I bought a 5 pound pork butt earlier this week and promptly froze it.
Tonight (7:00 PM) my wife wants it cooked tomorrow, and I have a few questions.
How should I thaw it, 4-5 hours at room temp followed by a rub and then fridge....or
give it a good rub and put it into the fridge.
Do I trim the fat off the butt before cooking it? Pictures posted for clarity.
I have enough maple pucks for 4 hours of smoke, is this enough and how long am I looking for total cook time.
Thanks in advance for the help, I hate being new
(http://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q464/sublimaze41/th_butt1.jpg?t=1288220720)
(http://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q464/sublimaze41/th_butt2.jpg?t=1288220720)
OK for starters. Tell Momma this could be a late supper!! Butts have been known to go anywhere from 14-22 hours.
Thawing:
Since we are in the Quick thaw mode. I would suggest putting it in a ziplock bag and put it in a sink full of cold water. Change the water after two hours.
Once you have the butt thawed you can apply the rub and wrap in plastic wrap and put it the fridge. In the morning 4am I would pull it out of the fridge apply a light coating of CYM (Cheap Yellow Mustard) and another light coating of rub. Let the butt rest on the counter while your out getting the smoker all warmed up and to temp. I would set it for 250º It probably wont get that high but that's OK. When the cabinet temp gets to the 235-240º range and the smoke is starting to roll. Put your butt in the smoker. The temp WILL take a nose dive once it starts to climb back to the 220-225º range you can start adjusting your slide or digital temps to the 225-230º range. Then you can give it about 3-4 hours of smoke. After the smoke period it is a waiting game until you reach the 190-200º range on your Internal temp. I have gone as high as 208º I will warn you when the temp stops climbing at about 160º it may even go down some. DO NOT PANIC!!! This is when the magic is happening inside your pork butt. Don't touch anything leave your temps set right where they are. The collagen that holds the muscle fibers together is converting into gelatin during this time which is what makes pulling so easy. When that has completed the temps will start to climb again. If it is getting late and Momma is riding your butt about dinner, you can pull it at 185º wrap in foil, then a towel, then stick in the Microwave for 30 minutes to rest. Do not use the microwave during this time. A cooler works well also if your using the microwave for other things. This is known as FTC. If your using the quick rest period of 30 minutes and the time has expired. place the towel on the counter and open it up then slightly open the foil and allow the steam to escape and leave it sit for 20 minutes. Then open the foil completely and remove the bone. Wear gloves it will be hot!! the meat should basically fall apart for you!
10.5 has you completely covered. Do as he says and you'll be in great shape .. especially managing the expectations of the Mrs.
I will follow those instructions exactly.
My wife had ask me several times if I thought someone would post an answer to my question. You did and it's appreciated.
I finally decided on a OBS after visiting here numerous time. I read time and time again how it could actually be done. I made ribs once and chicken once. The ribs were so-so, but the chicken was fantastic. When I separated the chix it was soooooo tender.
Thanks again, are pictures mandatory?
Quote from: sublimaze41 on October 27, 2010, 06:34:48 PM
Thanks again, are pictures mandatory?
No >:( But they are greatly appreciated ;D
no pics-----never happened! :D
10.5 has you covered for sure. Tell your wife you just made a bunch of new friends literally from all over the world. We're here to help.
Ask your questions and you can be sure that someone will ansewer! ;)
Dinner may be late but it will be soooo good. :)
OK it is yesterday's tomorrow today SO how did the Butt cook go over? Is the Momma Happy??
Okay, Okay, No pictures.
I set the butt to smoke for 4 hours followed by a long cook. After 2 1/2 hours the temp registered 210 degrees so I went to sleep.
Fast forward 7 hours and the temp reading was 250! I looked in the OBS and it looked like a brick, black and crusty. I pulled the butt out, wrapped it in foil covered by a towel......
went back to sleep and heard my wife saying, "Not bad at all."
I was of course pizzed, but tried the pig. About 25% was lost to the burn, but the rest was great. We mixed up some Vaunted Vinegar Sauce and went to town.
After action report: The internal temp of the butt was 250 when pulled, but some meat was good. The temp changes over cook time, I just didn't realize how much.
Even over cooked pork butt is good with a heavy dose of smoke. Any sinus blockage can be overcome by smelling the Vaughted Vinegar Sauce.
I have 3 more butts in the freezer and I know I will get better at cooking them.
Thanks Gents.
recommend you cook something smaller and play with the temp controls to get it in hand, Or get a PID
Well, normally black and crusty is a good thing, that's the bark. But burned black and crispy is a sign that something went wrong.
Quote
"The internal temp of the butt was 250 when pulled ... "
Was that 250 °F the internal temp on the pork butt? How was that measured, and by "pulled" do you mean when you removed it from the smoker or when you pulled the pork? At a temp like that I would expect a pork brick. Even if the smoker got up to 250 for a good part of that 7 hours I wouldn't expect the IT to get that high. What does the inside of your smoker look like afterwards, especially down near the bowl?
I'm with BLSH, something doesn't quite compute here. Can you be a little more specific on total time in the OBS? Also, were you keeping track of what temp the OBS was running? If so, what was it? I'm not being critical. It's perplexing to me that the IT of the butt reached 250 in what I think was a fairly short time in the OBS even if the butt was only 5 pounds.
