My First Boston Butt

Egg Pirate

Hi Everyone,[p]I'm cooking my first Boston Butts for my little girl's Birthday. I picked up 4 from Sams Club yesterday. They are 7-8 lbs each. My question is, should I put them with the fat side down or up? Second question is approximately how long will it take at 220 on an Xl. Thanks in advance for the help.

Unknown

Don't know how many people you are expecting but if you cook all four butts, you'll have a boat load of pulled pork. I did 3 butts (from Costco) last weekend for a perty with 35 people and we only went through two butts (we did have other food and appetizers).[p]As far as time to cook, you never know for sure as it's dependent on the meat itself. Some go fast, some go slow. Rule of thumb that I use is to figure about 2 to 2-1/2 hours per pound (that's not the total of multiple butts on the egg -- use the weight of the largest butt).

Egg Pirate

Steve in Maryland,
The guest list has grown to 60. I was planning on about 2 hours per pound.[p]Thanks [p]

Celtic Wolf

Egg Pirate,[p] I really need to save this to disk so I can just cut and paste it [p]Keep the Dome at 250. This will put the grate at 220. This kind of cook can be done direct, but indirect is better. You really don't want 10+ hours of grease dripping on the coals.[p]4 is probably way over kill for 40 people, but it does freeze well. What you want is 14 to 13 pound per person of finished product. You will lose 40% of the raw product after cooking. Using your 40 people * 5.6 oz (13 lb) / 16 = 13.4 finished product. or 17 lb of raw product. Older folks will eat less, younger more.[p]You need to plan this cook at 1-2 hours per pound. This is not total weight, but the weight of each piece of meat. Smaller pieces will fool you and finish later. So if you got a 6 or 7 pound butt you are looking at 9 - 14 hours total. [p]Last words of advice. Fill the firebox up to the top. Mix whatever DRY wood chunks you want for flavor into the lump. Make sure that NONE of the hold in the fire grate are plugged with small pieces. Light it and let the egg stablize at 250. It will take 45-60 minutes to prove it's stable. You want the smoke to be clear or very light blue.[p]IMPORTANT PART: Put the meat in with as much space between the pieces as possible. Close the cover. WALK AWAY. DO NOT mess with the vents. If you do you will be chasing the temp ALL night. Check it in about an hour. If the temp is below 250 make minor adjustment wait a 15 minutes. Repeat if necessary.[p]