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high heat pork butt cook question


 
L

Luke Young

New member
Ok, So this coming Friday some people that I work are coming over for a little christmas shindig and since I have been dying to do a pork butt I see no better excuse than this one to try one. Also, due to time constraints during the day, I will be trying out the high heat 5 hour butt technique.

Seeing as how this is my first butt, I'm cooking for guests, and I will have to keep the temp up around 350 for an extended period of time I would like other peoples advice on this one.

I will start the cook during the day and hopefully we will eat around 8 or 9. This means the meat will be cooking while the temperature drops to around 40 degrees. I have read Chris's write up on pans and all the variations.

1) I have read Chris's write up on pans and all the variations. Should I use sand or go waterless?
2) If I get the temp up to 350 will also doing another cut of meat like ribs or chicken be a viable possibility?
and 3) sorta related to 2. If I DO end up cooking additional meats I assume that I would have the butt on the bottom rack. If I go with sand or waterless will I be at risk or burning or screwing up the butt by having it that close to the heat in any way?

Oh also, and most importantly, what is the name of the cut of meat the I get when I want to do a pork butt?
What do you guys think? Thanks in advance


Luke
 
1 - I would go waterless if I wanted to keep temps up that high for that long. Cover with foil leaving an air gap at the bottom so the drippings don't burn much.

2, 3- At that temp, any other meat is definately possible. Chicken comes to mind immediately, but I would put it on the lower grate to avoid contamination off of the drippings (I always keep in mind that chicken is loaded with nasties that die during the cook), plus this way the drippings of the butt will coat the chicken...yum!

Name I've always seen is Butt.
 
Luke - where we live, the butt (which isn't from the rump of the hog, but rather is part of the shoulder) is generally labeled as a "Boston Butt."

Here in Birmingham, I usually buy them for $1.49 - $1.59/lb. Make sure to get the one "bone-in" rather than boneless!

Best of luck!

Pat
 
I'm with Don on the pan: no water and definitely foil it and definitely make sure there is airspace between the foil and pan.

Chicken can go above or below. As long as all cooks to safe temps drippings are a non-issue. If you are going the 5-hour route you'll be foiling anyway. I'm not much for mixed meat cooks myself, and would likely do back ribs were it me.

A pork butt is called a pork butt, sometimes a Boston butt, sometimes 'pork shoulder--butt', or something similar. There are two parts to a shoulder the 'picnic', which is most of the foreleg and the lower part of the shoulder, and the butt.
 
Don't fret over "bone-in" or "boneless". I've been getting boneless pork shoulder (pork butt) in cryovac packs at Costco and they are great.

I did a high heat pork butt yesterday. 6# butt in a large Weber aluminum pan. The meat hit 165 degrees at 3.5 hours. I foiled the pan/butt combo and left it on until the meat hit 195 degrees (another 2.5 hours). It was great - very moist, pretty good bark (not soggy) and very tender. Having the juice in the pan to drizzle on the pulled pork is a definite bonus. I foiled the water pan inside and out. I didn't leave an air space with the inside foil because the pork was in a pan, so nothing dripped down to the water pan. If you put the pork directly on the grill instead of in a pan, leave an air space between the foil inside the water pan and the water pan itself like Kevin said- that way any drippings won't burn and you might get some juices to put back into the meat after pulling.

Having the butt in a pan is my new method. The only clean up is the charcoal ashes!
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Yeah, but if there's not bone, you can't do the "pull the bone out of the meat trick." That's one of the fun parts!

I did a high heat butt for the Auburn-Alabama game and like his, it turned out great.

I prefer the long, low and slow method, but sometimes, I don't want to have to cook overnight and in those cases, the high heat works well.

Pat
 
Thanks for all the input guys.

Other than doing a pull the bone out of the meat trick, are there any other points to consider when deciding between bone in or out.

Also how to you "pull" the pork? Is this the same as cutting? Are there any special tools needed?


Luke
 
I just put the pork butt on a large platter or meat cutting board, grab two forks, stab the butt with them and start splitting (or "pulling") the meat along the grain. As you do this, remove any remaining chunks of fat you come across.

As for bone in vs. boneless pork butt, they are both delicious. An important deciding factor is if one or the other is on sale!
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Buy one of each and give 'em a try - you won't be disappointed with either one....
 
I started doing bone in when I discovered they were much cheaper at Costco. I have not noticed any difference in the flavor. One thing you need to do on the boneless is to tie it up to make the shape more uniform. Just tie up the loose ends. When they take the bone out, they tend to hack it up somewhat so many pieces are sticking out all over the place.

Good Luck,

Bob
 
Good point, Bob. I trim the fat and tie the pork butts, then wrap them up individually for freezer storage if I'm not cooking them right away. I haven't seen bone-in butts at our Costco, only boneless. Maybe I'll ask next time....
 
To make "pulled pork" you pull it with your hands/fingers. It's not called "forked pork"
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Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I kill me.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Also how to you "pull" the pork? Is this the same as cutting? Are there any special tools needed? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>None really needed, food handling gloves ... some use 'bear claws' to shred, I'm more meticulous about it.

Here's how I do it:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>put the foil pack the butt is resting in in the sink, on the counter beside put your cutting board and two bowls, one for scrap one for meat, get a cutting board, a paring knife and a pair of food handling gloves <LI>put the gloves on, open the foil and seperate the different muscles; unlike a tenderloin which is a single muscle, a butt is made up of many muscles; put them back in the foil and keep it closed up <LI>take a chunk at a time out of the foil, with a paring knife in one hand start pulling the meat with one gloved hand and the flat of the knife in the other, use the knife edge to scrape off anything that doesn't look like you'd want to eat <LI>not required but I keep the strands to about 1 1/2" long so some pieces are cut lengthwise across the grain, then seperate chunks into about thumb sized pieces ... this is not like cubing cheese ... just a guideline on chunk size <LI>try not to pile the finished pork too deep, we want any that isn't to be eaten right away to cool quickly and get fridged asap <LI>once it's all pulled mix it up to distribute the bark pieces, you could sprinkly some rub in and mix it up at this point, depends, some rubs are better than others for this[/list] hope that helps, good luck and have fun!
 
OK, I have more questions. I went to the store and bought the butte's today. I ended up getting 3 buttes that each weigh 2.5#. So my question is: Do I need to go the high heat method to save time still or can I go normal?

Bear in mind that I will be able to start the fire around 1:00 and I need to serve me guests just before 7

thoughts?
 
Those aren't butts, I'm afraid, they're pieces of butts.

You can go either way but I wouldn't go too low if you decide to low/slow. I don't like foiling butts but would suggest you foil your pieces once they hit ~160 internal. Foiling will speed the cook and will stem the excess moisture loss that can occur when small pieces are being cooked to pullable.
 
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