Pork Butt on a Windless Day


 
JimK

JimK

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Grabbed a ~7.5lb butt at Wegman's last week and finally got around to cooking it today. It was gorgeous - low 80's, low humidity and, great for smoking, almost no wind to speak of. Nothing fancy, just a butt on the WSM. Did the Modified Armadillo Willy's rub, and mixed it with a little leftover Championship Chris Lily rub that I had laying around. I'm fresh out of hickory, and used a combo of cherry and pecan with this one and a modified Minion with half a chimney of lit charcoal in the middle of the ring, surrounded by unlit and the smoke wood. Charcoal was K Pro that I recently acquired during the Costco sale.

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I put the butt on at 8:10am and took it off about 5:45. I used an empty, foiled water pan. Temps locked in at 240F and pretty much stayed there the entire cook. Vents were all at about 25%. At about the 4 hour mark, I moved one vent to about 50%, as temps had dropped to about 230F. It got back to 240 and stayed until the last hour - dome was at about 220 when I took the butt off - butt a little over 190. The bone pulled out cleanly, then the butt got double wrapped in HD foil and a towel and set in a cooler for an hour while I made the 'Bastardized Piedmont Sauce'. Pulled it and had sandwiches - no sides, just some cut up cukes, carrots and peppers (I got lazy). Good stuff and I'm looking forward to using the leftovers in omelettes, tacos, nachos, etc.
 
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Rich G said:
That looks great, Jim.....a bit of heat in that Piedmont sauce? :)

R
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A little, but not too much. Looks intimidating with all those red pepper flakes though. I usually use about 2/3 of the prescribed amount though.
 
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Jim,
The bark on that is butt is fabulous. I picked up a 7.5 lb butt yesterday on sale for $1.29 a pound. It's going on tomorrow morning. It will be the first attempt at putting a butt on in the morning for that days dinner since I got my WSM. Hope I can have as much success as you.
 
Brad Olson said:
9-1/2 hours for a butt that size is really nice. It seems I always wind up getting close to 2 hrs/lb before it's done.
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The first 8 and a half pound shoulder I did on the WSM at 275 it took 9 hours almost to the minute. I was planning for around double that time so it was done way early. Next I keep the WSM at 250 and it took me 12 hours for an 8 pounder. I have a 7 and a half pounder ready to go on tomorrow at 6 am the goal is to run hot at 275 and try to get it done by 4 pm to wrap for an hour and serve by 5... I know it is risky, but it's my birthday so why not go for it. I used to do them at 225 and then would go 18 to 20 hours, but going hotter I have not seen much of an effect on the quality of food.
 
Very impressive Jim. Looks and sounds delicious. Gotta go along on what Brad said. I've never cooked a butt that size in that amount of time. I can remember a couple of 10:00 dinners of shame when I thought I was going to. :mad: I stick with water in the pan and usually a pit temp of 225 or so. Guess that's it. I printed a copy of Keri's Bastardized Piedmont sauce and will try on my next butt. Like the sound of your salad too.
 
Cliff Bartlett said:
Very impressive Jim. Looks and sounds delicious. Gotta go along on what Brad said. I've never cooked a butt that size in that amount of time. I can remember a couple of 10:00 dinners of shame when I thought I was going to. :mad: I stick with water in the pan and usually a pit temp of 225 or so. Guess that's it. I printed a copy of Keri's Bastardized Piedmont sauce and will try on my next butt. Like the sound of your salad too.
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So I did a 7.5 lb shoulder today. I put it on right at 6 am and run the WSM 14 (with water in pan, using Weber Briquettes) between 265 and 285 all day. I pulled it at 5:15 pm at 196 temp and it was pretty close, if I had a little longer I would have given it move time. I let it sit open for 30 mins then pulled it. All pulled perfect except one center portion of meat. This was my first time doing a morning start. I will most likely go back to over night cooks and try to run a little lower (250 ish) and let myself have ample time. I much rather having more time then to feel crunched. Or if I could have redone today I would have tried foiling the shoulder (I have yet to do this) after the bark was set to see if it would have been ready earlier. I don't think I will go back to cooking at 225 again though.
 
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