Pork Butt Question

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rodneylenton

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 16, 2007
27
10
Getting ready to use new smoker for the first time and do a test run before x-mas ham
I have a question, I have read about the use of foil pans
Are these pans placed below to catch juices, does the butt sit in the pan the whole time, or do you put the butt in the pan after it hit 165 and is foiled
Thanks for the help
Rodney
 
What I do is place the butt in the pan and add a little pineapple juice and apple juice just for a little flavor. I also bast it with the juices ever 30 min or so. That is just me though. Other i'm sure do it different.
 
Actually, I've seen (and used) all three. Foil pans under the butts catch drippings, which makes cleanup a breeze. You can also fill them with water for added moisture. I've seen butts smoked in foil pans also. For me, though, i think it would inhibit the formation of a ggod bark since it is sitting in it's juices. And finally, I have wrapped butts in foil, put them in a foil pan, and finished cooking them in then oven when i did not feel like pulling an all nighter. Also, when you wrap and finish them in foil, you get alot of juices and fat. Buy yourself a cheap fat seperator, pour all the juices in it, and pour back the juice over the pulled pork. Hope this helps.
 
Sometimes I like to set the meat right on the rack with a foil pan below full of beer and dry rub, or apple juice and dry rub.
Other times I like to keep the meat right in the foil pan and save the juices to use later.
There are a lot of options, I think they all taste good.
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thanks many good options just seems to be "Dealers Option" so to speak, just being my first I just trying to get through it, LOL
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Rodney
 
Well talk about "No Pressure"
Wife talked to friends of ours they coming over Sat. for pulled Pork, ..
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Yep you guessed it on my first test run
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Start preping the meat Thurs. according one of Jeff's recipes
So it should be an intersting Fri. night.
I did pick up a taylor digital meat thermometer, still waiting on my smoker thermometer to get here.
well no better time than present to get started
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Will post pics when done
Hey by the way does anybody know where to get Fire Bricks from, looking for some that are about 1"thick, need to cover a 15" x 17" area, the bottom of my Char-Broil Bandra, installed the baffle between boxes today
Not having much luck locally (Fayetteville NC)
Hey good sourse for wood too, pecan, apple ect....
I know not much luck of getting by x-mas ham time but will need some for the future.
Again Thanks All

Rodney
 
Rodney, I bet your pulled pork is going to turn out fantastic.
Can't wait to see your pictures.
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My local lumber yard carries fire bricks....probably because the closest Home Depot is over 2 hrs away. lol
 
well found the bricks, and install drain valve so have some work to do on it tonight to get ready for fri. night,.


Rodney
 
Hey Rodney. I'm just down the road in Clayton. The lowes near us carries fire bricks. For wood, it's a bit more difficult. I've seen some at lowes and walmart. But, if you want a selection, the only place I've found that is in cary I'm afraid. BBQ's galore at crossroads. Bit pricey, but good quality. Try a bag of their lump charcoal too. It seems to last about twice as long as most of the other lump I've had. Three times longer than cowboy brand, but then I think that stuff is decking wood, most has machine grooves.
 
I agree. I have used them all of those ways. Really just up to your personal need at the time. I use foil pans mainly for beef ribs as I smoke them while in some mojo and continue to marinade them thru out the smoking process.
 
Wow - first one will have guests too?

Don't worry - pork butts are pretty easy to do and the only way to really screw them up bad (since we're talking pulled pork) is to not bring the internal temp up high enough. Anything over 200 and you should be OK there. You can throw one in the smoker with NOTHING on it and it'll turn out great. Of course, a little yellow mustard and a little rub will get you some awesome bark out of the deal too. As far as the rub goes, since this is your first, I'd probably go a little light on the rub - don't smother it with rub until you know what you're dealing with. Keep the cooking temp around 225-235, bring the internal temp up to 200-ish, and all will be well.

Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time - this will probably take a minimum of 8 hours, so start at an appropriate time depending on when you want to eat. It's better to have a couple of extra hours at the end then to have guests waiting an extra hour or so waiting for it to come off. If you get it done early, just double wrap it in heavy duty tin foil and maybe a spare towel, and sit it in a cooler until you're ready to pull it. It'll keep in that cooler at a good temp for 3-4 hours.

Good luck buddy!
 
Devolutionist has it all laid out. Clean out that spare small cooler and get a towel<old..LOL!> Start early...like soon... and just wrap after 200° and put 'er down for a nappy :{)

Don't forget to look up a "finishing sauce" soFlaQer's gets great reviews!
 
I second the use of mustard. Itried this and it made a fantastic bark which my wife really loved. Don't worry, the mustard taste cooks out and leaves a tasty zing to the BBQ. I was apprehensive at first, but did it and now I swear by it. Put it on first, and your rub will stick much better.
 
yea i figured to eat about 1500 on sat, so @ 10lbs. about 15hrs max( I know go by temp not time, LOL) hour or so to sit in cooler, backs me up about 16 hours plus time to get smoker lit and up to temp.
Definate all nighter
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, but I know it will well worth it
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, just have to watch the cold ones
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Bad news rain all day and into tonight with the high of low 50's, ( i know quit me biootching) so the temps may talk a little more effort to control.
On the mustard and rub, I followed one of Jeffs recipes, covered with mustard and rub, wrap in plastic and put in fridge overnight.
I used the rescipe for spicy rub minus the cheeyan (wife was not to hip on that
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)
Since this is my first one are you suggesting I remustard and lightly coat it, because I coated it very and I mean very well with rub before wraping it last night
Well afew hours at work than it off to the house
 
Set up a rain shelter. Water removes 540 calories of heat for every gram that vaporizes on the smoker lid. Doubles as windbreak, and chef protection ;{)
 
Well my BBQ-Pro thermometers came today, Pro hey that's a good one
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and damn are they big.
Put them in, along with a shelf and made a heat shield for the grilling side, hopefully to help direct the heat into the smoking side, it also cut the area of the grilling side off just below the lid.
Will send pics, just running another burn session to remove any STUFF from the new pieces
Will include pics of grill and pics of meat before during and after all with in the next 18 hrs or so.
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forward CHARGE!!!!

Rodney
 
Hey all
I am going to check this periodically tonight I just have one observation and one question
Observation, seems that there is a 200 degree differance between the burn and cooking chamber with my current set-up
Now the question if and whe th etemp drops in the 210 to just below 225 is this bad or does it just lenthen the time to cook?
Should I get to consened when this happens, okay 2 questions
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Thanks, don't mean to seem to critical just want to get it right.
Rodney
 
Okay,. more ????
just opened my hickory chunks, was going to use apple and hickory for this,
Guess what first wood was wet and many chunks were moldy and had bark on them.
Thew out the moldy ones and am tring to dry out the damp ones in the oven, am I wasting my time on this. ???
Or should I go with just the apple

Rodney
 
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