First Berkshire Butt

[JakeT]

I made my first ever Berkshire Pork Butt and man was it awesome. I put it on my RT680 last night at 10:30. It was rubbed with a modified "competition pork and beef rub" from Oakridge. I added about 2/3 cup of 50/50 kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Got up a couple times through the night to spritz it with a 50/50 Apple Cider Vinegar and Apple Cider mix. From start to "like buttah" with a skewer, it took 9 hours. IT was 198* when I put it in the faux cambro for 4.5 hrs before pulling. I'm definitely happy with this cook, my best pulled pork yet. So tender and moist, and talk about flavor! The smoke was a combo of mesquite, hickory, and alder.

I served it as sliders with some Carolina BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, coleslaw and pickled red onions. MM MM Good!

I never wrapped it, and it never really seemed to have much of a stall after looking at the temp graph. I recently did another butt, same size at 9 lbs pre trim, and it took 14 hours WITH a wrap at 170*. Anyone have any ideas as to why this may have happened? I wonder if it's normal for the Berkshire's to cook faster. I only mention is as an afterthought for future planning. Luckily the company was able to come a little early but I hadn't intended to serve food until around 2 o'clock with only about a 30-60 minute rest. Regardless, if you haven't had one of these, I highly recommend it.

[EdF]

Red meat!

[smokenoob]

I've done a Berkshire butt a few times and they always took 12-14 hours if I remember right....
they have great taste!

[Sweaty Paul]

Gorgeous. Looks like you started with an amazing hunk of meat.

[JakeT]

Definitely, good quality meat makes the cooker's job a heck of a lot easier!

[Sweaty Paul]

And you did a heckuva job too!

[RonB]

That looks great.

[droopie69]

Man, I gotta find a store around here that carries Berkshire!

[JakeT]

I recommend it! I think you can order online from www.heritagepork.com as well

[Frozen Smoke]

Beautiful color on that raw butt and a beautiful cook! How do you like that Oak Ridge Beef and Pork rub. I have some but have yet to try it on something. Seems to be a difficult combination to make work with the bold flavors for beef and sweet for pork,

[JakeT]

I like it a lot for pork, not so much for beef. I added quite a bit of salt and pepper though to give it a lot more of the Texas black pepper taste. That being said we tend to lean more towards heavy pepper than heavy sweet in my family

[Troutman]

Great looking pork butt. How did you like the heritage pork, was it a lot better than what you normally cook?

[JakeT]

Hands down yes. It was incredible how much juicier it was. And perfectly tender. Still had some chew but almost melt in your mouth. Definitely cooked a lot faster than other butts I have done though so keep that in mind

[Sfdrew28]

Hey...I know where you got that! Good looking cook.

[JakeT]

I love Pape’s, I’ve got a skin on pork belly in order right now too, I think I’m picking it up tomorrow actually!