Help me with my first pork butt?

[JLeonard]

Thinking of attempting my own butt next week. Yours looked good (insert joke here).

 

[jlozo21]

@noboundaries and others: please forgive my lack of follow-up! It was received well by my guests, one of whom is an Alabamian, and something of a BBQ connesuer. While not a BBQer himself, his wife tells me that she is dragged to a variety of BBQ spots when visiting his folks back home, because each establishment is the "best" at only one thing - brisket, pork, etc.

Personally, I think some of the meat was a bit overcooked and mushy, and the smoke flavor wasn't as prominent as I hoped. The Carolina style sauce was a hit. I omitted the celery salt, which I didn't have, using applewood smoked salt in its place, and i added a tablespoon of ketchup too (so more of a Western Carolina style in the end).

Next time I am wondering if I can do my butt in a tray, uncovered the whole time? Since my cooker seems to be running a bit hot, I think I lost a lot of flavorful juices to the grease tray. I'm hoping cooking in a tray will retain my juices. Also, the aluminum foil corroded away where it was in contact with the probe and the meat - I am assuming this is due to galvanic corrosion since my tray is stainless steel. I love these trays! They are a set of two in different sizes, so next time would like to keep using the same tray but avoid the wrap partway through the cook. As it was, the butt was only overfed with foil for about 1.5 hours before it hit 205⁰F, and was still plenty moist. Is smoking in a pan/tray, and doing it uncovered a thing that is acceptable practice?

View attachment 450853
View attachment 450854

Looks great! And it pleased the crowd, so well done!

I've read a few posts of people who smoke them in trays. I'd say most would suggest putting it on a wire rack in the tray to allow for full smoke penetration. As far as acceptable practice, as long as it turns out good meat that people enjoy, I'd say it's acceptable.