Boston Butt Disaster

[ken g]

Put my first Boston Butt, a 4.5 pounder, on at 6:15 this morning. Cooking @ 240 degrees in Weber Performer with Party Q, SNS and DnG. I hit the stall @ 10:30.

It would inch up maybe a degree or three an hour. At around 5:30 it hit 192. Then amazingly, it dropped with a steady pit temp, to 190 before ascending again.

I checked my ET472 with my Thermopop and both dead even. Damn hog would not go above 192. At 11 hours and 45 minutes I pulled off while it stuck at 192.

Dried out dog food is what is was good for. The Memphis dust based bark was tasteless. I don't have a dog, so "jaws" the disposal got it and tried to reject it.

I checked all my thermometers with boiling water against the Thermopop and they are dead even.

So what went wrong?

[kmhfive]

How did the thermopop go into the meat? Was it probe tender at any point? Did the bone wiggle free at any point?

Each hunk of meat is different. Some are ready at 190F. Others aren't ready until 205F. 203F is a target, but I start checking at 190-195F.

[Huskee]

Sounds like it just needed an hour or three of faux cambro time. That's typically where the softening and delishifying happens, especially so if your max temp was low 190s IMO.

[LA Pork Butt]

ken g I agree with kmhfive but I am also wondering whether you used the SNS water tray or a water pan. You cooker set up without water can dry the meat out. Also, as Huskee noted the faux cambro can improve things.

[ken g]

I inserted thermopop perpendicular to the Maverick probe. Tried to pull on the bone but alot of resistance. The whole slowly upward creep of the temp has me baffled. It never really stalled. Just slowed down.

[Huskee]

T'was just undercooked is all. Next time keep 'er going.

[Mr. Bones]

Sorry to hear it was dried out...
I don't really think, even fer one minute, that ya' failed....
I think ya' jus learnt summat new...
Next cook'll be different...

[ken g]

I filled the SNS water reservoir twice during the cook at 4 hour intervals.

[ken g]

@Mr. Bones,

Not the end of the world. I am not a big fan of restaurant pulled pork anyway. I thought I would give it a try on the smoker since they are relatively cheap. I'm out $15 maybe with meat and charcoal. I like to understand what happened so I don't repeat it.

Thankfully it was not a $50 brisket!

[HawkerXP]

You will hear this again and again here. Temperature is just a guide when smoking, whether its the cooking temp or meat temp. The most important thing to look for is probe tender. Then wrap it up and stick it in the cooler or oven.

[LA Pork Butt]

ken g Boston Butts are the easiest, cheapest and most forgiving piece of meat you can cook low and slow. While I routinely cook ten pounders on my BGE, I have cooked them with success on my son's 26" Weber indirect at 225 with a water pan (meatheads recommendated sets up and the Snake or fuse method). Don't give up. If you can give a 8-10 ounnder with bone in a try. I have never seen a 4.5 pounder with bone in. I am wondering if you had something that was mislabeled. In any event plan on 12 hours of cooking at 225 (going from 160-180 usually takes about six hours) unless you wrap. Plan on at least two hours in the faux cambro. That's 14 hours after you have your cooker stabilized. I usually plan on a total of 16 hours for the start of the fire to taking it out of the cambro. That's why I usually let it cook overnight to eat for noon. While I sometimes check for probe tender, I generally pull they with an internal temp of 200 and they come out great.

[fkrall]

Great perspective and tutorial, LA ("Mr. Butt" seems so formal). I'm working up my courage to give it a go.