Pork butt without FTC?

Ted · August 24, 2007, 09:48:21 AM

The pressure is on. In October, the in-laws are visiting. I have been telling my father-in-law about the pulled pork, brisket, ribs and bacon I have been making. He is looking forward to some good pulled pork.

I have a rub planned in my head. Mostly garlic, onion, cumin and paprika.

I plan on smoking it with maple (although the cherry I used for the canadian bacon recently was really good).

The problem is, my in-laws are "wierd" about food. They seem to subscribe to every food safety old wives tale.

I will have to really plan ahead to get the butt dry enough to really take the smoke. But I can handle that. It is the FTC that I don't think I will be able to pull off.

They will plain refuse to eat it if it has been "laying around". In fact, my wife doubts they'd eat at our house again if they saw something like that.

Anyway, what are my options? Can I boat or wrap it in foil and leave it in the smoker at a low temperature for a few hours? They'll not be able to tell the difference if I do that, I don't think.

I am starting gathering materials for a PID for my OBS so I should be able to control the heat a little better than with the theostat.

Am I doomed to sub-par butt or can I work around this challenge?

Thanks!

Ted

Carter · August 24, 2007, 10:28:29 AM

Hi Ted,

I did three Pork Shoulders a couple of weeks ago. I FTC'd them for two hours. I went heavy on the foil, wrapped up in a nice thick towel and then into the cooler which I had kept in the sun for the morning.

After 2 hours, I pulled them out of the cooler and unwrapped them. I couldn't touch the meat with my hands it was still so hot.

You're cooking this thing to 190 degrees remember. You've got a long way to go before the temperature heads into the food safety danger zone.

You could always shorten the time too. Just like any meat, it's good to let it rest awhile before cutting into it. Like tenting the Thanksgiving turkey for a half hour before carving. It's still plenty hot, but the juices that have gone to hide in the middle make their way back out through the meat making things nice and juicy. Same goes for your Butt.

If you think your in-laws wont like seeing you pull a big hunk of meat out of the cooler. Try putting it on the cutting board tented under foil for a half hour for all to see. Then say "I'm just letting the meat rest. Let's have a couple of cocktails while we wait."

As a final alternative you could just haul it out of the smoker and pull it right away. I've done this before (before getting advice from this forum) and it tasted great.

Carter

Consiglieri · August 24, 2007, 10:59:11 AM

I think you'll be able to get the same passive cooking result in a crock pot or oven and remember reading some posts here about other "passive cooking" that Olds wrote. Actually, here's a link discussing his wet passive cooking method for prime rib http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=3400.0

Given your inlaws personalities, I'd opt for the oven, because that will give the impression that the meat has been "cooking" all the while. I'd spray the meat down with a good shot of apple juice, double wrap the meat, and plop it into an oven preheated to 185 to 195, and let the meat break down for a few hours. Boating, with some apple juice, and covered with foil should also work. Alternatively, if the meat is done, I think you'll still like the results if you tent for 15 minutes or so and then pull it. As you're pulling the meat, in their presence, try discussing the FTC technique that you read about, that those hero members here rave about it, and tell them you're thinking about giving that trick a try (opens up the topic and maybe they wouldn't be too freaked out). Those heros haven't steered me wrong yet.

This FTC trick is great, and a good tool for time management, but I don't think you'll jeopardize an otherwise good project by "finishing" through another method. I tried to push the limits of FTC a couple of weeks ago. One butt finished at about 9am and ftc'ed until around 5pm. Still hot.

Now, I'm not recommending it, but I'd be tempted to play with these personalities just a little bit. (kind of like Alan Alda's big fingerprint on DiCaprio's water glass in The Aviator), but that might just be mean.

Good luck with the project. Looking forward to pictures and stories. ;)

Tiny Tim · August 24, 2007, 11:03:02 AM

The last butt I did, I waited as patiently as I could for it to hit 190 IT, but at the 23 hour mark I called it off and pulled from the smoker at 186. Didn't have any foil anyway, but when I tried to pick it up off the rack, it fell apart, so I just shredded it after I got it transferred to a dish. Had intended to let it sit in the dish, covered, for a while before pulling it anyway, so I just sped up the plan when it fell apart.

