Am i losing it?

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

dougmays

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Nov 18, 2010
2,563
96
Gainesville, FL
So i'm having a inner-personal-conflict with my BBQ skills....questioning life and all that stuff...

i consider myself pretty knowledgeable...i have cook many briskets, butts, ribs, chickens and jerky. i know my smoker well and i know the science of smoking pretty well. So here is my problem...i did a friendly backyard smokeout a few weeks ago. i  knew we only had until 5pm on a saturday to complete the pork and pull and ready to be judged.

So my plan was buy a smaller butt and start early...i'd rather be done way early and let it rest in foil and a towel and let it break down more until i'm ready for judging. I get to the cookout at 6am saturday morning...giving me 11 hours of cook time! I bought a smaller butt just to make sure i'd be done in time, i got a 3.5lber. so in theory my cooking at 225 should take at most 7-8 hours. 

i had one of the smaller butts...so of course i got flack from my friends about that. so we all get our butts in..i was the 2nd or 3rd to get mine in a smoking. others had slightly larger butts then me and started after me.

long story short as time draws near my friends are finishing around me...hitting temps of 185-200. i'm sitting there at 2-3pm sitting at 175 and barely inching forward. finally 4pm comes around and i'm almost at 180. i say screw it i want atleast a hour of resting...i know it'll go up in temp atleast 5 degrees so i wrap and pput in my cooler to rest.

i get it out and it pulls away fine but i know i've had more tender meat.

So i guess my question is....in competition (or in general cooking) am i really being naive to keep at 225 the whole time? i'm thinking of starting out my smokes for now on at 250...and once i get over the peak setting it lower down to 225 to finish off.

maybe i just had a un-agreeable butt...who knows...but i'm getting down on myself here
 
Probably just a uncorapative butt.... I have had those as well... take forever! to get up to 200. I know you turn out great que, so don't let 1 piece of meat change your style.
biggrin.gif
 
haha i feel like it's been the last few bbq's i've done...i'll just blame it on the meat :)
 
 
I run mine at 245-250 nowadays..it has no effect on the quality of the smoked item for me.

That was my breakfast caserole btw
 
ah crap! sorry Craig...i'm terrible at pairing usernames to names.

you gonna join us again this year??

yea i think i'm gonna start trying out 245-250 for my pork butts for now on
 
 
yup.. I run em a little hotter nowadays as well... Craig... you gotta come to the gathering... I want some more of your B'fast casserole and your sausage... good stuff...

As for you Doug... I would blame it on the meats as well... cuz I've tasted your cooking and you do know how... I've had this problem as well..

"Just because it's small... doesn't mean it doesn't have stamina" ... LOL...
 
Last 2 butts I did were farmland . I had the longest stall ever on both of them . I have alway bought my butts at sam's but these were gave to me. I ended up with the pit at 300f started at 225f . I put it on at 1and it was done at 9 at 7:45 is when I put the heat to it. I have started keeping track of what kind of butts give me alonger stall.
 
I wouldn't worry about it, just sounds like a stubborn cut. The smallest shoulder I have ever cooked on my smoker was just shy of 8 lbs and it took nearly 18 hours to hit 200*..... that was the longest a shoulder has ever taken for me. On the flip side the biggest butt I have ever cooked that was around 12.5 lbs and it finished in 13 hours.... so honestly I wouldn't worry about it. If you had more time to wait it out your shoulder probably would have been just as good as they normally are. We all know there are no shortcuts in bbq, but that is what makes the juice worth the squeeze! 
 
yup.. I run em a little hotter nowadays as well... Craig... you gotta come to the gathering... I want some more of your B'fast casserole and your sausage... good stuff...
As for you Doug... I would blame it on the meats as well... cuz I've tasted your cooking and you do know how... I've had this problem as well..
"Just because it's small... doesn't mean it doesn't have stamina" ... LOL...
We had a great time there..Those scouts loved finishing off the casserole..hahahahahaha...

Not sure about vacation destination this year yet. 

  Craig
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky