Cooking and traveling with multiple Boston butts

Mayberry · February 6

I'm cooking 3 butts this week to take to a few friends and family members that had a baby/had surgery this week. I'll have to travel about an hour and a half to deliver them. How should I go about this? I want to have some fresh for them to eat when I deliver it, and then want to store some single serving bags for use while they are recovering. Should I FTC and drive down there to pull the pork when I drop it off, or pull it before I leave home? How long can you safely FTC before pulling without sacrificing the quality of the pork? I'm also thinking of cooking a slab of ribs to take with me, which would add 5-6 hours to the time. If the butts won't old up for that wait, I'll skip the ribs and take them later. Advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Solson005 · February 6

FTC and pulling there would make for the best tasting scenario. Here is a link that describes FTC Holding Times. Sounds like a pretty nice thing to do, definitely earning some karma points!

GrannyX4 · February 6

Cook the ribs with the butts on a second tier. That is a very nice cook for the family. I hope everything and everyone has great success. ;;)

Mickey · February 6

Good for you. Nice. I would pull when I got there if within about 4 or so hours of end of cook and you kept good and hot in butt cooler. I have not done it yet but a few days ago on one of the forums someone posted heating a couple of firebricks and putting in butt cooler.

Chubbs · February 6

That is a nice gesture. Good work. I would FTC two of them. Pull the third at your house. Food saver individual portions once cooled. This will allow the cook to FS some portions for yourself too. Then roll with the ribs. Good luck. Hope everyone has a speedy recovery

Mayberry · February 6

Thanks for the advice. After your feedback and thinking about it overnight, I might just break up the cook a little bit. My mother-in-law has an egg, also, so I Think I'm just going to cook all the butts here, FTC them, and head down there. After I pull the pork where it's to be dropped off, I can put the ribs on to cook over at her house, and re-deliver them that night. A little bit more driving, but that way everything is fresh and ready to go when it gets there. After this, I think I need to find a way to cook on multiple surfaces. I don't want to go with the adjustable rig, because I've already purchased my plate setter and want to continue using it. I know it's ridiculous, but I don't want to use a pizza stone for indirect cooks. I want to use my platesetter. Can you cook on multiple layers with the Woo? Are there any other solid options out there for a large and cooking on multiple levels?

Smokin_Trout · February 6

I have put a couple of brick pavers in with the meat to use them as a heat source. They will take a few hours on the egg to get to temp, they will also take some temp out of the egg. Make sure the bricks are dry, good chance a wet one will break/explode. Placed a towel in the bottom of cooler, then the bricks with the meat on top. A few hours later the meat was still super hot.

I've seen a picture on here where someone used long bolts and a few nuts to put a second tier on.

Mickey · February 6

Mayberry said:

Thanks for the advice. After your feedback and thinking about it overnight, I might just break up the cook a little bit. My mother-in-law has an egg, also, so I Think I'm just going to cook all the butts here, FTC them, and head down there. After I pull the pork where it's to be dropped off, I can put the ribs on to cook over at her house, and re-deliver them that night. A little bit more driving, but that way everything is fresh and ready to go when it gets there. After this, I think I need to find a way to cook on multiple surfaces. I don't want to go with the adjustable rig, because I've already purchased my plate setter and want to continue using it. I know it's ridiculous, but I don't want to use a pizza stone for indirect cooks. I want to use my platesetter. Can you cook on multiple layers with the Woo? Are there any other solid options out there for a large and cooking on multiple levels?

Do it the EASY way. Just buy the extra Egg
:-\"

Solson005 · February 6

I use the platesetter with my Ceramic Grill Works Swing Rack all the time for both smoking and pizza.

Charlie tuna · February 6

I have transported eight butts a distance of two hours without dropping below the suggested 140 degree mark. I turbo cook, and inject, so my butts come off at 210 internal degrees. During the wrapping process, i triple wrapped them. I found a cooler that held them with little space left empty. Butts went directly from the Egg to the cooler, packed towels in any open space. Pulled the pork after arriving at the party, and pulled the butts as they were consumed. Not a problem. And transported some leftovers home and ate it, still here to talk about it !! :)]

TUTTLE871 · February 6

Go buy a Yeti cooler, I traveled with 5 butts for 2 hours, got to the party and pulled them out of the cooler and they were piping hot. I did wrap them all in foil and put them in the cooler. All were moist and outstanding.

Yeti was the second best thing I have ever bought, Egg being number one.

SmokeyPitt · February 6

Mayberry said:

Can you cook on multiple layers with the Woo? Are there any other solid options out there for a large and cooking on multiple levels?

I don't think you need anything too fancy for this. Just get an extra grid and lay it on top of the butts, and put the ribs on top. It might be nice to create a little space between them. You could just use some foil balls or some other type of rack. If nothing else just get one of the disposable grill toppers and bend/roll the edges to make a short raised grid.

Mayberry · February 8

Butts are on for tomorrow, and the egg is slap full...lol. One more question....my grate temp on the maverick is reading 325, but the. Dome temp is reading 225. Is that because theEgg is so full? should I shut it down some and try to stay near 225 grate temp?

Charlie tuna · February 8

The grate probe is probably in a hot spot. Make sure it is not in any area that is open directly to your lump below!

Mayberry · February 8

Yep,Charlie.....that was it. Thanks! Smokin' away.....Purrty!

Charlie tuna · February 8

When you position your grid probe, always find a place that isn't directly exposed to the fire below, the placement in the photo is wrong. Also i suggest you put a double layer of foil around your probe wires to reduce their failure rate. The temperatures in this "EXPOSED" area surrounding the plate setter can easily exceed the ratings of the wire's insulation. Buying probes can get expensive...

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Cooking and traveling with multiple Boston butts

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