This is great. It gives me the missing pieces for this weekend's cook. I'll document my own results. I've been doing the sous-vide, chill, smoke combo with huge success on burgers and beef roasts. I haven't done pork butt yet though. The beef roasts have always been cooked to medium rare so this process is different, specifically in hitting a high enough temperature to avoid the dreaded stall.
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Just a long-term follow-up, if anyone's still interested.
Last weekend I decided to get out the water bath and cook up some pork butts again, finishing in the PBC. I tried to take a few of my own suggestions to heart:
1) The last time I picked up a couple of 9-10# butts, I sliced them in half, which worked SO much better in the vacuum seal bags.
2) I rubbed them with kosher salt, left them in the fridge for about 2-3 hours, then rubbed them with Memphis Dust, bagged and sealed them, and tossed them into the deep freeze. Not sure if it was really necessary to let them dry-brine that 3 hours or not, but I did it, so...
3) I took them out of the freezer last weekend and dropped them right into warm water in the bath, no thawing required.
4) I brought the temp up to 158F this time, instead of the 160s. I wanted to see if the pork would hold together any better after SV cooking. It didn't end up making a difference; after 22 hours, I pulled them out of the bath and they almost fell apart while pulling them out of the bags! Note that these two pieces were the bone-in parts, so they had that going against them.
5) I saved the purge this time per suggestions earlier in this thread: a solid QUART for about 10# of pork butt! I ended up reducing it by about 40%, adding about a 1/2 cup of Weber BBQ sauce to thicken it up a bit more.
6) Meat went into the PBC at about 280F (cooker temp) after getting some more Dust "rubbed" on (actually, lightly patted and throw on, as the meat was a jiggly mass), and stayed in for about 2.5 hours. I needed to get it off the cooker so I could throw a couple of chicken in afterward.
7) I shredded the butts and dumped in all of the remaining reduced purge sauce. The meat was already quite moist (which my family loves), so I thought the sauce would make it a muddy mess. Not so. It didn't seem to affect the meat negatively at all.
So how did it end up?
Taste: just about the same with as without the sauce. I didn't really notice a big taste difference, though that may have been offset by a more bland meat this time. I made the mistake of NOT TASTING the meat prior to adding the sauce. But it was still great tasting pork overall. Kids loved it the following night.
Shredding: Man, this is the life. I didn't even get my Bear Claws dirty; I just started squeezing and rubbing the meat between my silicone-gloved hands and it fell apart. So easy.
Bark: Meh. Something to be said for that crunchy meteorite coming out of the cooker after 11-14 hours. This was just barely bark; next time, I need to try to give it more time, at least another hour. Or try using more sugar, maybe.
Smoke ring: Almost non-existent, even as damp as the meat was. I used a couple of cherry wood chunks and opened the lid a couple of times to get them to burn a bit, but I think the meat just wasn't on long enough to get that nice pink ring.
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Potkettleblack Interesting, so you do it the opposite way, but then it goes back to the smoker again after 48 hours? How do you hang it that pork butt, in a mesh bag? Mine are falling apart after only 20 hours in SV! -
Personally, I have found with SV, I need MORE spices and more salt than normal. I think it's because so much of the juice comes out and it soaks around, essentially dilutes things. I haven't done a butt SV, though, only steaks, really. -
*sigh*
I'm sick of saying this.
SV is an EXTRACTIVE form of cooking, as are all wet cooks.
Sous vide naked. Season after sous vide.
The exception is QVQ for bark.Then you season before and rerub after. As with Pork.
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Thanks for revisiting this thread. About to dip my big toe (butt) into the pond (SV), great info.Comment
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Potkettleblack what temp you cook at for the first two hours? At what temperature for the smoker do you recommend until barked?Comment
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First post, let’s see if I can get the images working properly.
Did 3 porkbutts for my daughters birthady party.
I started Friday morning by salting and putting a light amount of rub on the butts and vacuum sealed them. They were boneless from Costco so they were already split in two each. Once I had all six sealed I threw them in the fridge for a few hours. Then I filled up the cooler with water and set the Sous Vide to 165. I loaded them in at around 140 degrees and let them sit for a little over 24 hours (since I didn’t start at 165). Last night I put them in an ice bath and then the fridge. This morning I woke up and decided to do a little extra step by re heating them a bit in the Sous Vide again to loosen up the juices. This extra step ended up being a pain in the ass because it made them a lot more delicate even if it was only for 2-3 minutes each. After they came out I threw a real coat of rub on them, threw them in the smoker at 270 for 4 hours. They varied from around 150-170 degrees when I pulled them. It was a huge hit and will be my go to way of prepping from now on.
Heres the end result:
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Thanks to all for the great ideas and experiences. First cook in new Anova SV. Just took my small shoulder (<5#) out of the SV after 18 hours at 165*. In the ice bath now and will smoke for a few hours later today. will report back after tasting.
Just off my Vision smoker. 2.5 hours at 300* with diffuser removed for last 20+ minutes. Taste is just fine and equal to (better than??) a long smoked butt. Very happyComment
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Revisiting on my exit tour...
Why does no one want to:
A: Smoke - Sous - Smoke (maybe this a week long project... Brine on Saturday, smoke for an hour on Sunday, Sous on any week day, Finish on Saturday)
B: Try a temp below 155*F (and then not complain about them falling apart out of the bag)
C: Shock it cold before smoking when it clearly produces a better product. (And then not complain about them falling apart when you try to take it out of the bag)
Additionally:
135-140 x 48-72. Go lower longer.
And always shock and chill ahead of a smoke finish.Last edited by Potkettleblack; March 20, 2018, 04:41 AM.Comment
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