Boston Butts or other large cuts of meat

[ssherman]

There is an old saying about "delay of gratification" and this certainly applies to smoking Boston Butts, whole shoulders or other large cuts of meat.  I just did a large (9 lb.+) Boston Butt and it turned out great, but it took much longer than I anticipated.  Until, and ONLY until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 190°-195° will the meat be ready to pull.  If you cannot pull out the big bone easily, it is not ready.  My Butt took 16 hours at a Smoker setting of 220° and an average oven temperature of 210° or less.  Does this sound about right?

I prepped the Butt with yellow mustard and then rubbed with Memphis Belle BBQ Seasoning Rub, wrapped it up for a few hours and then put it in the Smoker.  One idea is to put it in the crock pot to warm the meat up before you put it in the Bradley, 'cause if you put a big block of cold into your Smoker it will be fighting that cold and will not respond to your desired oven temperature. 

For those who might gasp at the mention of crock pot, before I got the Bradley, I would season the Butt and then put it in the crock pot all night or as long as necessary and only take it out when the internal meat temperature reached 190°+.  I would then pull the meat, discard all the bone, fat and gristle and then smoke the meat in trays in my conventional barrel smoker.

Things are so much easier not with the Bradley, but it does take time...and more time to properly smoke and cook the large hunks of meat. 

[TedEbear]

My Butt took 16 hours at a Smoker setting of 220° and an average oven temperature of 210° or less.  Does this sound about right?

I smoked two pork butts last weekend.  One was 9.25 lbs and the other was 9.03 lbs.  I have no idea how I remembered those exact weights but that's what they were.

Anyway, I started them both at the same time with a cabinet temp of 220*F.  The slightly larger butt had been in the freezer and was still pretty much frozen when I put it in the Bradley.  You'd think that being larger and frozen it would have taken longer to reach 195 degrees, right?  Not this one.  It reached 195 in 14 hours.  The smaller butt that hadn't been frozen took 20 hours. 

You just cannot plan what butt is going to do sometimes.   :)

[Wildcat]

Until, and ONLY until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 190°-195° will the meat be ready to pull.

I beg to differ on this statement. While it generally holds true if you are cooking at 220 degrees or higher you may need to take the meat to at least 190 but you can cook at a cabinet temp of 190 to 210 (I cook at 205) and the meat could be ready to pull at a much lower temp. I have done so with ease at 175 meat temp. Generally speaking, it will not take that much longer to cook either.

[beefmann]

agrees  with above... it takes as long as it  takes

[ssherman]

I beg to differ on this statement. While it generally holds true if you are cooking at 220 degrees or higher you may need to take the meat to at least 190 but you can cook at a cabinet temp of 190 to 210 (I cook at 205) and the meat could be ready to pull at a much lower temp. I have done so with ease at 175 meat temp. Generally speaking, it will not take that much longer to cook either.

Technically you are correct, but I don't like to soil my channel locks by having to pull meat with them.

[Wildcat]

LOL - I used to think so too until I read another members post a few years ago and gave it a try. I think the longer the meat stays in the stall the lower end temp that is required to be fall off the bone tender. After my butts cool enough to handle I can easily pull the bone out with just my fingers and the bone will be clean. Along with that, most of the time, unless it is still too hot to handle, I pull my meat with my fingers. I have bear claws but generally only use them to pick up the whole butt to move it to a pan.

As the old saying goes - there are many ways to skin a cat. There is no one absolute method in preparing food - only individual preferences.

[KyNola]

Heck, I've had butts take 26 hours before.  There is no magic theory.  Time of doneness is pretty much dictated by the pig that the butt came off of.

[Grouperman941]

LOL - I used to think so too until I read another members post a few years ago and gave it a try. I think the longer the meat stays in the stall the lower end temp that is required to be fall off the bone tender. After my butts cool enough to handle I can easily pull the bone out with just my fingers and the bone will be clean. Along with that, most of the time, unless it is still too hot to handle, I pull my meat with my fingers. I have bear claws but generally only use them to pick up the whole butt to move it to a pan.

As the old saying goes - there are many ways to skin a cat. There is no one absolute method in preparing food - only individual preferences.

I have had a few that seemed really stubborn and would not get much past 180, then fell apart when I checked on them. Now, any time I have a stall in the 180s, I fork test. It's usually done.

[ssherman]

LOL - I used to think so too until I read another members post a few years ago and gave it a try. I think the longer the meat stays in the stall the lower end temp that is required to be fall off the bone tender. After my butts cool enough to handle I can easily pull the bone out with just my fingers and the bone will be clean. Along with that, most of the time, unless it is still too hot to handle, I pull my meat with my fingers. I have bear claws but generally only use them to pick up the whole butt to move it to a pan.

As the old saying goes - there are many ways to skin a cat. There is no one absolute method in preparing food - only individual preferences.

Absolutely.  I got me some bear claws as well, they just came so I will see how they work out.  Now if I can just get rid of these flies.  I didn't see hardly a fly when I first moved to Colorado, but now with the smoke, they come in droves.  The smoke drives them crazy. 

Anyway, happy cooking and thanks for the input.

[Wildcat]

Can't help you much with the flies. Back when I lived in Texas we used 'em for target practice!

[Saber 4]

Can't help you much with the flies. Back when I lived in Texas we used 'em for target practice!

Wish you had taken them with you to Florida, they drive us nuts when we fire up the smoker also. I finally put a couple of the fly traps you fill with water and that has helped a bunch but I still need a fly swatter for the few that it doesn't get.

[ssherman]

I'm still having trouble getting the internal temperature of a large (9+ lb.) Boston Butt up to 195°.  The last one was on 24 hours and never did get there.  The Bradley was set to 230° and was consistently at 215-220° the entire cooking time with minimal door openings.  The results were quite good, but the Butt did not get to that point to where everything breaks down properly, it was still a tough pull.  Comments?

[Saber 4]

Did you FTC after taking it out of the smoker that can help finish and make the pulling easier.

[KyNola]

Are you certain you are not getting the picnic end of the shoulder rather than the butt end?  The picnic cut typically doesn't pull quite like the butt end.  They are two distinctively different cuts of the shoulder but many meat providers mislabel them or call them one in the same.

[ssherman]

Are you certain you are not getting the picnic end of the shoulder rather than the butt end?  The picnic cut typically doesn't pull quite like the butt end.  They are two distinctively different cuts of the shoulder but many meat providers mislabel them or call them one in the same.

I'm not sure.  It had the blade bone in it, not the ball and socket one, but there was a substantial piece of bone.  Some of the Butts are a lot leaner and "whiter" than others, and are tougher to pull.  All I know is that when I put them in the crock pot, as I did before I bought the Bradley, they would go right up to 195° and pull apart like butter.