BTW...was cooking with the PID set at 210, with the TC on an inverted rack in the lowest position, the meat was in the next higher I beleive, and the probe for my remote thermometer was showing 200-202 on the cabinet temp, and it was a bone in, just over 4# butt/shoulder.

Habanero Smoker · August 24, 2007, 02:40:48 PM

I rarely FTC, and will just foil and rest the meat to let the juices redistribute for 30-45 minutes then pull the meat.

Carter · August 24, 2007, 03:40:17 PM

Interesting comment from one of the Masters.

No FTC. And I thought you had to if you wanted to be allowed in the club. ;D

Arcs_n_Sparks · August 24, 2007, 03:53:18 PM

Quote from: Carter on August 24, 2007, 03:40:17 PM
Interesting comment from one of the Masters.

No FTC. And I thought you had to if you wanted to be allowed in the club. ;D

FTC is your flexibility. Hit your target early and you can keep it at the ready for some time.

Arcs_n_Sparks

MoSmoke · August 25, 2007, 02:55:10 AM

I'm with you Arc's.
Knowing the time the butts finish smoking can vary an hour or two, the FTC let's me serve when I'm ready. Until I joined this forum, I always thought that FTC was "Find The Cooler", for another COLD one while waiting for the Q.

MoSmoke

Arcs_n_Sparks · August 25, 2007, 06:36:38 AM

Quote from: MoSmoke on August 25, 2007, 02:55:10 AM
Until I joined this forum, I always thought that FTC was "Find The Cooler", for another COLD one while waiting for the Q.

Very nice. For me, it was Fill The Cup, then Follow The Chicks....... :o

Arcs_n_Sparks

Ted · August 25, 2007, 08:15:35 AM

Thanks for the replies all! It makes me feel better that I have some options. I'll definitely need to do some resting. And I might use the oven technique.

Dinner will be around 5pm and we are picking them up at the airport at 11:30pm the night before. So by the time we get back, it will be almost 1:00am. It might be too much to preheat the OBS for two hours, but it will have to do. The butt will be coming to room temperature in the over (hidden, no heat) while we are gone. :) They'll never know that part, I don't think.

I am hoping to have my PID built by then because I don't want to do as much Fiddling with the Temperature Control.

Ted · October 18, 2007, 08:15:14 AM

Just bumping this up to report on how this went.

Although I have no photos, I can say that this was a complete success! I blew away my father-in-law and he may actually be looking into getting a Bradley now!

I had a 7.5 pound butt that I rubbed in a chipotle maple rub (I'll post the recipe) and let it rest in the fridge over night. I smoked it at about 210 for 4 hours with hickory and let it go for abother 16 hours. When it reached 190, I wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the oven (off). My FIL made his famous macaroni salad and I took the pork out about an hour later to pull.

It literally fell apart. There was a pretty good bark on it from the maple sugar in the rub. Some of it came off in large pieces which we greedily ate before it hit tha table. I mixed the rest with a nice sauce from a local BBQ joint and served it on rolls. It was killer. By far the best thing that has come out of my smoker yet.

This Bradley Smoker thing is a pretty good invention. :)

owrstrich · October 18, 2007, 08:36:56 AM

macaroni salad has sickened more pilgrims than chipotle maple rubbed hickory smoked pork arse...

you can always trade your f i l in on a newer model...

;D

trust me...

owrstrich

Consiglieri · October 18, 2007, 02:48:48 PM

Ted:

did you discuss FTC with your FIL? I'm curious as to how he responded.

owrstrich · October 18, 2007, 07:02:52 PM

f t c...

feed the consiglieri...

crazy aint it...

owrstrich

Consiglieri · October 18, 2007, 10:48:20 PM

O: good advice. Hungry consiglieris turn into sharks.

Or we could run through all those FTC acronyms
Fill the cup
find the children
yada yada....

and then we get to the marginally, or patently, obscene, courtesy of our letter F... Maybe Feel isn't such a bad verb.