?'s about using smaller roasts for pork butt on WSM


 
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Tom Raveret

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I love the flavor in the recipie for the renowned Mr Brown. I am new to the WSM and have only done this a couple of times but with wmaller roasts 3.5-5 lb roasts. The advantages seem to be more flavor from more surface area covered with the rub. Are there any disadvantages to doing it this way? My grill is cooking at 250 on the cooking grate surface and the two roasts took 5 hours to get to 170

Also the recipie on the virtualweberbullett web page pulls the meat off at 170 I have seen some people talk about waiting until the meat has reached 195 what are the advantages/disadvantages to this? Does it dry out the meat?

Thanks
 
Tom,

I did 3 pork butts this past weekend. I did not use the Mr. Brown rub, but one of my own. I'll probably get around to trying that particular rub one of these days.

The size of the pork butts I did were, 5, 5.5, and 6.5lbs. The 5pounder was on the bottom rack.

Total time they were on the grill was about 15-16 hrs. In no way were they close to drying out. The internal temps were about 193. I took them off, wrapped them in plastic/foil/towels and placed them in a cooler for about 2hrs. They came out tender. Not only did the various muscles fall apart along the muscle fibers, the actual fibers themselves pulled right apart. However, that is not to say that there wasn't any texture to the meat. It came out the best I've ever done. I did not re-check the internal temps after they sat for awhile. From what I read, there is a certain amount of after-cooking that goes on, which might have resulted in a slightly higer temp once out of the smoker.

Also, this was the first time I used a temperature probe. Other butts I've done, while tasted ok, did not have the same texture or "mouth appeal" that taking them to 190, or higher provided. I just went out and picked up a second Polder, so I can monitor the internal temp as well as the temp at the grill without taking off the cover.

See my posting from this past weekend for other info.
 
Just Remember it's a fat thing.If the roast is to trimmed it will dry out.
 
At 170? a butt will still have a lot of fat left in it and be on the tough side.
At 195? the moisture content will still be very good and you will have pulled product.
As the collagen breaks down the flavor of the meat gets sweeter, that's were the term Pig Candy comes from.
jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tom R:
[qb]...the recipe on the virtualweberbullet web page pulls the meat off at 170. I have seen some people talk about waiting until the meat has reached 195...[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Just to clarify...the reference to 170*F internal temp is in the Pork Butt - The Renowned Mr. Brown topic, and that's the temp the recipe in the book "Smoke & Spice" calls for. This is probably too low a finished temperature for most of us when it comes to pulled pork. I noted in the topic that I cranked the heat toward the end of cooking and got internal temp readings of over 180*F. The meat rested for an hour and pulled OK, but would have been better if cooked to a higher internal temp.

I wrote that topic back in 1999. Nowadays, I cook all my pork butts to 190-205*F.

Regards,
Chris
 
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