Three butt cooking strategy, will this work ok?


 
M

Mark D

TVWBB Member
Hi everyone,

Three firsts this weekend, first butt cook, first multi-butt cook, and first overnight cook. All at the same time. It's the price I pay for having Fathers Day at my own house instead of running around all over the place
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I have cooked ribs a couple of times so I have at least a basic understanding of the temp control thing.

I bought 3 butts today, which weighed 9, 7 1/3, and 6 1/4 lbs before trimming. I don't have a scale so I dont know how much they weigh after, but I guess there was about 4 1/2 lbs of trimmings when I was done so call it 20% less after trimming, which puts them at 7 1/4, 5 3/4, and 5 lbs (hey, I'm an engineer, give me a break
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)

I want to eat about 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, so I plan to pull the butts about 1:00, foil them, and put them in a cooler. That gives me 3.5 hours fudge time.

Figuring about 2 hours per pound, that means the big one needs to be on at about 11PM tonight. This is the one I intend to put the ET-73 probe in for the duration of the cook as well. The question is, what do I do about the smaller ones? Was thinking I should stagger the start times, but I'm thinking that is going to give me temp fluctuations I don't want to deal with. So now I'm thinking I should put everything in at the same time, but put the 2 smaller ones on the bottom grate and put the thermo in the larger of those 2, then move it to the big one when the small ones are ready. Is there enough temp difference between the lower an upper grate to get the finish times at least within a couple of hours range?

Thanks,
Mark
 
Mark, I plan on 18 hour cooks at 225*. My advice is to start any time now. It takes me quite a while to pull three butts. I plan to cook 4 butts tonight and I want them to finish about three pm. I will foil for 2 hours then pull. I'll put them on by 9pm at the latest.
Other may feel differently but I would put the two small ones on top. If they are on top ,I have easy access to double check with an instant read thermo or I can wiggle the bone to check for doneness.
 
I'm doing the exact same thing tonight for a 4 pm father's day lunch tomorrow! (except I will be wrapping the butts up and transporting them to my dad's house, where I will pull them).

If I were you Mark, I would put the butts on way earlier than you mentioned. I am going to put mine on at 7 (pacific). I figure that it is easy to hold the butts for extended periods in foil...but if they take longer than you estimate (and they very, very frequently do!) you won't end up with pork that is not finished...by that I mean meat temps of 190+ if you intend to pull. Good luck!
 
Thanks guys, glad I checked back in sooner than later. Everything went on at about 8:00, cooker is at 207 at the moment and climbing slowly. Just throttled the vents back to 25%

I'm also using WG WW lump for this cook too, though not the first time, but I hope using lump on my first overnight wasn't a bad choice.

Hey, they say its hard to screw up a butt...
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I'm also doing the same thing, 2 Butts about 17lbs total. Putting them on about 9pm and eating about 4-5pm on Fathers day. Will also be adding 6 racks of baby backs around 11:00am.

As for sides, I'm trying a new smoky beans recipe:

6 large cans of Bush's drained
1lb bacon
1lb of pulled pork (curly's from grocery store)
1 bottle of jack daniels bbq sauce
1 large onion sauteed until clear in bacon grease
smoke for 4 hours.

Should be some good eating!!
 
Butts are very forgiving. Be sure to check your fuel in early am. It is easier to pull the lit coals to the side and add needed unlit fuel. If you have plenty of lit, the unlit will light minion style. You won't miss a beat.
I am late getting mine on but we are not eating tomorrow night.
 
I took the 2 smaller butts off at 10:00 this morning and foiled and put them in a warm cooler. The larger one came off at about 11. All were at 195 or so in several places.

So now the smaller ones have been in the cooler foiled for 5 hours now. I left the cooler in the sun and it's about 95 degrees her eat the moment.

Am I pushing my luck trying to leave the smaller butts for another hour or so? I haven't checked temps because I really don't want to unwrap them and have them cool quicker.
 
Missed this.

This is always a concern--when time drags and one's not sure how long one can go and checking will cool the checked...

What I do is pull out the butts and pull the meat, adding splashes of warm/hot finishing sauce as I go. If I then need to hold for a bit I'll either put in in tightly foiled pans in a slow oven or in another sort of heating arrangement (make-shift bain marie, Crockpot, etc.).

If I know I'm going to need to hold for a substantial time then I'll pull and add cold finishing sauce and chill as quickly as possible; then I'll reheat when I need to.

Sometimes the line is fine and I can go either way--guests are delayed but no one knows how long, pigs have broken through the fence and everything stops till that's taken care of--thne I just pick a plan and do it.
 
Hey Mark-I overlooked the size of of the butts. Clearly, smaller buttts do not take as long as bigger ones. I had in mind what I normally cook-around 8lbs. My mistake. It is much better to be done early than late...I hope you enjoyed the butts.
 
Steve, Kevin, et al,

Shortly after I posted, I ended up doing what Kevin suggested instead of waiting any longer; pulled the meat in a foil pan, wrapped tight with foil then in the oven at 200.

Everything came out fantastic! Mr. Brown earned his money tonight :-) My son gave me an unsolicited "Dad, this is really good, and I'm not just saying that." Best Fathers Day gift I could ask for.

Thanks everyone for your help with this first butt cook. Never would have or even could have attempted it without all the great information here.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark D:
Mr. Brown earned his money tonight :-) My son gave me an unsolicited "Dad, this is really good, and I'm not just saying that." Best Fathers Day gift I could ask for. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I'd say. That's terrific. So glad it worked out well for you.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Missed this.


What I do is pull out the butts and pull the meat, adding splashes of warm/hot finishing sauce as I go.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What is your version of a finishing sauce Kevin?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob T.:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
What I do is pull out the butts and pull the meat, adding splashes of warm/hot finishing sauce as I go.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>What is your version of a finishing sauce Kevin? </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm sure Kevin just uses plain Wal-mart brand ketchup.
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Just kidding of course. (sorry kevin, couldn't resist)...

Actually, I'm interested in hearing what you are using for a finishing sauce on your pulled pork... I've been making it up as I go... some sort of a combo of cider vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, tabasco, leftover rub. In about that order... I could probably use some more discipline and creativity. Kruger to the rescue?
 
Very funny, Adam.
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I use this. I edited the post recently to reflect how I use it for butt (I'd referred to it in another thread). It's a fairly simple vinegar sauce, sweetened just enough to balance acidity and watered just enough to soften it. It's fine by itself--many people just sprinkle more on at serving--but I find it balances sweet sauces very well when they're added at serving and, alone, acts to heighten meat, bark and smoke flavors--the oil addition, though counter-intuitive, picks up the flavors (the key elements are all fat soluble) and spreads them around--in the pile of meat and on the tongue.

Just 1-2 T per handful of meat is enough to do it at this stage--more can be served later on the side. Because I rub heavily and I'm interested in the bark (i.e. cooked rub) flavors I don't add any rub to the sauce but you could.

Give it a shot sometime.
 
yeah, I've never really mustered up the guts to do a mustard sauce for pulled pork (punny, I know). I'll have to try some with a bit of the pork next time. Thanks for the link...
 
It's not a mustard mustard sauce like you'd get at Maurice's in Columbia (that stuff is horrible (imo!); very thick, sweetened ultra-cheap food service yellow mustard that when mixed with pulled pork...well, I can't go on). This is pretty much a vinegar sauce with some mustard notes--use Dijon though or a grainy brown mustard of quality--the cheap yellow is too shrill.
 
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