Ten to twelve hour butt help.


 
Here's a sin that I've used to cater (freebies) on occasion when I worked a 9-5 job before retiring.

Put the (bare, no rub) trimmed or untrimmed butt in a half restaurant aluminum tray (double them up), tent with foil, set that on a cookie sheet in the oven (just in case of overflow), put the oven on about 325F and go to work. Come home, pull them out, schred, tray the pulled pork, use the juices or some store bought pork broth to mix with a favorite rub and pour over the pulled pork, just so it's moist and a little liquid is seen in the bottom. Put it on your smoker running around 400F with your favorite smoking wood, smoke til you see some "bark" crust form, turn it over in the tray, repeat, keeping it slightly moist with the broth-rub mixture. Usually an hour total is all it takes. Got raving reviews. Had a guy that seemed know bbq talk with me at length at one of the parties. He was really impressed with it. I say: sin away. I try to make what people like, not always what is a tradition. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of traditions.

Even when I smoke butts traditionally, I still double smoke, using some added broth-rub to keep it moist and the picture is the result. 20210414_174959.jpg
 
Chuck-roaniecowpony said:
Here's a sin that I've used to cater (freebies) on occasion when I worked a 9-5 job before retiring.

Put the (bare, no rub) trimmed or untrimmed butt in a half restaurant aluminum tray (double them up), tent with foil, set that on a cookie sheet in the oven (just in case of overflow), put the oven on about 325F and go to work. Come home, pull them out, schred, tray the pulled pork, use the juices or some store bought pork broth to mix with a favorite rub and pour over the pulled pork, just so it's moist and a little liquid is seen in the bottom. Put it on your smoker running around 400F with your favorite smoking wood, smoke til you see some "bark" crust form, turn it over in the tray, repeat, keeping it slightly moist with the broth-rub mixture. Usually an hour total is all it takes. Got raving reviews. Had a guy that seemed know bbq talk with me at length at one of the parties. He was really impressed with it. I say: sin away. I try to make what people like, not always what is a tradition. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of traditions.

Even when I smoke butts traditionally, I still double smoke, using some added broth-rub to keep it moist and the picture is the result. View attachment 58230
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That looks delicious - also a smart way to make pulled pork for a crowd when you have work... or better yet fishing or golf plans for a day
 
After years of 16 hour butts at 225, I finally tried 275. A little over 7 hours with no wrap, and it turned out better than usual. 8.8# butt.
 

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  • Pork Butt hot and fast.jpg
    Pork Butt hot and fast.jpg
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My biggest fear about Hot and Heavy is that it cooks too fast. I mean, if I start it at 7 AM and cook at 300 and it is done by 1 or 2, my wife is gonna want me to start the yard work. Or (shudder) go shopping. One thing I have learned in life is that it is frowned upon to carry a beer when grocery shopping. But beer is perfectly acceptable while low and slow cooking.

Actually, I remain a fan of low and slow, but I have done HnF several times and find the meat just a tad drier, maybe it is in my head. And dry meat means I have to use sauce not as an enhancement but as a crutch. So I low and slow.

As a charcoal user I am quite used to ambient cooker temps cruising between 225 and 280 or so and I just fiddle with the air vents to keep the WSM in the right lane (250-260 average is fine.) I am reliant on the meat temp to pull it, and if I have 4 butts on the smoker (I never cook one) I can pretty much count on them all being ready at different times. That's fine, gives me time to have one or two resting while pulling another and keeping an eye on the other one. I have never ever had a butt take 15 hours, but it is not unusual for them to land in the 8 to 11 hour range, even with similar weights and on the same smoker at the same time.

But hey, BBQ is an art of sorts, so if if HnF is getting you what you like to serve, godspeed.
 
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Im with Andy on that.All my butts get fat capped trimmed off for better all around bark,WSM at 275,Butt on at 6:00 am for a average of a 9 hr smoke plus rest.Dinner at 5:00.Have one on as we speak.
 
Let the cook begin - sort of. I trimmed and rubbed the butt and have it in the fridge for the night. I also have the smoker loaded with charcoal and ready to light. Plan is to get up and light the match around 6am. I’m going to try to hold it at about 300 degrees for 5 or so hours and then foil it until done. Hoping to rest it in the cooler for a couple hours while I clean up and then we eat.

My hope was to vacuum pack most of it, but it looks like my daughters and their families might stop by so there might not be much left. Still, if this works well, there’s plenty of time to get the freezer loaded before the cold weather starts. Along with giving up overnight cooks, I’m also a fair weather smoker. No more cooking for New Years in freezing temps. I’ll report back on how it goes.

