a little dry around the bark

Walkersbald · February 2012

my first boston butt turned out great! a small 3 lb., 250 degree for 16 hours, i pulled it off the egg with a 188 deg. meat temp. used yellow mustard and some guldens for a paste and then put on a nice rub the misses fixed. placesetter with a pan on top of rack with the butt on a v-rack.

the meat was a little dry around the bark, is that normal? still great and very moist!

i did not inject with anything, but next time will try.

i used the digiq...that piece of equipment is awesome. used the ramp feature.

SandBilly · February 2012

I cooked a 5.5 pounder yesterday at the same temp, it took 8 hours.

gooddogjudge · February 2012

my first boston butt turned out great! a small 3 lb., 250 degree for 16 hours, i pulled it off the egg with a 188 deg. meat temp. used yellow mustard and some guldens for a paste and then put on a nice rub the misses fixed. placesetter with a pan on top of rack with the butt on a v-rack.

the meat was a little dry around the bark, is that normal? still great and very moist!

i did not inject with anything, but next time will try.

i used the digiq...that piece of equipment is awesome. used the ramp feature.

my last 7 lb butt took 14 hours at 250 and took it off at 200 internal. I can't imagine a butt that size taking that long, but I am relatively new to this. Have you calibrated your meat thermometer?

paulheels · February 2012

I have cooked whole shoulders that take that long! Yes the bark will be somewhat dry. but that is where your flavor is. I pull all the bark off, pull the pork, chop the bark, then mix in with pulled pork. gives flavor throughout the pulled pork and the dry bark is not noticeable

Walkersbald · February 2012

thank you for comments. i will check the calibration...

thanks paul, i will mix it that way, sounds great

hogaholic · February 2012

I cover my butts with heavy duty foil when the bark cooks to the level of doneness that I like. Keeps it from getting hard and black.

Something is wrong if it took 16 hours to cook a tiny 3 lb butt to 188 internal at that dome temp.. I have cooked 27 lbs of butt (3 X 9lb) in not much more time than that at 250 dome..

Walkersbald · February 2012

did a quick check on both probes in boiling water and they both came up to 211 deg.

boatbum · February 2012

Every piece of meat will vary - for planning purposes, I tend to think around 1.5 to 2 hours per pound - tops. I wonder if you were hitting a void in the meat or something when you checked the internal... I dunno - do BB's have voids?

hogaholic · February 2012

Every piece of meat will vary - for planning purposes, I tend to think around 1.5 to 2 hours per pound - tops. I wonder if you were hitting a void in the meat or something when you checked the internal... I dunno - do BB's have voids?

Yes they do. Butts are shoulder cuts and you have several different muscle groups in there seperated by membranes called fascia. As the meat cooks toward completion I have noticed that a temp probe passed through the meat encounter areas requiring far less pressure to push the probe. I try to get the tip placed in muscle, which you can feel as an area offering more resistance.

If the temp of your DigiQ was in one of the fatty areas perhaps that accounts for what happened

gdenby · February 2012

That was way too long. What you describe, a dry bark, has been called a dessication zone. It usually happens at higher temperatures. When the outside of a large piece of meat becomes a dry crust, there is space underneath that it is so dry, that the heat transfer to deeper in slows down.

Butts rarely need mopping. However, in this case it might have helped. The added moisture could increase the conduction of the air heat down into the meat.

Also, what was the fat cap like? A butt is one cook where more fat is desirable.

FWIW, I never had good PP till I did a butt around 6 lbs. The smaller ones always came out rather dry.

Walkersbald · February 2012

thanks for all the info! im cooking another one tonight, a 9 pounder. cant wait to see the results! im going to not use the v-rack this time and put the butt on the grate with inverted plate setter and drip pan of course with aluminum feet(thanks for tip). i will post some pics too!

Walkersbald · February 2012

oh and i could have had the meat probe hit a fatty spot too. will make sure it is in the muscle!

Weekend Warrior · February 2012

@Walkersbald. The cook was so long because you had the Ramp mode feature turned on. Read the instructions that came with the DigiQ regarding Ramp mode. It did exactly what it's designed to do. As your food approaches it's done temp, the ramp mode lowers the grid temp so your food doesn't overshoot it's set done temp. Ramp mode extends cooking time and WILL dry your food out if left too long. 16 hours was waaaaay too long for a 3 lb. butt.

Walkersbald · February 2012

thank you,

noarmysargent · February 2012

I agree, cooked too long. The bark is the best part. If it gets to hard for you, wrap in foil and place it in a cooler for a couple of hours after it is cooked. The slow cool down will soften the bark and you get lots of juices.
I use this method for all pork.

a little dry around the bark

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