High heat/no foil Butt


 
J

John Furdyn

TVWBB Pro
Have a 6 lb bone in pork butt on, cooking high heat.

Just wondering.,I'm sure this has been covered before.

How many of you, and why, do you cook butts without foiling "while" on the WSM. In other words cooking completly without foiling. Do some of you take the butts right off the WSM and let rest like 30 min, then eat ?

I assume you will get more smoked flavor by not foiling on the cooker, and probably more bark.

Any info appreciated.

Thanks
 
If you consider a component of bark to be a dried up outer layer of meat not foiling while cooking will make that layer deeper and also allow rended fat to drain. Foiling while cooking can make the end product a bit more moist as well but not a huge difference to me.Overcooking in or out of foil will still cause it to dry up, the moisture can get squeezed out either way but it takes a fair bit of overcooking to do this to a butt.

I don't foil butts until they come off the WSM. If I run out of fuel and they aren't done yet they are foiled and go into the oven until done. If they are done they are foiled and go into the cooler for a rest.
 
How about the "smoke" flavor component.

Do you have more "smoke" flavor to the butt by cooking till done without foiling ?

thanks
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Furdyn:
How about the "smoke" flavor component.

Do you have more "smoke" flavor to the butt by cooking till done without foiling ?

thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>smoke ring formation stops at 140F, but certainly if it's in smoke longer (uncovered) more smoke will accumulate on the surface. If you left one chunk in uncovered and the other foiled over say the last three hours in smoke I don't know in the end (after rest and pull) if you would be able to tell much differnce if any.
 
Shawn

Very interesting.

I guess other than cooking a little faster if the roast is foiled the last few hours on the smoker, you have pretty much the same taste.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Furdyn:
Do some of you take the butts right off the WSM and let rest like 30 min, then eat ?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes. When I do butts I'm not looking for a freezer full of pulled pork, although there are always some leftovers. I cook until probe tender, rest and eat. At least that's what I usually plan.
 
Time allowed, I never foil my butts.

Losing all the outside bark isn't worth it me! As far as the smokey flavor goes, can't really tell a difference in ones I've done in the past.
 
Usually no foil. I have only foiled once, when I was running out of time and needed to speed up the process.
 
I've done both ways, but I consistently get better/more reliable results using foil. Usually I add the foil at when internal temp gets to 150/160.
 
I find the biggest advantage to foiling (other that the decease in cooking time) is that is contains the juices that are released from the butt. These juices can be defatted and added back to the pp instead of sauce.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">How many of you, and why, do you cook butts without foiling "while" on the WSM. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have often cooked butts at high heat (~325) and don't often foil. Size is germane: if cooking butts the size you note (my favorites for that high a temp are 5.7-6 lbs, tops) then I've never found foiling necessary -- the cook time is already shortened. Larger butts present an obvious problem: Cooktemp has to relate to size, especially if you are thinking of higher temps. Better -- with a larger hunk of meat -- to lower the temp to compensate lest you overcook the exterior before the interior finishes. You can finesse the finish by foiling -- but I prefer to either cook at a relatively lower temp, or if the butt is especially large yet I want/need to cook high heat -- to halve the butt crosswise right through the bone and proceed.
 
I cooked at 350-375 lid temp, untill 185, then foiled and cooked to 200, Cooked fat cap down. Then put in paper lined cooler for about an hour.

There was little juice in the foil and butt seamed just a "tad" on the dry side, but still "very" good. Sprayed with a little chicken stock. I haven't made a butt for about a month kinda forgot how good they are.

This is the first "bone in" butt that was "tied", I have cooked. All the other bone in butts I have cook have not been tied, don't quite understand that.

The roast also seemed leaner than most butts, didn't even have much of a fat cap, must have been trimmed pretty good.

Also had no rub, so just sprinkled with salt and pepper.

My family loved it.

Bad news not much leftovers.
 
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