• Enter the TVWB 27th Anniversary Prize Drawing for a chance to win a Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill! Click here to enter!

Pork Butt doneness?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Guest

Guest
I am new to cooking with the WSM, but have successfully made some ribs, brisket & chicken. I decided to try a pork butt for pulled pork sandwiches with interesting results. The meat cooked for approximately 15 hours with an average lid temp of 250 degrees. I took the meat off (had to go to bed) with an internal temp of 182 degrees. I put the meat in the frig overnight and decided to have sandwiches today... except when I started pulling the meat apart it was pink inside. The entire piece was pink NOT just the smoke ring. Is this normal for a pork butt? It doesn't seem possible that the meat wasn't cooked, but I am curious whether others have experienced this?
 
The bone-in Boston Butts I barbecue are in the 6.5 to 7.5 pound range and are done on my WSM after about 10-12 hours at 220-250 cooking grate temps.

Pork butt easily pulls when the internal temperature of the meat reaches 190 degrees. Also, I find it much easier to "pull" or shred the pork when it is hot, before you put it in the refrigerator. Cold pork will shred too, but I have to work harder to do it.

I doubt the pink color is a problem but you never know. Next time shred the meat while it is still warm before you refrigerate it and check the color at that time for comparison.

Danny Hardesty
 
Mike

I cooked three over night this weekend. Took about 16 hrs to get to 195. I was surprised when I checked at 7:00 a.m. that all charcoal had burned. Added more and finished with no problem.

The meat was also slightly pink - not just the smoke ring. I don't see a problem. I remember Weber making some statement in their material about smoked meat having a pinkish color. I'm confident it is absolutely safe and it had a great taste.

PRG
 
I'm no expert but I've done at least a dozen shoulders and butts and pink is normal - it's not a sign of being underdone.

I did my first overnight in my new WSM this weekend. Put the shoulder in at 8pm and pulled it around 9am. Had the Maverick receiver set up on my nightstand and the temp held a steady 240-250 from 10pm to 7am! I pulled the shoulder at 185F. No mop, no rub, no seasoning at all. There's no sense in messing with something that tastes this good by itself.
 
If the butts were injected with a solution, it may have been a curing effect that caused the pink throughout.
 
Once pork reaches 160? internal it's done as far as that goes, of course it is not tender but for food safety sake it's done.
Jim
 
Just a shot in the dark here, but have you checked your thermometers for accuracy lately (or at all)?

It sounds odd that it would have been cooking for 15 hours at 250 and still not have gotten to 190 internal. Of course all pieces of meat cook differently, but that seems to be "outside the box."

Also, how large was your pork butt? If you had a whole shoulder (boston and picnic together) that would explain why it took so long.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It sounds odd that it would have been cooking for 15 hours at 250 and still not have gotten to 190 internal. Of course all pieces of meat cook differently, but that seems to be "outside the box."
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>My "box" has always been greater than advertized here. I have cooked many butts and my average time for a 6-8 lb butt cook is 18 hours to reach 195 internal at 240-260 lid temps. This weekend was the FIRST time in a year and a half of cooking butts that my butt finished in 2 hours/pound. I was using sand and my lid temps at 6:30am were higher than when I went to bed at midnight, so I suspect that I had a temperature climb during the night and was actually only seeing it on the way back down at 6:30am. That's my only explanation for why my butt finished within the "advertized" time for the first time ever and about 6 hours before I expected it to finish. 2 1/2 hours/pound average is my standard cook without exception until this weekend. So, my 13 hour cook for a 6.5 lb butt was "outside the box" for me.
 
Dave

I've cooked a lot of butts too but have never used sand. Think I'll try it next overnighter. What do believe caused the temp spike during the night. Perhaps breeze ? Do you use the standard pan with the sand ?

Thanks, PRG
 
Pink can be normal. Once it passes 160*F, it's done.

I've had more butts take closer to 3hr/lb than 2hr/lb, while maintaining a grate temp around 230*F.

15 hours for a 5~6lb butt shouldn't raise any eyebrows.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I've cooked a lot of butts too but have never used sand. Think I'll try it next overnighter. What do believe caused the temp spike during the night. Perhaps breeze ? Do you use the standard pan with the sand ? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Paul,
I've not used sand enough to be any kind of expert with it, but I like using it on butts because its one less thing I have to maintain while cooking overnight (no need to fill the water pan every couple of hours). I use the stock WSM pan filled about 3/4 or more with sand and put foil on top of the sand to catch the drips. I seem to have better fuel efficiency with sand. My WSM runs hotter with sand than with water so my vents openings are smaller to maintain the same temp and I use up less fuel. Sand is not as good a heat "sink" as water so as the sand heats up the temp goes up and with no one to adjust my vents while I sleep, the temp climbs (I had my vents set at 10% open each when I went to bed - my lid temp at midnight was 255 and at 6:30am it was 270.) It was also breezy, so that probably played a role as well, but I've had that overnight temp climb with sand before.

I don't use sand if I'm cooking a brisket because I believe (rightly or wrongly) that I need the moisture the water creates to keep my briskets from drying out (too much) while they cook. Briskets are hard beasts to master and a moist cooking environment can only help. Thats not a problem with butts.

I'm ambivalent about using sand with ribs. I just haven't cooked enough with it on short cooks to judge whether or not I think it makes a difference. Just my two cents.
 
Dave

Thanks for your response. It was as complete as I would expect from a trial attorney - I'm a real property / probate / whatever attorney.

I may or may not try the sand. I've had a few bad experiences with letting the temp get too high and then trying to bring it down. By filling the large water pan immediately before going to bed I've managed ok so far. Nothing ventured - nothing burned ! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top