First smoke, 1 butt, too salty!

[Chad Harwick]

This was my first venture with smoking. Finished product was SALTY, so much so the g/f and my son couldn't eat it. I tried a little piece when I was pulling and thought with a little finishing sauce and mixing the internal pieces with the outer bark it would lighten up. It did BARELY. The only great thing about it was the smell. Man, that was the best smelling pork I ever laid my nostrils on.

Anyways, here's the timeline.

Rubbed the butt the night before. Maybe the rub was too salty?
1/4c. Brown Sugar
1/2c. White Sugar
1/2c. Paprika
1/3c. Garlic Salt
1/3c. Kosher Salt
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Fresh Black Pepper

I then re-rubbed 40 minutes before putting it on the smoker.

Here's the WSM getting ready to roll. 3 chunks of hickory, 4 smaller chunks of Cherry. Maybe too much wood? -11*F was the current temp. 1 full chimney unlit went in first. Then wedged in a few chunks, then another full chimney on top with more chunks. I did the minion with 20 hot coals on top of that. I tell you what, I need to do a better job of catching the temp on the way up because I had to fight it to get down. Also had an empty water pan and 12" clay saucer, both foiled.

Meat is on at 11:30PM! And a good look at my windblock.

The temps spiked throughout the night. Topping off at 280*F or so. I got it down to 270*F and went to bed. Woke up and it was at 235*F top lid. I stirred the coals and put 15 unlit briquettes in the ring.

About 10am. Just coming off of the plateau.

Pulled it at 12:30PM at 198*F for a total of 13hr. cooktime.

It looks good to me. Double foiled and put in the warmed cooler. It rested until 3pm and was 149*F when I started to pull it. The top of the meat was dry, and the bottom was mushy. The bark was WAYYY salty and didn't mellow out much after pulling.

I made a NC style finishing sauce.
2c. Cider Vinegar
1 1/3c. Water
1/2c. plus 2 tbsp. Ketchup
1/4c. dark brown sugar or to taste
5 tsp. salt
4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground white pepper

Starting to pull.

Finished product with some homemade mac n cheese, cornbread muffin, and baked potato (not shown) on the side.

Like I said before. The pork was not good at all. I still ate it and the finishing sauce helped it out but it was still very salty. I used very little of the finishing sauce. Any suggestions to improve for my next butt? Less salty rub? Less smoke wood? Thanks for all the help already!

 

[Dale Perry]

If it was too salty, then yes, it had too much salt in the rub for your taste. K Kruger has a good way for you to try. Just sprinkle salt on the pork, then apply a salt free rub onto the pork after that. Too much salt in a rub, setting overnight seems to be too much for MY taste as well.

 

[Tony C.]

that does look like a lot of salt also where did you get the butt from? some of the butts from grocery stores are enhanced with a saline solution and adding more salt with a rub would cause what you experienced. especially if you say the inside meat was salty too. i know that the tyson butts from Walmart are enhanced as are the hormel ones that harris teeter sells.

 

[Chad Harwick]

I'm definitely doing the K method next time. I got the butts at Sam's.

 

[r benash]

Compared with two styles of rub that I use most frequently for butt cooks, that is a lot of salt in that recipe to me. Especially since you also have Garlic Salt as well.

I'm with Tony C. though, I wouldn't have expected the salt to permeate that far into the meat. I.E. - you say that all the meat was very salty, not just the bark.

As far as it being mushy at the bottom, perhaps a flip halfway thru would have helped. I typically due a single flip over the duration of the cook.

 

[Chad Harwick]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by r benash:
Compared with two styles of rub that I use most frequently for butt cooks, that is a lot of salt in that recipe to me. Especially since you also have Garlic Salt as well.

I'm with Tony C. though, I wouldn't have expected the salt to permeate that far into the meat. I.E. - you say that all the meat was very salty, not just the bark.

As far as it being mushy at the bottom, perhaps a flip halfway thru would have helped. I typically due a single flip over the duration of the cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Ray. I didn't mean the internal meat was salty. It was just the outer meat, but I was thinking that after the outer was mixed with the inner it would dilute the salt somewhat. But it didn't really help it was that salty. I'll know next time!! I'll be doing a less salt or no salt rub. I just want a sweet/hot thick bark.

 

[K Kruger]

As Dale note, I make salt-free rubs and salt the meat separately first. That way I can use as little or as much rub as I want and the salt level is unaffected. Salting the meat first, then waiting several minutes for the salt to draw moisture, sets up a nice moist condition for the rub to adhere. If more rub is desired, wait several more minutes after the first application then rub again.

For something thin, like ribs, I salt as if the ribs were just served to me, cooked but unsalted, and salt both sides. Brisket gets a little more. For butt that will be pulled pork when finished, I salt more heavily as the meat will be pulled and mixed together (the same for puled beef). More salt can always be added later so you can err on the side of caution and go lighter if you wish.

 

[Dale Perry]

Kevin, like I have said before , people pay $ for advice that is given for free on forums like this. I have to admit that I like your salt idea for homemade rubs. Like you stated, some meats need more salt some less. Perfect solution, and my hats off to ya!

On edit, I cant type worth a dam n.

 

[David Lohrentz]

Many good comments above which I agree with, but I would like to add one more. Generally speaking, I don't think it makes sense to buy spices that are salt plus something else, such as garlic salt or celery salt. Salt is very cheap and that is something they do just to jack up the profit margin. Compared to garlic salt, granulated garlic is a better deal, has better flavor, and gives you much better control over the salt.