Diving into the Butt

sparksals · Jun 27, 2013

New to smoking. First smoke was a pork butt for my husband and I. Second was at a friend's house... yes, took the smoker... and did Sweet and Spicy Chicken wings which were a HUGE hit.

I am having a Canada Day Party on Sunday. I have 13 people coming over and will be attempting pulled pork. I plan to do it the day before because everyone is coming over at 1PM and I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to smoke the butt!

I have seen some different posts on how long the pulled pork takes. Some foil, some don't. Am I right to think about 1.5 - 2 hours per pound? Do I need to add more Wood Chips or liquid since it takes so long?

As for reheating... in a crockpot ok or just pour warm bbq sauce over top?

dougmays · Jun 28, 2013

7 hours and no response i'm surprised :)

You can do this a number of ways. What i would do personally (if i didnt want to start it the night before which is what i usually do) is smoke but butt the day before to about 180-185 and then double wrap in foil and a towel, stick in a cooler for 1-2 hours to let it rest. Once its rested and some juices incorporate . Then leave it wrapped and into the fridge. The next day take it out and let sit for 30 mins to bring up the temp to closer to room temp. Reheat in oven or smoker, in the foil, at around 250 till it reaches your pulling temp (195+), maybe 3-4 hours before your cookout. Leave time to rest it when it's done before pulling.

As for adding chips, your first 4-6 hours you want to make sure you have a nice thin blue line of smoke (TBS), which usually requires adding more wood a few hours into the smoke.

hope this helps! good luck and good smoking!

dougmays · Jun 28, 2013

Oh also...since your doing this the day before you could foil or not...usually foiling is used to get the meat temps up faster if your in a rush to get it done. And yes estiamte 2hrs per pound. also better to get it done early then have people waiting on you

hambone1950 · Jun 28, 2013

Dougmays has you covered but I would also say that if you wanted to save even more time you could cook it , rest it , and pull it all on the first day. Store the pulled pork in a large bowl or (even better) in the removable crock of your slow cooker. On the day of your cookout just take the meat out and reheat in the slow cooker. Add your finishing sauce or some bbq sauce if you like and it's every bit as good as the day you cooked it. I have done this many times and its always good and easy.
Hope your cookout is a success. (I'm pretty confident your pulled pork will be). :grilling_smilie:

dougmays · Jun 28, 2013

Also if you have a vacuum sealer you can pull it as Hambone mentioned and put the pulled pork and its juices into vac seal bags and seal. then about a hour before your bbq you can boil these in a large pot of boiling water. I've done this and when you seal with the juices the pork comes out just as good tasting and smelling as it was out of the smoker

sparksals · Jun 28, 2013

dougmays said:
Oh also...since your doing this the day before you could foil or not...usually foiling is used to get the meat temps up faster if your in a rush to get it done. And yes estiamte 2hrs per pound. also better to get it done early then have people waiting on you

This is what I am worried about. I don't want people having to wait since I'm a newbie at this. I'd rather have it done, pulled and reheating when people arrive.

sparksals · Jun 28, 2013

Thanks for the ideas - I like storing in crock and then reheating... same with vacusealer. I do have one of those.

I have seen mention of using the drippings, putting in fridge for fat to go to top and harden and remove.. is that used as a substitute for BBQ sauce?

I also found the wonderful search function here and a great tutorial for pulled pork. Looks like I can't go wrong with following that, eh?

dougmays · Jun 28, 2013

if you double wrap after it's done and let rest for a hour or 2 you'll trap all those liquids in and when you reheat they'll re-moisten the meat. when the pork is reheated and pulled..if feel its dry you can throw a little BBQ sauce in it and mix around or a finishing sauce. look for SoFlaQuer's Finishing Sauce in the search

badmoont2 · Jun 28, 2013

Butts are a really versatile cut of meat that are also very forgiving. You've gotten lots of good ideas to choose from. I've cooked the day before, wrapped and rested in a cooler then pulled and put in the refrigerator. The next day I reheated on a crock pot. If anything it tasted better the next day.

