tony b Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 Did a 7# bone-in butt yesterday. Put it on at 6:30am @ 225F, indirect, with the guru. Had to take it off at 7pm (we're getting too hungry!) and the internal temperature of the butt was only 175F?? Was tasty, but didn't pull all that well and the bone didn't fall out like it does when you get to 195F, which was my target final temperature. I've never had a butt take this long to cook before. I generally go by the standard 90 minutes per pound, so this one should have been done in 10 hours, with plenty of resting time before dinner. So, here's the deal. This was the first time that I've injected a butt. Would that have affected the cooking time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback When I do shoulders, they always take over 12hours to get to 195 internal, with a usual time of 14 hours. I find they stall in the 170's and take a few more hours to get through that stall to fish temp. I always inject and the shoulder and injection are always cold, this maximizes the smoke absorption on the beginning of the cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted September 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback Thanks for the feedback. The other goofy thing about this one was that it stalled around 150F -152F, again lower than my previous experience. Mine usually stall in the 165F - 170F range. At first, I thought that the meat probe on the guru had gone bad, but I checked it with the Thermopen and got the same temperature. So, this one became more "chopped pork" than "pulled pork." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback I have never believed in standard time per pound. There are too many other factors that can influence the time. I find that shoulders, which have way more bone mass in the cut than butts, take much longer to cook than an equivalent size butt. Also, as the cut get even larger, the thickness the heat has to penetrate gets larger, so don't see how a set standard can account for this. Starting temp of meat, fat content, moisture content, density and I am sure a host of other variables can play into the mix. So just believe your thermometer and pull at the desired temps. If you are impatient, wrap with foil and/or jack up temp. Didn't believe it till I tried it myself, but the foil can shave off hours of cook time. Anyway, half the fun of cooking is the experimenting and learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstr8 Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback ^ agree with you based upon my experience with butts and shoulders. But even with similar size butts, for instance, time to final temp (195 +/-) can and usually does vary 10-20%. And, of course, its always longer when we're having dinner guests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted September 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback The only thing that I cook by time is steaks, but when you have guests coming and are on the clock, then you need a rough approximation for when to start cooking. Next time, I'll put it on the night before at bedtime and let it finish whenever the next day (my normal routine when I'm just cooking for me). I should have done that this time but thought I could get it cooked just-in-time! My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback Since you can hold a pork butt(or brisket) for hours, piping hot, in a cooler with towels, start them WELL ahead of party time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted September 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback I know, but I got paranoid this time about trying to hold them in the cooler for 6+ hours (the most that I've done before was 4 hours and they were still almost too hot to pull by hand!) Lesson Learned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted September 27, 2013 Report Share Posted September 27, 2013 Re: Pork Butt Feedback I'll repost something I have said before. This is my personal analytical conclusion, it is not from the FDA, the Dept of Agriculture, nor any other "authority". When your brisket or pork butt is finished at a temp above 170 or more, everything inside the KK is sterile. If you remove the meat with clean, uncontaminated utensils or gloves and immediately foil it in clean, uncontaminated foil, you have not innoculated the meat with any pathogens. Some airborne mold spores will hit it, but they are of no concern in the short term. I personally have no problem holding meat like this for 24 hours, even if the temp drops below the theoretical danger point of 140. If I didn't drag it through Shigella, or Listeria, or Clostridia, or Proteus or any other scary bug, I don't worry about it. That is not a recommendation, just my analysis. And what I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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