Probe location when taking internal temps.

[Art R]

Just finished a fine smoke yesterday of 2 slabs bbrs, one slab spares and a 9 lb butt.

When measuring doneness for ribs I do a visual and touch/tug test. That works fine. My bbrs were a tad too tender after the foiling stage, but my wife loved them.

The BUTT however.....that thing gave widely ranging temps depending on where the probe went into the meat. So, where is the best place to take the temp?

AR

p.s. I eventually got it above 190 all around, but some places were nearly 200 by then.

 

[Doug D]

A butt is a combination of several muscles, and-- like light and dark poultry-- each will reach a different temp given the same amount of cooking time. I usually wait a few hours to insert a thermometer probe-- until after the meat starts to firm up and the end cuts of the individual muscles become more visibly pronounced, and just then pick one of the larger ones. When it reaches my target, I take a few spot readings elsewhere with an instant-read. If I get 190-205° all around, that's good.

 

[Jim Minion]

As Doug said check different spots but temp is only part of the test. If it is bone in then grab the bone and try to remove it, it will release clean if done or probe with the therm and see how it feels, should be like it's going into butter.
Jim