Butt Gone Bad

Copper Creek · July 04, 2005, 02:31:30 AM

OK...

I've had my Bradley for a year and a half. I've successfully cooked a lot of different meats on it. The first three pork butts that I cooked were perfect... simply fantastic. The last two were poor. They were OK on the outside but were tough in the center. I could not easily pull it apart. So... where did I go wrong? Am I not cooking it long enough? Not slow enough? Is it perhaps a poor piece of butt? Any ideas???

Thanks,
Steve

Steve
Copper Creek

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."

Chez Bubba · July 04, 2005, 05:17:17 AM

Steve,

What was the I.T.? With butt, that's more important than cook time. Size has a lot to do with it & how many you do at a time has a lot to do with it too.

1 6# butt can get to 190 in 6-8 hours, but 4 8#ers will probably take double that.

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

BigSmoker · July 05, 2005, 07:27:24 PM

I take my Boston butts to internal of 200-210 even. I normally cook between 225-240f. Some go slower but I can't tell any difference in quality. I try and use between a 6-7 lber most times. HTH.

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

psdubl07 · July 05, 2005, 09:34:16 PM

I nominate this thread for best Title! [:D]

On a more serious note, I've only done 2 butts (in my Bradley Chez!), and the first one was excellent. The second one was OK, but dried out through a lot of it and wouldn't pull. I did them exactly the same way and the only thing I could think of was also that maybe it was the quality of the meat???
Does it matter if it's the Butt section or the Picnic and also bone-in vs. boneless?

Phone Guy · July 06, 2005, 05:38:23 PM

Low and slow. Give the the fat a chance to break down.

psdubl07 · July 06, 2005, 06:14:50 PM

I did them both low and slow, but the second one wasn't just tough, it was dry. This tells me it wasn't a matter of fat/collagen not being broken down. I pulled it at I.T. of 193 taken in two spots.

Chez Bubba · July 08, 2005, 06:08:06 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by psdubl07
 I nominate this thread for best Title! [:D]<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I initially thought this was going to be about L'il Kim or J'Lo.[;)]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

PAsmoker · July 08, 2005, 02:36:20 PM

I always use a picnic with a nice fat cap on it. I never had a dry butt (?) come out of the BS. I also normally take temp to 200-205*.

As for the title, it reminded me of days 3 through 5 at hunting camp...[xx(]

BigSmoker · July 08, 2005, 02:43:41 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by PAsmoker

As for the title, it reminded me of days 3 through 5 at hunting camp...[xx(]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

LOL[:D][:D][:D]

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Cold Smoke · July 08, 2005, 08:41:22 PM

OH MY GOD!!! [:D][:D][:D]

I had to close my office door- LMFAO!!

Cold Smoke

Phone Guy · July 09, 2005, 12:55:06 AM

"Butt Gone Bad"

Unfortunately this happens to often these days. [:D]

PAsmoker · July 10, 2005, 01:29:35 AM

truth hurts

CLAREGO · July 10, 2005, 05:50:14 PM

i pull my pork out of the smoker at 190 degress You got to ftc the bad boy the last one i did i brined it for 12 hours using molasess and picle salt that alton brown provided. he mad a smoker out of ceramic pots. anyways most times i will finish my butts in the oven till i get to the 190 degree temp but it will be in the cooler at the minimum of 2 hours