My first successful pork butt cook


 
Rick Bennett

Rick Bennett

New member
This weekend... My third attempt at smoking a pork butt and SUCCESS at last! Weber Kettle with coals arranged in a snake configuration with a few chunks of pecan thrown in. Put the 8-pound pork butt on the grill at 7:30am, brought the grill temp up to about 270 degrees and maintained that temp throughout the entire cook. At around 6 hours into the cook the internal temperature stalled at 170 degrees. At that point I pulled it off the grill, wrapped it in foil, then back on the grill and waited for the internal temperature to reach 203-205 degrees. About 90 minutes later the temp had reached 199 degrees, so I decided to probe for tenderness. The temperature probe went into the meat like it was BUTTER!! Pulled the butt off the grill and brought it inside the house to rest it. It was about an 8-9 hour cook from start to finish. I now have A LOT of juicy and tender pulled pork to eat! . The lesson learned this time around was "probe for tenderness" and don't necessarily watch the clock. Next up, going to try a brisket.
 

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Congrats! There are far too many variables in play to judge doneness using time. Internal temperature is a much more reliable indicator, but probing is the ultimate test. You'll find that this applies to much more than pork butts.
 
Rick Bennett said:
This weekend... My third attempt at smoking a pork butt and SUCCESS at last! Weber Kettle with coals arranged in a snake configuration with a few chunks of pecan thrown in. Put the 8-pound pork butt on the grill at 7:30am, brought the grill temp up to about 270 degrees and maintained that temp throughout the entire cook. At around 6 hours into the cook the internal temperature stalled at 170 degrees. At that point I pulled it off the grill, wrapped it in foil, then back on the grill and waited for the internal temperature to reach 203-205 degrees. About 90 minutes later the temp had reached 199 degrees, so I decided to probe for tenderness. The temperature probe went into the meat like it was BUTTER!! Pulled the butt off the grill and brought it inside the house to rest it. It was about an 8-9 hour cook from start to finish. I now have A LOT of juicy and tender pulled pork to eat! . The lesson learned this time around was "probe for tenderness" and don't necessarily watch the clock. Next up, going to try a brisket.
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great job will feed dozens lol
 
Yep. Depending on how you want it you can pull a pork butt anywhere north of sbout 190. Some people like theirs to be mush I think.... That's what many restaurants serve after they keep it in the hot finishing liquid in a steam pan all day. I usually pull them about 198. I like meat to have a little stringy meat texture. If you take it too far, it can definitely turn to mush. As long as you can shred it it's fine. I usually just use two dinner forks and start pulling it with those. Nothing more elaborate or complicated is needed. Some people do it by hand.
 
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