First Butts for Christmas

Scotty Dog · December 22, 2011, 11:32:24 PM

Had these two butts in the Bradley for 14 hours. The IT was only 175 but I could stick a fork in the end and twist the meat out. I have them in foil and towels for now but undecided what to do next. I could refrigerate and Crock them on Saturday or early Sunday for Sunday dinner. I could reheat them in the oven Friday and pull the pork for Sunday. I could see how easy it could be to pull them after this FTC. How much fat do I trim off the bark area prior to pulling? I did not trim fat prior to cooking, was this the right thing to do? If the bone does not pull easy do I continue to cook or pull and reheat for Sunday dinner after a few days in the fridge?

SouthernSmoked · December 23, 2011, 04:21:19 AM

Mmmmmmm!!! Some awesome looking butts.

Merry Christmas!!!

Drac · December 23, 2011, 05:28:02 AM

Oh yum.

Jim

Scotty Dog · December 23, 2011, 08:42:45 AM

Thanks for the response. I ended up pulling them last night after FTC for over an hour. The meat pulled fine and the bones came out clean. I was a little worried about the IT being only 175. Next time I will wait a little longer and get the temp up to 195 to see the difference. I did not check the IT after they were wrapped and toweled for an hour.

ghost9mm · December 23, 2011, 08:46:37 AM

Well them butts look real good and they will go real good for Christmas...well done...

Wildcat · December 23, 2011, 08:54:08 AM

If they pulled easily at 175, then more than likely your true cabinet temp was around 200 while cooking. 175 is fine when you cook that low. If you were to take it to 195, there probably would not be much difference. A little more mushy perhaps. I would also recommend trimming the fat to say 1/8 inch before cooking. When you have to take the fat off after the cook you will lose a lot of bark and that is where most of the smoke flavor is.

KyNola · December 23, 2011, 08:59:48 AM

Quote from: Wildcat on December 23, 2011, 08:54:08 AM
I would also recommend trimming the fat to say 1/8 inch before cooking. When you have to take the fat off after the cook you will lose a lot of bark and that is where most of the smoke flavor is.

My friend Wildcat is exactly right. I trim the fat cap off of the butts before they hit the smoker. The pork will still be plenty moist and the bark is very pronounced and you don't lose it when you go to pull the meat. Also, there is very little fat to "pick" out of the meat after it has been pulled.

Those butts look good!

beefmann · December 23, 2011, 11:26:46 AM

dem sum good looking butts

OU812 · December 23, 2011, 01:10:15 PM

Good lookin butts there,,,,,,BBQ for the Hollydays,,,,,,dont get any better than that.

First Butts for Christmas

beefmann