My First Pork Butt

[Troutman]

Good work. Pork butts are generally pretty unforgiving. As mentioned above, try wrapping next time. I'm an ardent pink butcher paper guy, keeps the bark in tact and helps prevent moisture loss that may have contributed to your surface dryness. You're now officially a pulled pork guy !!!

Start thinking of ways to use that pulled magic, anything from sandwiches, to tacos, in a pasta sauce; the sky's the limit !! Show us how you do it !!!

[fzxdoc]

Looks wonderful. Congrats on that cook!

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Also, plan to gently stir your coals at about the 4-5hr mark, and every 2hrs after that, with each low & slow cook. When doing that hold your kettle lid over the meat, no need to remove the meat that way. You should get a good 8hrs on one SnS load of coals, just scoot them to one side when needed.

[Huskee]

Most likely it's the not wrapping, it really beefs up the bark and if it's a lean part it'll be all bark in some spots. Try wrapping next time for a comparison. I like to wrap (foil) after the stall is done, at about 180 or so. To me it's a good mix of hardy bark but not hard.

[obiQsmoker]

Grats man, wasn’t THAT fun! Did my first long cook just last summer, and it kind of set the hook. You’ll learn and tweak each one. Thanks for sharing - love the photos - I’m drooling over here!

[mountainsmoker]

Your 290 for 2hrs was your devil for your dryness at the surface. You melted the fat out of that section.

It sure looks good though.

[Reds Fan 5]

Congratulations on your maiden voyage. You will learn something with almost every cook.

[Red Man]

Looks great, congrats! I have a hinged grate, which makes adding coals pretty easy. I use a large piece of foil I slip under, and fold over the meat. I push any remaining coals to one side of the SnS and then fill the rest of the SnS up with unlit coals.

[Michael_in_TX]

And I only let it rest for 20 minutes. Was hungry.

[Michael_in_TX]

Oh, I pulled (pun intended) at 198 degrees. My thermopop went through it like butter essentially all over.

[Michael_in_TX]

WOOHOO! Patience does indeed pay!

Amazing! I was so certain I messed this up. This turned out fantastic! I was getting really concerned towards the end that the bark was looking meteoritic, but it turned out really well.



And look at that smoke ring!



Shredded (Wow that is a lot of meat...)




Not only does it taste amazing, I learned a lot. I learned that I can do a prolonged cook (10 hours) between 250 and 290. I'm quite proud of that, especially compared to when I first got my grill back in December and my temps looked like a crazy sine wave.

Absolutely, without question, I will do this again. I'll do some things differently. One, sheepishly, I'll plan for a ~1 hr per pound cook time. I'll also try to get my temps a little lower towards 250 (brisket practice more than anything). I also need to come up with a way of getting additional coals in there without being so haphazard about it. I refilled my coals three times and was essentially did 3/4 of a chimney atop the existing coals. Probably should do 1/2 or so. And take the meat out to avoid getting ash on it.

I may also try the traditional Meathead method of dry brining a day ahead of time.

The pork isn't perfect. While the bark is great, the first two inches or so is a little dry. (Below that....oh so moist. Yum!) I wonder, did my higher temps cause the dryness near the surface or is it because I didn't wrap? (My temps did creep up to around 290 for about two hours.) Should I have spritzed/mopped? I purposely didn't spritz/mop as I was afraid of washing off the bark and/or making it really muggy.

I'm beyond delighted with how well this turned out....my first "real" low and slow smoke.

[Sweaty Paul]

Patience pays!

[Michael_in_TX]

Well, I guess I verified that the 1 hour per pound rule of thumb is generally correct. The butt never did seem to stall....it kept creeping up in temp, so I elected to not wrap. It's 8 pm at night and I'm at 180. I'm getting roughly ten degrees an hour. This is going to be a long two hours.

[Michael_in_TX]

So far so good. (I keep leaving my cell phone upstairs, so no pics yet, but it looks lovely. Beautiful mahogany color.) One thing I was really worried about is moisture. It looks plenty moist! (I haven't been spritzing or mopping.)

My coals gave out about 3.5 hours in. I didn't quite think this through....I didn't have a plan for how to add more coals. So what I did was put some foil over the meat and knock some ash off -- gently -- on the existing coals and added about 3/4 of a chimney of coals.

I'm back up to 260-270.

So far, I haven't wrapped. It's 4:40 pm. I could go as long as another two hours. Internal temp is still rising. (155 right now.)

[mountainsmoker]

I wouldn't wrap it. Read Meathead's recipe on Pulled Pork in the free section. He also does not recommend wrapping if you read all the way down he has it highlighted in yellow, it is way down after How the Champions Do It.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/perfect-pulled-pork-recipe

I have found a 10lb butt will take you 14-16hrs. Depending on the butt. If you are in a stall now at 120 that is a little unusual but each piece of meat is different. Your pit temp sounds good. If you have an instant read thermometer take the temps in several places. You might have the probe in a place that didn't get defrosted totally. I don't know but it is worth checking.