Need help, Pork Butt Q's for fall party


 
J

Joe P

TVWBB Member
Planning a fall party on Oct 15th around 4pm-7pm. We're planning on making pulled pork-- The Renowned Mr. Brown. I'd like to do 2 6-8 pound butts for our gathering of 25 (we have a lot of other food as well).

I work on Fridays so is it feasible to try to get these on Friday say around 5-6PM and cook them all night? Will they be fully up to temp by 4-5PM on Saturday? Should I cut the butts into smaller sizes-- say 3-4 pounds each so they will cook quicker?

Any suggestions, greatly appreciated!!
 
Just to give you an idea of time. It takes me 11-12 hours to fully smoke one pork butt (~8lb). I've never done two, but a week ago I smoked three butts (~8lb each) and it took 16 1/2 hours from time they were put on until they reached 185 to 190 internal temp. Based on the math, I would allow 14 hours for two butts. FYI - I fired up using the minion method and smoked at 230 to 250.
 
If they're big ones (8 lb or so) and you get them on around 5 to 6, they'll probably come off by noon or so. I'd leave them whole. I like to let them reach 195-200 in most muscles, then pull them and wrap 'em in a few layers of foil, then towels, then tuck 'em in a small dry ice chest until ready to pull them.

Remember pictures, dear - we like pictures!

Keri C, still smokin' on Tulsa Time
 
If you have a vacuum food saver you could do the butts the weekend before, pull and freeze. Then just reheat that day. I had 25 people this weekend, and the 2 8lb butts i made were gone quickly. I also had two chickens and 15 racks of spares. Plenty of ribs left over but the pulled pork didn't stand a chance. I liked having the butts already done, one less thing to worry about and i could focus more on the ribs and chicken and all the other party details. All the butts I've cooked are easily 2+ hours a pound, and worrying about them the day of the party wasn't something i wanted.

Just my 2 cents.

Kev
 
Joe

It would be unusual for the cook to take longer than 18 hours, but by starting at 6 on Friday, 20 hours would take you to 2 the next day which should still give you a couple of hours in foil. I also doubt if you would finish sooner than 15 to 16 hours which would bring you to about 10 the next day on the short end. That would be 6 hours in foil, which is long, but acceptable. I've kept them that long and they've still been very hot to the touch when foil was removed.

Sounds to me like your timetable is fine. Best of luck to you.

Paul
 
Rita,


I would definately do it that way again.

I brought a large pot of water to a boil, shut it off and dropped in the bags (still frozen) for about 20 minutes. Came out moist and hot.

I split the 2 butts worth of meat into 6 bags. When i packaged it I tried to spread it out so it wasn't packed in tight at the bottom of the bag.

Kev
 
I did 3 7-pound butts last weekend for a party. I put them on about 10:30-11 pm Friday night and they were 195F by 2:30 the next afternoon, smoking at around 235F at the grate.

Foiled and coolered, after 3 1/2 hours they were still safely hot at 150-155F. I pulled and placed them out for the party goers (about 40 or so) and they were demolished in a short time.
 
Thanks everyone! It looks like I should be fine on time. I plan on a temp between 230-250. I'll let you know how it goes.

joe
 
Thanks, Kev. Glad and relieved to hear it is a good method.

I've always wondered about those FoodSavered bags bouncing around on top of the simmering water and whether or not they would heat up evenly. Even though I portion and freeze the meat before vacuuming, I always seem to have all all of the bags as "floaters."

Should I clamp a lid on the pot? Duh! Just thought of that. I must be running on Senior Speed (well deserved) at the moment.
icon_frown.gif
No offense to my compatriots who are "quicker" than I am!

Rita
 
I had a party last Saturday with pulled pork, and I didn't even get home from a business trip until about 7 pm on Friday. I got 2 7lb butts on the WSM around 10 pm. I got the smoker stabalized at 230 and went to work on the other items, goat! Anyway, I went to bed about 3 am with the smoker chugging away at 230. I got up at 9 and the smoker had cooled a bit so I stoked it up and the butts were ready by noon. I wrapped the butts in heavy foil and left them on the counter until 3 pm, they were still hot. I then pulled them, put them in the crock pot, and added a little rub and vinegar sauce. by 5 the guests arrived and it worked perfectly.
 
The party was a success. The butts turned out awesome, rave reviews from the croud. 17 hour overnight cook for the butts.

My neighbor who co hosted the party did 2 racks of ribs and a 6 lb brisket on his Brinkmann. These took a little under 5 hours.

We didn't have too worry about running out of food. All the ribs went, 3/4 of the pork went and 3/4 of the brisket went.

Thanks for all the great input!
 
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