My first butt cook in a kettle and it looks far better than anything I’ve done in the vertical gasser. Not that the butt cooks on the gasser were bad. The overall appearance looks far better. The butts are for the gent’s lunch tomorrow, but for some or other reason the wife had the idea some was for supper. Started the cook at 14:10 and at about 19:30 the smaller of the 2 chunks IT was 76 so I removed and sliced a few pieces for the wife and daughter. The cook wasn’t without it’s niggles. After stabalising the cook chamber at about 266F and the wood had a nice burn and smoke I presented the meat to the cooker all dressed in MMD. Typical of Port Elizabeth weather another weekend of blustery wind. I set my XR50 oven alarm at a low of 230 and a high of 257F. The oven hovered around 245F with spikes every now and then that went as high as 270F but recovered without any interference from myself within a short time. I also had one or two occasions when it dropped just below 230 also short lived.I assume the wind was playing a part in that scenario. The top vent was fully open and bottom vent had only a slight crack. After around 3 ½ hours I had to peak and that was a good thing because the coals were nearing the end of the burn. This is when things went a little haywire. I had to remove the top grate meat and all to add more charcoal. This done and everything back in place I just couldn’t get the oven temp back down to my target range. The temp was up and down between 270 and 285F. I after ignoring it for a good while (the bottom vent was completely closed) I decided to try a few things. Cracked the lid open to allow heat to escape. Bad idea just increased the temp even more. Closed the top vent completely and still did not help. I decided to live with the temp hovering at higher than I wanted. Not too sure how long that lasted but it was some time after I had snuck / sliced a couple pieces for the hungry that it stabalised again, to a temp more to my want. It is now almost 23:00 and I’ve moved the butts into the inside oven that I have set at 220F to finish the cook. I have set the meat alarm to wake me when it reaches 195F. The big butt IT is 165 and the smaller at 176. This is one time I hope the stall goes on and on, so I don’t get woken in the middle of the night.
and some crackling from one of the butts rind.
and some crackling from one of the butts rind.
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