're not supposed to get any snow. D.C., which is about 2.5 hours north, is supposed to get way more than we are. We might get a wintery mix but nothing more. I'm originally from NY so I miss the snow!
 
Jeez that looks absolutely delicious….I can almost *smell* it!

I'm very happy for you, You've definitely earned this today/tonight: :wsm:


If I could, I would send you the snow we're expecting here. :)
 
Tom, it looks really good.

I'm a noob at smoking. I think I've only cooked 1 or 2 butts. I had a play by play thread with a brisket not too long ago too, about like your thread. I know the panic of "it's not going right, I'm going to ruin my $$ worth of meat....what do I do?" I thinks it's that slight disappointment that drives me a lot. I'm always anxious to cook again because no matter how happy I am with the outcome, I think I could have done something better.

Tip on the iPhone, if you hold the phone sideways (landscape) with the volume button on the bottom left, the landscape photos don't need to be rotated to display correctly. And in those cases where you forget, you can always edit the photo on the camera and rotate it there.
 
Hey everybody! Well, the results are in. Some of the pulled pork is FANTASTIC, and some of it is a bit, well, on the dry side, without much taste. Has anyone ever encountered that before? I know I could have wrapped it in foil, but I was afraid of the bark not getting as nice. Also, although I used six good sized chunks of apple, it didn't have much of a smoke flavor. Here is a photo of the pull:



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I'm doing wings tomorrow, but I haven't decided whether or not to put them on the wsm or the kettle. I haven't used my WSM since Christmas day. So, I'm itching to use it again.
 
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