First butt in the books!


 
K

KrisDecker

TVWBB Member
Thanks all for the advice on how to smoke a boston butt! I decided, in the interest of time, to use the braise method that ChuckO suggested:

You method works, the exact timing is hard to say. Mike Coffman came up with a braised method to doing pulled pork, it makes really good pulled pork and cuts the cook time in half if not more

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?51784-Smoked-and-Braised-Pulled-Pork


I've done Mike method twice and both times it was fantastic. If you want to save some time, give it a go

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52135-A-Mike-Coffman-inspired-cook
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52996-I-ve-been-called-out
Click to expand...

In the end, this is what I did:
  • Thursday 7am, put frozen 8.5lb butt in fridge
  • Friday, 10am, put (still mostly frozen) butt in cold water for 4 hours in sink, then back in fridge
  • Took butt out of fridge briefly on Friday PM to rinse, and applied Butt Rub--then back in fridge overnight
  • Saturday, got a late start, but got the butt cutt in to pieces, more rub and got the WSM up and running. Meat on the smoker by 9:30am
  • Pulled the shoulder at around 1:30pm (about 4 hours smoke uncovered) and put in pans with beer and water. Covered pans and back on smoker at 2pm. Pork was 158 when I did this
  • Smoker kept running without any intervention until around 4:30pm, when I noticed temp dropping (I was using my Auber stoker). I turned off the stoker, opened the door and saw a ton of ash. Moved the coals around to get the ash to drop, closed it up and plugged the auber back in, and we were in business :)
  • Around 5:45pm, shoulder hit 195. I pulled it, wrapped each piece tightly in foil and wrapped all the packets together in towels and put in a cooler I had just emptied of hot water.
  • I let the pork rest until 7:30 (almost 2 hours). Took it out, and temp dropped to 160!!
  • Got my bear claws and pulled the pork anyway :)

OK, so here is what I noticed:
  1. The auber did a FANTASTIC job of keeping temp-- no vent adjustments whatsoever
  2. Filling the coal bucket to the brim with coal (and some cherry chunks), then adding 25 fully lit coals on top lasted the whole cook--with a small-to-medium amount left over
  3. I sliced the fat cap in a grid pattern to get rub down to the meat. Next time I will try slitting from the side ot make a pocket between the fat cap and the meat instead
  4. Speaking of the fat... The fat cap didnt fully render on this smoke. I am wondering which stage I should have gone longer-- the smoke stage or the braise?
  5. I am thinking I may pull at 200 instead of 190 next time
  6. I clearly am doing something wrong with the cooler if it lost that much temp (let alone didnt finish cooking!-- Maybe my cooler is too large? What size does everyone else use?

In the end, the pork was DELICIOUS! I see what the fuss is all about now ;) I just need to dial in the temps I cook to, I think. I mean, the fat cap should be fully rendered, right?

Thanks again for all the advice! Smoke on! :wsm:
-K

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First of all your pulled pork looks delicious!
Second, I never thought of connection between how big the cooler is and the cooling effect.
But I don't believe that 35F less in 2,5 hours is anomalous.
 
Enrico Brandizzi said:
First of all your pulled pork looks delicious!
Second, I never thought of connection between how big the cooler is and the cooling effect.
But I don't believe that 35F less in 2,5 hours is anomalous.
Click to expand...

I guess you really do need to keep thermometer in the meat during rest period, then
 
Great looking smoke! Killer looking sandwee!

I don't bother with scoring the fat cap. I have trimmed it off before. I usually season the butt right before going on the smoker. If needed you can always add more seasoning after pulling the meat, I do. That ensures that you get a good coating on everything.

As for temps, I pull my butts off the smoker when they hit 205°-208°. That seems to be the sweet spot for rendering everything. What is your concern with the temp dropping to 160° during the rest? 140° is the lowest you want to hold meat at for an extended amount of time prior to serving.
 
That was a great first butt cook , you did awesome and the pics were great. congrats on this one for sure.
 
I'm a novice at butts but my fat caps never fully render. I have tried scoring but that left too much fat in the finished product. My last experiment worked well. Remove cap whole, rub capless butt and then place cap on top for cook. The cap bastes meat during cook and then gets discarded post cook.

Regarding holding in cooler:
Try wrapping butts in two layers of foil then wrap foiled butts in towels then place in cooler.
 
I like the crispy/rendered fat........ never as thick as yours (get mine at Costco so they're well trimmed).

Outstanding pics.
 
Ok! Well, I thought I messed up something when the fat didnt render and I never saw the temp hit 200 in the cooler (i didnt leave thermometer-- I thought the temp would rise for the full two hours :rolleyes:

I guess I did it right! :) Now I will man up and smoke 'the good butt' off the berkshire Heritage pig I bought from the farm :)

- - - Updated - - -

and thanks for all the compliments! :)
 
Fat cap wont really render at all. I just cut most of it off pre-cook. Also if you cook to tender (190-210, I tend to find 205 works for me. Just stab the meat with a tooth pick or a temp probe. No resistance? Its done!) you don't need the long cooler rest. You CAN hold it in a cooler ( foiled, wrapped in towels, then in the cooler ) but you don't need to. Let it sit on the counter, in a pan to catch juices, until it has cooled enough to pull.
 
True! Someone mentioned Gates sauce to me recently, so I bought some from Amazon--that pretty awesome. But I agree--need to try making my own :)

Baby #2 coming in a few weeks, so I may have to wait before experimenting again :)
 
Congrats on your first butt Kris. Looks great. I really like the smoke/braise method when time is a concern. But if time isn't a concern, it's always nice to smoke one from start to finish. I did a 10LBS butt last weekend. It took > 10 hours, probably right about 11 hours. I mopped that one and the mop transferred really nicely. I used 3 cups apple juice, 2/3 cup rum (cheap rum) and about 1 cup brown sugar (not packed) I mopped every couple hours until I ran out of mop, so the last 3 or so hours didn't get any mopping
 
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