mguerra Posted November 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 set up and progress Fire in the basket, fully loaded with Royal Oak, heat deflector on basket handles, butt up on main grill. CyberQ II set at 325, blower port open 1/2, top vent just cracked enough to allow a little smoke egress when blower is off. The butt has been on for one hour, and its' temp has gone from 36 degrees at start to 104 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Is Royal Oak Lump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted November 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 pull it right I might have posted this before. When pulling a pork butt, I want to remove all the fat possible. So I don't just grab two forks and start shredding the whole butt. All the fat and connective tissue will then be incorporated into your pile of shred. It's almost impossible to pick out all these little shredded bits. The butt is composed of a number of muscles. These muscles are separated from each other by a layer of fat and connective tissue. I try to pull apart the individual muscles from each other, whole. Then clean each muscle by scraping off the fat and connective tissue with the side of a knife or a fork. Scrape along the length of the muscle fibers, parallel to them. This is best done with the meat still hot from cooking. Now you will have a pile of muscles, nearly fat free, you can shred, cut, chop or whatever. Is this how most of you are doing this? Or are there a lot of you just shredding from the get go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted November 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Lump Lump. They make briquettes, and the bags look nearly identical to the lump. Check the bag carefully when you buy. Of course, the briquette bag weighs a ton compared to the lump, so you can tell just by heft, if you are not looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Re: Lump Lump. They make briquettes That makes me feel better. All I have seen here (Pensacola) are the briquettes which I don't use.. My only found lump to date is Cowboy. Guess I need to check Mobile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loquitur Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Hi Cook Shack: I have a hard time getting any kind of lump charcoal locally in the NorthEast at this time of year but I recently found that doitbest.com will ship Royal Oak Natural Hardwood Charcoal free of charge to your local DoItBest affilliate, which in my case was a local lumberyard. You order and pay online, they call you when it arrives and then you pick it up. I just got 4 bags of roughly 18 lbs each for $14.50/bag. And, I like it better than the Cowboy and Wicked Good which are the only other ones I've tried. The only downside I found was that it took about ten days to arrive. Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Hey Thanks!! I can live with the down side. There is a facility 5 miles down the road. Just got off the phone. They are ordering me 6 bags and will call when it comes in. $14.99 ea Pensacola, FL Again Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted November 16, 2009 Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 If you have Publix in Pensacola, you might give them a try. They sell some lump charcoal under the Publix GreenWise brand. I grabbed a bag this week to give it a try - $6 in Orlando area. Publix is always very good about getting anything you want for you on request. You can find a review of the publix charcoal on TNW charcoal DB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted November 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 The fast butt method works very well. The flavor and texture of the meat is almost identical to a slow cook. The party guests raved as usual, yawn. The one difference is that it is fractionally harder to pull apart. Other than that, if you are pressed for time, I give it a solid thumbs up. Interestingly, the butt I bought had cooking directions on the package that said to "Slow Roast" at 350 for four hours! As it happens, this 10 pounder took 4 hours at 350 to reach 190 internal! The lesson I learned from this is that you can cook a pork butt at any temp between 220 to 350 and get great results. My suggestion is to pick a cooking temp that fits your time needs. If you want to go do something for awhile, cook at a little lower temp til you get back, then increase the temp when you get back. It's the same hybrid method I suggested for the brisket. There is extreme time flexibility available for these cooks. If there is the emotional appeal of a 14 hour cook, do that. But, it's good to know you can start a butt at 8 AM and have it ready for lunch! My next experiment will be to foil one at the 160 to 170 temp, like the brisket trick, and see what that does in regards to cooking time, texture and flavor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted November 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 Huh? I use a spoon and a glass when cleaning when cleaning the fat from a yes, yes yes... What?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 16, 2009 Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 Re: pull it right "mguerra" Is this how most of you are doing this? I use a spoon and a glass when cleaning fat from the ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted November 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 ??? What?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 16, 2009 Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 Re: ??? "mguerra"]What? fat removal from butt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 I separate the muscles and remove fat too. Usually not with a knife or anything- just with my gloved hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 Loquitur++ Thanks for the tip Loquitur. I have been unable to find anything but Cowboy locally (or 100% hardwood briquettes) and have really wanted to try Royal Oak. My local ship to store affiliate is a little further than Cook_Shack's but still better than nothing. Is the Royal Oak you received the real deal Made in the USA stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loquitur Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 Yes, Jeff, I think it is the real thing. You can see the "Made In U.S.A." notation at the bottom left of the bag in the attached picture. Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 Just picked up my six bags. That sure was fast. Thanks for the tip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