Thanks for the input.
 
Well I guess we’re having an early dinner. I couldn’t get my WSM to stay below 300 so the entire cook was 300 to 310 and it finished in about 7 hours. It’s resting now. I probably lit too many coals to start with, plus my little 1880 isn’t exactly tight. Though, I can usually keep it lower. Plus, the butt probably weighed about 7lbs after the trimming. Note, most of my cooks were on my 18” WSM, but I got rid of that when I moved. The smaller one works, but it’s not dialed in yet by any means.

Anyway, looking forward to pulling and eating in a few hours to see how this turned out.
 
I cooked a butt, somewhere around 8 lbs, today at 275, wrapped it at 165 (the first time I've ever wrapped a butt), and took it off at 201 degrees. It took right at 9 hours. It's still resting so I can't say how easy it will pull or how good it will taste. But I definitely saved time over my usual method (250 degrees, no wrap, and just wait out the stall). I'd do it again if I was worried about getting done at a certain time.
 
Well it turned out pretty good. Pulled nice and tasted good. We made sandwiches with coleslaw on top. No one complaining and no one is hungry. I guess that’s a success. Plus, there’s a couple pounds left to put in the freezer.

Thanks for the advice. Definitely nice to get it done in one morning.

Picture - Half way through pulling. Nice clean bone and shredding easily by hand.I

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Just because - A picture of my rig. An 1880 - The original 14 incher.

Plus, that pan under it is new. A 20 inch aluminum water heater pan on clearance at Lowes for $5. Score!

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I usually run my 18" WSM between 275-300 when doing butts. If it gets done early stick in a cooler and let it rest. I have let a butt rest for over three hours before pulling and it was still hot.
 
Ryan Burke said:
I usually run my 18" WSM between 275-300 when doing butts. If it gets done early stick in a cooler and let it rest. I have let a butt rest for over three hours before pulling and it was still hot.
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I know. I rested mine for a couple hours and it was too hot to pull without some gloves. I always use gloves, but I put some cotton gloves on under the nitrile gloves because it was too hot. I’m sure another hour wouldn’t have changed much.
 
Wow. I pull mine immediately. Just grab a couple of forks and the large plastic container I'm going to put it into. Pull a chunk off with a fork, put it in the container, use the other fork to shred it. Get another chunk.... Put it in the container.... Use the second fork to shred it.... Repeat.... Repeat.... Then pour the juices over the meat and mix it all up.

I don't even wear gloves.....😱
 
MartinB said:
Wow. I pull mine immediately. Just grab a couple of forks and the large plastic container I'm going to put it into. Pull a chunk off with a fork, put it in the container, use the other fork to shred it. Get another chunk.... Put it in the container.... Use the second fork to shred it.... Repeat.... Repeat.... Then pour the juices over the meat and mix it all up.

I don't even wear gloves.....😱
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When I pull the pork, I’m also cleaning out any excessive fat and and of the tough membranes. Also, I don’t like the long strings of pork so I’m working with a board nearby to cut some of the meat to get the size the way I like it. With this butt, I was able to just rip the longer pieces in half with my hand. Can’t do that very well with just a couple forks.

In the picture above, just above the bone is my reject pile. It isn’t much, but I’m not eating it and don’t want anyone else to have to. I understand many don’t do this, but that‘s how it goes when I pull.
 
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Jerry N. said:
When I pull the pork, I’m also cleaning out any excessive fat and and of the tough membranes. Also, I don’t like the long strings of pork so I’m working with a board nearby to cut some of the meat to get the size the way I like it. With this butt, I was able to just rip the longer pieces in half with my hand. Can’t do that very well with just a couple forks.

In the picture above, just above the bone is my reject pile. It isn’t much, but I’m not eating it and don’t want anyone else to have to. I understand many don’t do this, but that how it goes when I pull.
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I do exactly that too. As I'm taking big chunks off of the pork butt I leave large fat chunks and unpalatable intermuscular icky fatty goop behind . I'm left with a pile of stuff I don't want..... But I pour the juices from it. Have not come across anything that two dinner forks won't easily handle yet in a couple of minutes. You can shred it as much as you want.. with no problems. Doing it by hand wearing gloves... Certainly works too... Sounds a bit messy though. Wife purchased those shredding"claws" once.... Never took them out to package. Just another gimmick.
 
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