First Pork Butt

[SmokeRules]

Last weekend I tried smoking my first pork butt. I'm posting the results in the hope some other newbies will benefit from my mistakes and that some of you pros out there will offer advice for the future.

I went to the Kroger and looked for a whole pork butt and could not find anything labelled that. I did see a Boston cut something and another pork item that was 4.5 lbs called pork sirloin roast. I bought the roast even though it looked a little lean.

I made a rub based on a recipe posted by bassman, used the whole thing on the roast and put in in the frig overnight. Next time, I will cut the salt in half because the end result was a little salty for my taste.

Got up at 6:15 AM to preheat the smoker with a 220 degree goal. At 7 I started the smoke even though the temp was only up to 150.

To compensate for the lean pork I put some bacon in the tray above it to let the fat drip down onto the roast as chez suggested.

Used 3 hours of maple which I think gave it a good flavor and smelled great while it was burning. Really glad I did not use the special blend bisquettes on this one. Once the smoke stopped, the smell of the pork with the rub really started to come out. It was terrific.


Things went well until 165 Internal Temp (used internal thermometer) and then time seemed to stop. The door still said 220 and the internal temp just hung at 165 for at least an hour. Finally, I decided to crank up the heat a little to see if I could make the 165 budge. 45 minutes later, things started to move again so I dropped the temp back down to 220 from 245. Then, things got slow again so I went back to 245.

After 9 hours in the BS and never opening the door, the meat hit 185 IT. I removed it from the BS, wrapped it in foil and a towel and put in a cooler for 90 minutes. I would have gone 2 hours as Mallardwacker suggested, but the SmokeRules clan were threatening mutiny and I had to compromise or lose the gang to Wendy's.

The meat was pretty good. a little dry but not too dry. I think the lean cut was the main cause. When I pulled it, there was no visible fat. Only the huge bone was waste. My son thought the pork tasted a lot like turkey breast and I could see his point.

Next time I will:

 <ul><li>be sure I shop around until I get a real pork butt with more fat  </li><li>allow more time for the cooking, probably do it overnight and finish in the morning  </li><li>use less salt in the rub, maybe even try a brine like I do for turkey </li></ul>

Also, I made a quick Caroline's barbecue sauce that really helped the dryness of the pork.

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome and am anxious to try again and do better.

Where there's Smoke, there's Rules.

[nsxbill]

On my first attempt, I did 12.5 lbs cut in half.  Fortunately I allowed time and the meat was in the smoker for about 20 hrs.  I just kept the BS at a target of 200-205.  I did a good rub, then in the fridge for about 25 hrs before the smoke.  When the meat hit temp of 185, into the foil wrap, towel and in a Coleman cooler for 2-3 hrs.  It was damn impressive.  No bacon this trip.  there was a fat cap of about 1/4 inch on top.  When we started pulling, it was almost like butter.

<font color="red">The Cooler after a slow smoke is the trick.</font id="red">  The wait for it to be ready was easier to take with a few beers.

Going to try some ribs again now that I am a bit more comfortable.  Isn't amazing how easy it is.  Just last night had some pork loin chops.  Smoked them cold for an hour and then grilled them to finish.  Very tasty!

Bill

[esm]

That plateau sure is frustrating, isn't it?

I'm new to smoking, but over the summer I've been making about one batch of pulled pork every two weeks.  I don't know how long it takes: it's more than I can wait in one day. Definitely more than 16 hours.

What I've been doing is:

  1) Marinate overnight
  2) Fire up the Bradley at 5:30 AM.
  3) Smoke (Hickory, but I've also tried pecan) for 4 hours @ 200
  4) Leave in Bradley @ 200 for another few hours
  5) Some time in the afternoon (typically before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in), take the pork out of the Bradley and transfer it to our convection oven.
  6) Stick the roast probe in the pork butt, set oven to 200, program it to turn off when the meat reaches 185
  7) Go to bed.  Leave oven on overnight.
  8) Next morning, wrap pork in tin foil (it will still be warm) for an hour or so.  I believe this is MallardWacker's suggestion, and wow does it help.
  9) Pull.  Heck, often there's no need to pull.  Just stare at it crossly and it will fall apart.

Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

[Cold Smoke]

ESM
 <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That plateau sure is frustrating, isn't it?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

But well worth the wait![:p][:D]

Cold Smoke

[n/a]

I find if a pork cut is real lean like a full or half loin I like to slice through the middle and slide some bacon slices through it as well as on top of the roast. It adds nice flavor and moister throughout than just bacon on top

[MallardWacker]

esm,

Just a few suggestions that may help.  Kick your BS up to 220-225, at that temp you won't hurt your butt. I use 200 for things like ribs.  This is what I do, I put my butts on about 8:00pm, get my temp going where I want it, check it after Sports Center and let it go, I may get up for a brief time about 2:00 just to satisfy me.  Between 8 & 9:00am the baby is done (about 185 internal).  A butt is so forgiving and with a BS I think it's even harder to mess one up.  About wrapping and putting in cooler; personally I think it just keeps the cooking processs going longer, keeps in the moisture and inhances the flavor through the meat.  I have heard of some people adding things like apple juice at the time of wrapping.  Plus, it will keep that meat hot for a lonnnng time.  Wouldn't do one with out wrapping, towl-cooler thing.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

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