Pork Butt and Baked Beans


 
Chris S in YEG

Chris S in YEG

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Good Day to all.

This Saturday I am planning to smoke a pork butt for some pulled pork on my WSM. I have always used a water pan with water when I do pork butt. This time I am planning on doing 16 hour baked beans at the same time. They will be in a 7 qt. Cast Iron Dutch oven with the lid OFF on the bottom rack of my WSM. The pork butt will be above on the top rack so that all the juicy goodness will drip into the beans. My question is will a water pan with water and the Dutch oven be "over kill" and make temperature control difficult trying to heat the water, baked beans and the WSM. Can the simmering baked beans replace the moisture provided by the simmering water?

Thanks

Chris S in YEG
 
Sounds like a reasonable method to me, I rather like the idea!
I might be tempted to start the beans pretty “wet” as adding any liquid might be a challenge. Report back with the results, please?
 
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I can't be of much help since I go with a higher temp, so my pork butts usually get done in the 7 to 8 hour range, and I don't use water.
A couple of thoughts, 16 hours for beans sounds like a long time, maybe that long of a cook will turn them into mush??
The other thing, there's going to be a lot of fat going into them unless they're heavily trimmed.
 
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I've cook pintos that long starting with dried beans in a crock pot on low . I'm not sure what temp those typically cook at. Beans turn my digestive system into a bubbling cauldron of hate though.
If you are used to water in the pan there is no reason to cut it, but your temp control should be fine either way. I typically don't run water, myself. You might have to set the vents a little differently. The cook sounds delicious, though. Good luck
 
Yea, when I do beans on the lower rack I always pre-cook them or used canned. Just a few hours, maybe more till you get a good smoke crust on top.
Like Mr Correll mentioned, you'll get a lot of love dripping down, so you might want to skim some off.
I would at least give the beans and the DO a head start in an oven or on the range.
Starting cold with water in the pan is a sink and add in the butt and that's another sink, so coming up to temp could be a problem.

Tim
 
What I do is use the water from the water pan to cook beans. This requires a separate operation... when the pork is finished, I pour the water into a clean pan and refrigerate it overnight. Once it's chilled, I skim off the fat and pour it through a coffee filter. I then use this for cooking beans, usually in a pressure cooker. This way, you can get the beans cooked just right, you get rid of the fat, and the flavor is fantastic. I also use this method for cooking rice to accompany smoked brisket.
 
JackH said:
What I do is use the water from the water pan to cook beans. This requires a separate operation... when the pork is finished, I pour the water into a clean pan and refrigerate it overnight. Once it's chilled, I skim off the fat and pour it through a coffee filter. I then use this for cooking beans, usually in a pressure cooker. This way, you can get the beans cooked just right, you get rid of the fat, and the flavor is fantastic. I also use this method for cooking rice to accompany smoked brisket.
Click to expand...

Interesting concept, might be worth the experiment.
 
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HI All

Just a quick update:

8:00 AM Friday - put the beans in salted water to soak
10:30 PM Friday - Salt rubbed pork butt
11:00 PM Friday - Fried up bacon.
- Sauteed onions, green pepper, jalapeno and garlic in bacon fat.
- Added beans, water, chicken stock, ketchup, Worcestershire, cider vinegar, brown sugar and pork rub and let simmer for 1 hour
12:00 AM Saturday - Fired up WSM 18" with full water pan and beans on bottom rack
12:00 AM Saturday - Spiced rubbed pork butt
12:45 AM Saturday - Pork Butt on the WSM at 235 F
5:30 AM Saturday - WSM at 218 F
7:30 AM Saturday - WSM at 208 F
12:00 PM Saturday - Pork Butt Staled at 158. Wrapped in foiled and Put back on. Stirred the Beans will Pork But was off. Beans still firm and sauce is thin.
4:00 PM Saturday - Pork Butt at 195 unwrapped it and its is tender, put in back on with out foil.
- Moved Beans to 300 F oven
4:30 PM Saturday - Pork Butt is fall apart tender. Wrapped it and place in a cooler.
6:00 PM Saturday - DINNER.

The Pork butt was the best I ever did. The beans were not mushy, had a great texture and the sauce thickened up nicely in the oven. The temperature of my WSM was the most consistent I have ever seem. Only had to make a few minor adjustments to the vents. The temperature stayed within 235-205 for the majority of the smoke. Will do the beans on the WSM again.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am going to give this a go and soon.

What type of beans did you use?
 
Congratulations Chris! Sounds like a very successful cook, not to mention delicious. Very informative and I appreciated your detailed update. I never would have guessed the beans would hold up for a cook of that duration.
 
When I wrapped the pork and stirred the beans, I was surprised at how firm they were at that point as well. When I had then at dinner they had a very good "mouth feel" to them. They tasted better then when I just use the oven. Next time when I take the pork off to rest i will try cranking up the WSM to 300 and see if it will thicken up the sauce and finish them off there instead of using the oven.
 
I like the concept, I don’t do beans as often as I used to, the sweetness plate all kinds of fun with blood sugar readings!
I might just have to do it one of these days though just for the experience! Use the heat to your best advantage makes as much sense to me as anything!
 
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