First Butt

[rondiaz]

Hi everyone,

I have decided on trying a shoulder for pulled pork on Sunday. I plan on following the sticky, along with a slaw recipe I found on the Reverend brown forums, some baked beans, and maybe ABT's too.

Please tell me if my time estimates seem ok.

I plan on getting the meat on the smoker by 9am, foil around 1pm, and off the smoker around 5pm. Rest for about 30 minutes while I prep the other stuff, then pull the meat, add the finishing sauce from the other sticky, and ready to eat around 6pm. Does this sound right or will I need more time? I plan on rubbing the meat the night before.

 

[reichl]

how big is the shoulder?

 

[va_connoisseur]

Well the first thing that will effect your smoke time is the size of the meat. Also, if you get it to room temp before putting it on the smoker that would cut out some time.

I would give myself a larger buffer because you never know how long the plateau will last. I would start at least 3 hours earlier and if it gets done faster, wrap it in double layer aluminum foil and put it in a cooler for a few hours.

 

[rondiaz]

I haven't bought the shoulder yet... :-) Whatever Hivee or *shudder* the wall-mart can supply me with probably. I was thinking around 8lbs.

So maybe I will try to get it on by 8 and bump the dining time back to 7pm. I could have someone pull the meat out of the fridge earlier, some folks in the house are up before me, to let it get closer to room temp.

 

[rondiaz]

PS here is the slaw recipe.

 

[reichl]

If your planning on an 8 lb butt your going to be cutting it too close for comfort. Start it earlier then later (allow 12 hours for cook time), the meat will stay hot in foil wrapped in a towel for hours. I smoked a butt last night that I removed from the smoker at 4:30am and when I pulled it at 7 it was still really hot and easy to pull. Better safe than sorry. Good Luck!

 

[rondiaz]

Thanks for the input. We'll have to see how late I end up staying up Saturday night. If it is well past midnight maybe I will put it on before before I go nappy roots, or get up early put it on and go back to nappy roots for a while.

 

[9manfan]

I've only done a couple butts, but the time element of 1 1/2 hr. per pound of meat is pretty darn close, so a 8lb. butt would take app. 12 hr., I would start it way early or maybe even the day before if possible, just my thought's, hope it turns out good,,,,,,,,

 

[smokingscooby]

Ron

Don't cook your butt to a time schedule. Temperature is the key to cooking most meat. If you dont' have one already, get yourself a thermometer
Cook your butt till temp reaches 165* then foil it. place it back in smoker till it reaches 190* for slicing or 200-205* for pulling. Somewhere you will reach a plateau, where the temp won't rise for awhile,could even drop a couple of degree's, DON'T panic and turn the temp up to get past it. The meat will not be tender and juicy.

The 1 1/2 hr to 1lb is fairly accurate, but reaching the right temps is the best. I have done a 8lb butt at 225*, suppose to be done in 12 hrs, took 15 hrs guests were a little hungry after waiting the extra 3 hrs. The more fat and connective tissue in the meat the longer the time will take to break down the fat and tissue. A butt is a pretty forgiving piece of meat. I now cook mine at 250* with the same results, if your temp spikes a bit that's ok. When your Butt reaches it's temp, place it in a cooler wrapped in towels, it will hold its temp for hrs. This also lets the juices recirculate in the meat.

Good luck
Don't forget the qview

 

[billbo]

What he said. Always allow yourself more time than you think you need. Happy Smoke!

 

[rondiaz]

Well it looked like I was going to have to get a boneless butt @ $1.99 a lb which I wasn't too thrilled about then a lady told me about a whole cooler full of .99cent/lb bone in shoulders. 8.5lbs. I'll try to get it on real early.

 

[carpetride]

A hot cooler is your friend.

 

[rondiaz]

OK I am back for more input. I am taking rub recommendations. I have done some searching but wouldn't mind someone just dropping a solid favorite on me right here.

 

[tasunkawitko]

ron - i've got two favorites that i'd be happy to share with you -

the first is store-bought, and it is good. it is called durkee's st. louis-style pork rub. comes in a bottle that looks like this:

it is very good stuff and in my mind provides exactlyx the flavor that BBQ "should be."

having said that, if you are ono this forum, i am sure that you are interested in making yuor own rubs. whatever yuo go with, don't be afraid to experixment! also, many here have reported a very high degree of satisfaction from brushing their pork down with a light film of mustard prior to applying the rub. the mustardy taste cooks away, but you are left with a very, very nice bark and crust that melds with your rub.

i tried one from RIVET not long ago and it was very good:

it is very, very good, especially the finishing sauce.

lately, a few folks here (mike, rivet and myself among others) have been tweaking out a concept of leaving sugar and salt out of the rubs. the reasons for leaving the sugar out are because on a long smoke, the sugar tends to carmelize, which is good, but then it tends to carbonize, which is not so good. you end up with a very black piece of meat. it tastes great, but it looks.....burned.....anyway, two choices here. the first is to cut out the sugar. the second, which will greatly reduce the carbonization, is to use "sugar in the raw" (also called turbinao sugar). if you have this option available, you might give it a try. people have reported high satisfaction with it.

the reason for elaving the salt out (or GREATLY reducing it is twofold: the first is for the obvious health reasons - i can't speak for everyone here, but i do have blood pressure problems and too much salt will of course aggrevate that. the other reason is that, as you probably know, too much salt tends to drown out a lot of good flavors in almost anything a person will prepare.

so, you can take the excellent rub recipe above (or any rub recipe yu choose) and then tweak it according to these sugar and salt modifications. also, MIKEY has come up with a rub that i haven't tried yet (thinking about it for this weekend) but it looks very good and flavorful:

 

[rondiaz]

OK got the meat rubbed and back int he fridge. I went with mustard, and did the rub as listed but skimped on the salt. My young heart takes enough abuse as is. :) Gonna nap for a few hours and then get things fired up.

 

[rondiaz]

OK, got the smoker preheated, added a few pieces of lump charcoal plus hickory chips to the tray, water pan filled, chip tray was producing smoke and butt is on the smoker at 6AM. Setting alarm for 7:30AM to check on things. Will try to post some Qview later on as well.

 

[tasunkawitko]

good luck! i'm getting a later start, BUT my brisket and shoulder are both a couple of lbs. smaller than normal, so it should all be good.

 

[rondiaz]

PS Weather is looking great here. Sun is out, 70 predicted.

 

[tasunkawitko]

beautiful day here today as well, so far!

 

[rondiaz]

Just hit 160 I am going to pull it in the next half an hour and I think I am going to try the oven bag instead of foil.