I typically cook pork butts fat cap up, directly on the grate, and wrap them tightly in foil at roughly 165 internal, until 198'ish. I recently spent a considerable amount of time cleaning my grill and don't really want to make a mess out of it right away. I am looking for a little feedback from the Pit about if you cook your pork butts in a pan, from beginning to end, while wrapping the pan in foil midway and what difference you find in doing it that way, either good or bad. Also any other tips you could provide, specifically related to cooking pork butts in a pan would be greatly appreciated.
I have added a pan below the rack with good luck in the past, but have never directly panned one before. I am just curious of the pros and cons of the two methods. Thanks for the response!
I’ve done it before. I’m a fat cap down or no fat cap kind of person.
If doing it in the pan I recommend cap down to help protect seasoning and bark from what will be puddling/pooling of liquid in the bottom of the pan. If there is no liquid in the pan when you go to wrap then add a little.
Pans are great for easily moving meat around a large Cooker and helping to keep it clean too. I’m pretty sure I have a Myron Mixon book around my house somewhere where he talks about this. You may look to his stuff for some tips.
evollbrecht , so i just went to my bbq bookshelf and I only have one Mixon book. It "Smokin' with Myron Mixon". I just flipped through some pages to his "recipe" for pork shoulder and he gives the instructions for using a pan. He also has an Aluminum Pan blurb on page 10 and why he uses. Basically it comes down to handling meat and keeping the cooker clean... and a few other cheap shots lol...
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I trim all my fat caps off my pork butts & chucks. The only thing I leave a fat cap on is brisket because it's sliced. For anything pulled, I find the extra fat caps just make wads of unappetizing fat strewn in the mix later, and who wants a mouthful of fat? Regarding fat caps up or down on brisket though- to me it depends on the direction of the heat. I place the fat cap as a buffer/barrier to the direct line of heat. On most cookers it would be down, but on some, like a Weber kettle equipped with a Slow 'N Sear, there's more heat above the grate, so it's up in that case for me.
Regarding pans and mess, I don't use pans, I want as much 360 degree smoke exposure as possible and a pan can limit that, at the very least on the meat's downward side. I just place meat right on the grates, always. I use foil under the grate to help collect messes.
If you like good bark, try delaying wrapping until the meat is out of the stall, say around 180ish. It will improve your bark, yet still wrapping at that point will still save some juice to drizzle back over the product.
I trim all my fat caps off my pork butts & chucks. The only thing I leave a fat cap on is brisket because it's sliced. For anything pulled, I find the extra fat caps just make wads of unappetizing fat strewn in the mix later, and who wants a mouthful of fat? Regarding fat caps up or down on brisket though- to me it depends on the direction of the heat. I place the fat cap as a buffer/barrier to the direct line of heat. On most cookers it would be down, but on some, like a Weber kettle equipped with a Slow 'N Sear, there's more heat above the grate, so it's up in that case for me.
Regarding pans and mess, I don't use pans, I want as much 360 degree smoke exposure as possible and a pan can limit that, at the very least on the meat's downward side. I just place meat right on the grates, always. I use foil under the grate to help collect messes.
If you like good bark, try delaying wrapping until the meat is out of the stall, say around 180ish. It will improve your bark, yet still wrapping at that point will still save some juice to drizzle back over the product.
Thanks for the tips. I have done a side by side comparison of wrapping and not wrapping before but I have never taken it to 180 and then wrapped before. I will have to try that. I also heard someone say on the BBQCentralShow that they wrap before the stall at 150'ish, I believe, to maximize moisture in the meat. I need to try that as well.
I usually do pork butt open on the rack for 4-6 hours. At about 250-270. Then put in a foil pan and cover with foil. If in a hurry-crank the heat up to 300. 3-4 more hours. 200-205 IT. Pull and enjoy. There will be lots of juice in the pan to pour over pulled meat. Not super dark bark but I never have had anyone not like it. Give it a try.
LSG Adjustable Grill/Smoker, MAK Pellet Grill, Large BGE with Several Attachments from the Ceramic Grill Store, Weber Gasser, Cast Iron Pans & Griddle, Grill Grates, Mostly Thermoworks Thermometers, Avova SV Stick, BBQ Guru Controller and Fan
Just last week I got a 7.5# for Pork butt at the store for $1/LB. When I took it out of the cryovac bag it was in 6 chunks that had been trimmed of a lot of the outside fat so I had no choice it seemed but smoke in a foil pan. It was smoked on the BGE in the pan to 180* (turned the pieces a few times to help get bark on all sides). Foiled the pan at 180* and continued to about 205* which was probe tender. At that time I closed the vents on the BGE and let it rest in there for about another hour. It turned out very good with a better than average yield because of being trimmed of the outer fat -----so in answer to your question I vote for foiling.
What about on a roast rack in a pan? I smoke turkey using a roasting rack (actually a rib rack flipped upside down) inside of a foil pan. Having it on the rack will allow more surface area for smoke. Of course that adds something else to clean.
I trim the fat and use an under the grate drip pan then clean the grate after every pulled pork cook. I have and often do cook in a pan for chuck roasts because they are more prone to drying out than a pork butt. So I catch the juices, separate and discard most of the fat the I add the juice back into the meat. If I wrap I wrap the pan.
I bought a couple of racks from Amazon that I thought were raised but weren’t. So, I went to Home Depot and bought some stainless steel hardware to raise the racks. I used round head bolts so the weight wouldn’t punture the foil pan. I’ve started putting apple juice in the pan after the stall.
I don’t use a pan because I have always wondered if using one would give me less smoke and bark. I cook on a BGE typically cook to an internal temp of 200, wrapping and putting in a faux cambro for at least 2 hours. Cooking at 225 from lighting the fire to taking it out of the cambro is abou 17 hours.
only thing i pan is beans, and mac & cheese, lol. fat cap towards the heat, and with a brisket fatcap towards the heat plus the point turned towards the fire on an offset. I mainly cook on my verts so point orientation is less critical. If i have it liaded down, the one on the top rack is fatcap up as most verts have a hotspot at the very top as well.
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