Hot & Fast Pork Butt

[Rick P]

I was so happy with the hot and fast briskets, that I tried a similar method with an untrimmed 8.5lb bone-in pork butt. I did this in the Chargriller Auto-Kamado, Royal Oak lump, a couple pieces of fresh cherry wood & a small chunk of pecan. I was shooting for 300 deg...the temp did have a few swings, but it was a little breezy. Dry brined w/kosher salt the night before and ended up using some Santa Maria seasoning for the rub, because I was concerned that my usual Memphis Dust might burn at the higher temps.
It had a nice bark, (hard to tell from the pic because that's the fat side and I did not trim) Other than the temp, the only other thing that I did differently was stick it in an aluminum pan covered with foil after the bark formed, (which it did ~ 173 deg), because I was afraid that the bark would get tough at higher temps.

I think that I covered 3 1/2 hours into the cook...and it was probe tender at 201 degrees. Total cook time was around 7hrs We were really happy with the results.

That being said....even thought the pork came out really well....very tender and flavorful, I usually do smaller roasts, (in the 4-5lb range), so I'll stick with low and slow for those but I'll definitely do hot and fast for larger cuts, if I'm going to feed a crowd.

 

[timothy]

Looks great! That's the only way I do butts.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

It had a nice bark, (hard to tell from the pic because that's the fat side and I did not trim) Other than the temp, the only other thing that I did differently was stick it in an aluminum pan covered with foil after the bark formed, (which it did ~ 173 deg), because I was afraid that the bark would get tough at higher temps.

I actually prefer if I can get a more tough and really dark bark on parts of mine as there isn't much to be had per shoulder and once you pull and mix you only get a taste or 2 of that tougher outside taste. I find this personally really good, rather than every bite being the same and soft. Flavour and texture enhancer from my point of view anyways.

 

[Bob Bailey]

I was so happy with the hot and fast briskets, that I tried a similar method with an untrimmed 8.5lb bone-in pork butt. I did this in the Chargriller Auto-Kamado, Royal Oak lump, a couple pieces of fresh cherry wood & a small chunk of pecan. I was shooting for 300 deg...the temp did have a few swings, but it was a little breezy. Dry brined w/kosher salt the night before and ended up using some Santa Maria seasoning for the rub, because I was concerned that my usual Memphis Dust might burn at the higher temps.
It had a nice bark, (hard to tell from the pic because that's the fat side and I did not trim) Other than the temp, the only other thing that I did differently was stick it in an aluminum pan covered with foil after the bark formed, (which it did ~ 173 deg), because I was afraid that the bark would get tough at higher temps.

I think that I covered 3 1/2 hours into the cook...and it was probe tender at 201 degrees. Total cook time was around 7hrs We were really happy with the results.

That being said....even thought the pork came out really well....very tender and flavorful, I usually do smaller roasts, (in the 4-5lb range), so I'll stick with low and slow for those but I'll definitely do hot and fast for larger cuts, if I'm going to feed a crowd.

Looks mighty tasty to me!

I like doing butts in the 275 to 300 range too but don't wrap during the cook. Have been thinking seriously about using the boat method like Brad from Chud's BBQ:

.

 

[Rick P]

I actually prefer if I can get a more tough and really dark bark on parts of mine as there isn't much to be had per shoulder and once you pull and mix you only get a taste or 2 of that tougher outside taste. I find this personally really good, rather than every bite being the same and soft. Flavour and texture enhancer from my point of view anyways.

No argument here!
I prefer a substantial, dark bark, but not a tough one. As long as it's dark and passes the scratch test, I'm good. I usually split 'em up to get more bark, but I was worried that the hotter temp, (along with the sugar in the rub), would cause it to taste burnt/bitter, as opposed to chewy and flavorful.

 

[Rick P]

Looks mighty tasty to me!

I like doing butts in the 275 to 300 range too but don't wrap during the cook. Have been thinking seriously about using the boat method like Brad from Chud's BBQ:

.

Thanks...it was!
This hot and fast stuff is new to me and I rarely wrap anything, but the high heat gave me pause, because of the sugar in the rub.