I am getting pretty comfortable with pulled pork but I have noticed something that I hope somebody can help provide insight or advice. I cook the butt on a Weber 22" and with my 2.2 SnS. The smoke is good, and about 80% of the butt is moist and tender and pulls apart very easily. One section of the butt doesn't ever seem to soften up and the meat in this section is drier. I am assuming that this section (I don't know how to describe where it is in the butt) is a specific muscle or tendon but I have never read about it in any of the directions or discussions about cooking a butt. I don't think it's a result of technique although it occurs to me that maybe I should be moving my butt (sorry, couldn't resist) on the Weber to balance out the heat proximity to a great extent? I have learned to manage the heat at about 225 - 250 until the internal temperature is about 200 or 204 degrees. Or is it the same with everyone else, too, and all butts have this section of tougher, dryer meat?
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Last edited by TBlankley; May 20, 2019, 01:27 PM. -
I think they call that "the bone".
sorry.
I have not had this issue. I cut my butts in half to get more bark and most of the time, after it comes out of the stall...180ish, if I like the bark I put them in foil pan with liquid of choice, cover with foil and finish like this. Try spinning your butt. Couldn't hurt. -
I find the section near the blade bone drier and the last to get tender.Comment
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It's a shame we skew older, as I'm told millennials are all about the butt. ;-)
Yeah, there's the money muscle, and then there's the secret one that no one puts in a turn in box ever, and that no one tells you about. It's got long fibers and it works real hard to move the piggie around... the move is to pull everything else to get loosened up, pull that tough portion, and blend it really good with everything else, so no one gets a bite full of it.
Smaller butts, or split butts work better. No one says, "I got too much bark."Comment
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Ok, that makes a whole lot of sense to me and I actually wondered if this was the primary muscle so that it was lean and mean. Not that I compete, but I sure wouldn't put this piece in a presentation box unless I wanted to lose.
I am good with this now that I know that I'm not imagining things!
Mahalo from Hawaii!
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