Jump to content
brett

Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

Recommended Posts

Inpired by Syzygies's post at:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1202&p=24808#p24808

I thought I'd give a 21-hour pork-butt a try. I've never cooked one this long, so thought it would be interesting to see the difference...

KK full of coal, heat-stone in for indirect, BBQ Guru set for 210. 7lb pork butt. Put it on around 6pm, then checked at 8 am and the meat was at 195! Given the meat-temp, I made and executive decision and abandoned the 20+ hr cook and pulled it off.

Is the time dependent on the size of the butt, and I should have expected it to go faster? Should I have not bailed and just tried to get the fire down to 200 regardless of the meat-temp?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

The cook time for a 7lb roast will be substantially less. I've done boneless rolled pork butts, approximately the same weight at 210 from 12-15 hours, pulling at 190 degrees internal temperature. Nowadays, I pull them off at 180 degrees internal temperature. I find the meat to be more moist and equally tender at the lower temp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

i did 3 pork butts this weekend; 2 8 lb, and a 10 lb butt. They went on at 10PM at 225. One 8 lb butt came off around 2PM (26 hrs) at 195 deg, and the other two i finally pulled at around 630PM (20 1/2 hrs) and 190 deg after pushing the temps up to 250 for the last 3 hrs. these two stuck at a plateau around 170 for hrs and hrs, and they stayed within about 2 degreees of each other even though they were different weights. My experience is that each butt behaves differently, and i haven't broken the code on precisely determining how long they will take. slu, I think i will try your method and try pulling them at 180 deg and see how they do.

By the way, you did the right thing in pulling yours off at 195! VRtom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

KK full of coal, heat-stone in for indirect, BBQ Guru set for 210. 7lb pork butt. Put it on around 6pm, then checked at 8 am and the meat was at 195! Given the meat-temp, I made and executive decision and abandoned the 20+ hr cook and pulled it off.

Is the time dependent on the size of the butt, and I should have expected it to go faster? Should I have not bailed and just tried to get the fire down to 200 regardless of the meat-temp?

All time references are just for scheduling and to give you a heads up as when to start looking...

It does not matter how long it's been only the temp of the meat. Meat's texture changes as the temp climbs.. you could hold a slab of meat at 125 for three days and it would still be rare.

You did not abandoned anything, you pulled when it reached the desired temp..

Good job, Good choice..

;);)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

thanks for the feedback. well it tasted great as usual, but i'm not sure i achieved the intent which was:

"Your goal is to slow the fire to 200 F, to keep the pork butt in this 170-180 F range as long as possible, melting the fat and collagens and tenderizing the butt. One is more or less "boiling off" the collagens and fat;"

i kind of blew through this while i was sleeping i guess... :) next time with a smaller butt, i'll do it day-time so i can observe the temps and try and keep it at that 170 range for hours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

I think if you'd like to soak your butt at 170[sup:c6a3rrer]o[/sup:c6a3rrer] you could set the Guru to 170[sup:c6a3rrer]o[/sup:c6a3rrer] ... the meat will eventually come into equilibrium and stay there as long as the KK stays there. After it soaks for your desired time, then crank the KK up to 225[sup:c6a3rrer]o[/sup:c6a3rrer]-250[sup:c6a3rrer]o[/sup:c6a3rrer] and bring the butt to your desired pull-off temp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

It's not that complicated. You don't need to keep it at 170, let it go through the plateau on its own schedule. A pork butt will come out PERFECT at any cooking temp between 200 to 275ish. Just remove it when it hits 185 to 200. It's dead simple, no mental masturbation necessary. I've done at least 100 of them, believe me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Syzygies's pork butt: what went wrong?

It's not that complicated. You don't need to keep it at 170' date=' let it go through the plateau on its own schedule. A pork butt will come out PERFECT at any cooking temp between 200 to 275ish. Just remove it when it hits 185 to 200. It's dead simple, no mental masturbation necessary. I've done at least 100 of them, believe me.[/quote']

Just to get this straight Doc, you've done 100 pork butts or mental masturbations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...