I hope I'm wrong here but I am beginning to suspect that you had a grease fire in your OBS and that is what caused your butt to be burned and an IT of 250. Was the water bowl dry when you removed the butt? Did you have your drip tray properly installed? I think my suspicion of a grease fire is where BLSH is headed as well with the question of what does the inside of your OBS look like? If I remember correctly, this is your third smoke. The interior of your OBS would not yet have created a solid black patina on the interior walls. If the interior of your OBS is black inside, my money is on a grease fire. One last question, is the seal around the door intact or does it appear melted anywhere?
I'm with KyNola - I've never been able to over-cook a pork butt.
Two things I am thinking One has already been mentioned. The other is if the IT was 210 after 2 1/2 hours the probe was stuck into a fat pocket and giving a bad reading. How where you checking the temps?
Chris,
I thought he meant the temp in the OBS was 210 after 2 1/2 hours. If he did mean IT, you're right and that should have been a big clue that something was amiss.
Quote from: KyNola on October 29, 2010, 07:18:32 AM
Chris,
I thought he meant the temp in the OBS was 210 after 2 1/2 hours. If he did mean IT, you're right and that should have been a big clue that something was amiss.
That is what has me confused, it was 210 after 2 1/2 hours and 250 7 hours later (9 1/2 hours) and he said the IT was 250 when he pulled it out of the smoker. I am thinking he is talking about IT not cabinet temps. Now I could see a cabinet temp of 250 7 hours later when everything evened out. Then he said a 1/4 of the butt was burnt black. now is that a 1/4 inch or 1/4 of the way in? If ti is the 1/4 inch then he had a nice bark that should have been shredded and mixed back in. If it was a 1/4 of the butt he had a fire in there and things got a whole lot warmer than 250º
Just thinking out loud to myself by typing my thoughts
Gents, both of you are reading my mind here. My first thought, if it was edible was something wrong in the IT measurement he reported; that and possibly not being used to what a well smoked butt with great bark looks like. I have hard time with an IT of 250 °F and still being edible. The other possibility that ran through my mind was a small grease fire, but still that leaves me perplexed about the 250 IT and being decent eats.
I am working the night shift so it has taken me a day to respond.
I am now believing I might have had a grease fire. I didn't tend to the OBS after the first 2 1/2 hours as I went to sleep. I had a total of 4 hours smoke and only changed the water after say the first hour.
The garage had a burnt smell versus a nice smokey arouma. The grease pan was in place but there are numerous pieces of burnt fat on it. The drip pan was BONE dry.
Don't know how much this impacted the heat inside but the vent was 1/2 way closed.
Yes, the internal temperature of the butt was 250 degrees. Thankfully I have a remote themometer on the way, perhaps that will help with the learning curve.
I never dreamed smoking was as much a science as it is a work of love. At first I just wanted to do some simple items but after visiting this site I saw just what my Bradley was capable of.
Quote from: sublimaze41 on October 30, 2010, 11:45:48 PM
I am working the night shift so it has taken me a day to respond.
I never dreamed smoking was as much a science as it is a work of love. At first I just wanted to do some simple items but after visiting this site I saw just what my Bradley was capable of.
I can relate to the night shift thing I work 12 hour nights myself.
To add to the highlighted section : Most everyone here wants you to be as successful at your endeavors as you can be. So we will do everything we can possibly do to help you achieve your goals. That's why we seem to over analyze things sometimes. We are not trying to down play or insult your post we are trying to help make the next one better. It also helps those folks that lurk in the back ground as guests looking for answers to questions that they have.
sub, I suspect you're right - -you probably did have a small grease fire and that raised the temp inside your smoker appreciably. It's happened to a number of folks, some very experienced smokers and Bradley users. One of the joys of the Bradley smokers is that they make smoking very easy. That's also creates one of the potential use problems - it's so easy and automated that it's easy to walk away and let things just cruise away, and that's when surprises happen. Don't let this discourage you or slow you down. Chalk it up to a good early learning experience, take the lesson from it and keep pressing on. You can bet that your 2nd butt will be totally awesome!
Now for a thought or two about moving ahead. Just about everyone who has done a butt or a brisket in a Bradley has left it on autopilot overnight. The general advice is before you leave it, get the smoking done, dump the water bowl of burnt pucks, then either reload the water bowl with hot water (boiling if you can) or replace the bowl with a larger pan filled with hot water ( a 9x 13 disposable aluminum pan works well). If you stay with the freshly refilled bowl you should check it about every 4 hours after dumping it. The reason for the dump is the pucks themselves can absorb grease from the drippings and end up making a good fuel source for a fire - get 'em out of there. Second, on long smokes also be sure that the drip pan (V-tray) vents don't get plugged up from drippings. That's becomes more significant if you are using a rub that has a fair amount of sugar in it. Some keep a putty knife nearby for a quick scrape of the V-tray just in case. All of that should help you on that next butt. Before you go there though be sure to check out your smoker for any possible damage from a heat excursion and check that everything is functioning as it should. The door seal is one of the more susceptible things to check.
Finally, take 10.5's words to heart. This forum is populated by some of the finest folks around, who stand ready to help you in about any way that they can. It's a family. Ask a question here and you will get answers. In sharing your initial experience you have already helped others who will come after you. Welcome to the family.
Now, what's the plan for that next butt?
Nice post BLSH.
Glad the only damage done was to the butt and not your garage or house, Sub! Don't get discouraged. What happened to you has happened to lots of us.