I just read a comment on another post by Huskee (I think) where he said he prefers cooking smaller chunks of pork butt, around 4lbs or so. I'm gonna disagree with that and say that bigger, full cuts are better. Here's why.
I think that with the bigger cuts you might be giving up more bark, but the tradeoff is that you can keep it in the 170 - 200 degree range longer, which is where the real magic of fat rendering and the resulting tenderizing occurs. I actually don't worry about the cook temp too much before I start approaching 150 or so. That doesn't mean I crank it up to 350, but if the cook temp runs a bit hot at 275 for a while I'm not terribly concerned about it.
Once the pork hits the 150 mark is when I want to be sure the cook temp is at 250 or ideally 225. I usually place my butts or arms in an aluminum pan at about 160 or so and cover with foil for the final run to 203. I use the drippings from that for the basis of my sauce. I also put some butter and honey on it at that point (and sometimes just a touch of maple syrup).
Anyway, I think that the bigger mass of meat allows for a more tender piece of meat at the end because it simply takes longer to reach the final temp.
I think that with the bigger cuts you might be giving up more bark, but the tradeoff is that you can keep it in the 170 - 200 degree range longer, which is where the real magic of fat rendering and the resulting tenderizing occurs. I actually don't worry about the cook temp too much before I start approaching 150 or so. That doesn't mean I crank it up to 350, but if the cook temp runs a bit hot at 275 for a while I'm not terribly concerned about it.
Once the pork hits the 150 mark is when I want to be sure the cook temp is at 250 or ideally 225. I usually place my butts or arms in an aluminum pan at about 160 or so and cover with foil for the final run to 203. I use the drippings from that for the basis of my sauce. I also put some butter and honey on it at that point (and sometimes just a touch of maple syrup).
Anyway, I think that the bigger mass of meat allows for a more tender piece of meat at the end because it simply takes longer to reach the final temp.
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