Here's a finishing sauce I learned about here, it's really good. Putting a pan under it, defating the drippings and mixing back in also works great. If you're going to foil you can just set it in the pan and cover it with foil if you wish.

sparksals · Jun 28, 2013

Mixing the defatted droppings IN ADDITION TO the finishing sauce?

boykjo · Jun 28, 2013

Any pics...........................

badmoont2 · Jun 28, 2013

sparksals said:
Mixing the defatted droppings IN ADDITION TO the finishing sauce?

Yep, do it to taste, you don't have to use it all. I go light on the finishing sauce as well, I don't want to cover up the meat and smoke flavor, just compliment it. Be sure to post some pics.

foamheart · Jun 28, 2013

That juice is like liquid gold in a pot of beans...........

dougmays · Jun 29, 2013

yea you can put a little bit of the juices into the finishing sauce...but not required. its all personal preference

sparksals · Jun 29, 2013

UPDATE:

So far, so good... I think. I put it in at noon and it has been in the smoker almost 7 hours. I set it to preheat to 300, put the meat in thinking the temp would go down, then went out for a couple hours... when I came home, it was still at 300. Turned it down and it has been at 225-240 since 2 PM this aft. First pic is the rub on from last night, 2nd just before smoker, third wrapped last night... couldn't get them ordered right... the last two are after 6 hours in the smoker. Getting a nice bark?

The digital thermometer I'm using doesn't have a climbing thermostat until it hits 100 degrees. It is like the probe for my oven, it tells me when it is at 100 degrees and then the temp displays. Is there a digital thermometer that shows the accumulating temp from the start? This waiting is killing me. I have no idea where I am internal temp-wise... 6 hours and not at 100 degrees internal yet and the smoker is sitting pretty at 240. I have also changed the wood chips once, most likely will have to again. Am I on track?

It is a 6/6/5 pound butt... I don't even know where I am in the 1.5/2 hours per pound thing b/c i don't know the exact temp.

I added some beef boullion as a bit of fluid and to have flavourful drippings. I also found Tony C's at teh grocery... they had the creole seasoning, but right beside it was Louisiana Cajun which I will use for the finishing sauce.. I assume the different brand will work well.

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eman · Jun 29, 2013

Looks good !, The cajun seasonings are all pretty much the same stuff. Some have a bit more salt or more cayanne.

Sounds like either your smoker thermo or your meat thermo is off??

From the looks of the butt in the last two pics. You should be over 100 internal???

sparksals · Jun 30, 2013

eman said:
Looks good !, The cajun seasonings are all pretty much the same stuff. Some have a bit more salt or more cayanne.
Sounds like either your smoker thermo or your meat thermo is off??
From the looks of the butt in the last two pics. You should be over 100 internal???

You sure are right. The thermometer was WAY off! I used the wrong probe for it not realizing the probe was built in and hidden wrapped around it inside. I happened to test after 12 hours with my oven thermometer and it was at 195 while the digital said 120! Glad I checked! I wrapped in double foil, let it sit for about an hour and just finished pulling. I am now in bed decompressing!

It pulled very easy and had good bark. I have pics but will have to load tomorrow. Can't from my phone.

smokerpaul · Jun 30, 2013

looks very nice

enjoy!!!

hambone1950 · Jun 30, 2013

Foamheart said:
That juice is like liquid gold in a pot of beans...........

You got that right , brother!:sausage:

dougmays · Jul 1, 2013

Just a general rule of thumb...if you have your smoker at 225+ all butts should be atleast 150-155 after 4 hours. I've never heard of a case where that has not been correct. This ensures that you make it out of the 40-140 danger zone in the first 4 hours.

You should definitely invest in a good thermo...alot of people on here (including me) use the Maverick wireless thermo. It has 2 probes, 1 for the meat and 1 for the smoker temp. Very reliable!

Todd from A-maze-N smokers is a member on the forum and he always has this thermo on sale at his website, with free shipping. I would make this investment, here is a link

http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MAVET-732

I have 2 of them :)

Do you have after pulling pics? Good work on that butt! and good timing on the thermometer change! LOL

Diving into the Butt

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