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Pork butt came out too soft

Yesterday I cooked two pork butts but the meat came out too soft for our liking.

The butts were covered in yellow mustard before applying the rub, cooked for 17hrs at a steady 250 until IT reached 196, and then FTC'd for 3 hours with butcher paper and foil. To avoid this again, should I not use mustard, stop the cook closer to 190, or avoid the FTC step?

Thanks

Basking  Ridge, NJ - XL with KAB

Comments

  • BuckeyeBob
    BuckeyeBob Posts: 673
    By soft, do you mean the met itself or the bark. My meat is usually soft due to the juice internal. When you FTC that long, the bark can soften up in my experience. That being said, the mustard is not causing the issue. And I wouldn't take it off at 190. It will pull much easier at 195+. Hope this helps.
    Clarendon Hills, IL
  • NJ_BBQ
    NJ_BBQ Posts: 137
    By soft, do you mean the met itself or the bark. My meat is usually soft due to the juice internal. When you FTC that long, the bark can soften up in my experience. That being said, the mustard is not causing the issue. And I wouldn't take it off at 190. It will pull much easier at 195+. Hope this helps.
    It was the inner meat that was soft, no texture when you ate it. Actually I was pleased with how firm the bark was, I think the paper absorbed a lot of the steam while wrapped in the cooler.
    Basking  Ridge, NJ - XL with KAB
  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    It's more than likely happening when you FTC. Doing two of the same size and only FTCing one will help narrow it down.
  • SkinnyV
    SkinnyV Posts: 3,404
    Congrats you nailed pork butt. Want more texture pull it off earlier, then you chop not pull but you will get what you want.
    Seattle, WA
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,411
    NJ, most of the Eggers here rave about how "moist" the final products are, coming off the Egg.  I'll be honest, it took me a while to get used to it, especially butts and chicken; almost made me a vegetarian (well, not quite...)  I'll be following this thread too to learn ways to get more bite and texture to my butts & birds... 
    _____________

    Scurvy:  when Life doesn't give you lemons


  • Duganboy
    Duganboy Posts: 1,118
    No help available from me because I like the pulled pork soft on the inside.  Great thing about Q is that you can do it the way that suits you and your family.
  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,457
    edited July 2013
    @NJ_BBQ - I agree with you on the pork from a low and slow being on the to squishy side. I haven't figured out if is the long cooking time or the FTC. I started doin mine at 350 straight thru and did not FTC. I think it made a big difference in the texture of the meat to the good side for my liking.
    I do think that beef deffinately needs a rest period. I alway FTC my chuckies and brisket.

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273
    Nothing to do with mustard!
    Cookin in Texas
  • I second the rest period.  You might try a shorter cooking like a turbo to see if you prefer it more them the low and slow longer cooks.  I think of a long cook somewhat like cooking a roast in a crockpot, tends to be overcooked like boiled meat.  I like turbo cooks output and have cut back on foil other then loose covering.
  • Mud Pig
    Mud Pig Posts: 489
    I would go with cubed pork instead of pulled for your butts if you want more texture. I don't like pulled pork as much as cubed. When I do my pork butts I take them up to 195 an FTC for 4 hours, then slice them like chops and cube each chop. Pulling the pork doesn't leave enough bite for my taste.

    Never did understand why some BBQ restaurants even go so far as fr pulverize their pulle pork by chopping after they pulled it apart.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    edited July 2013
    It's all a matter of personal preference, and regional custom.  Ham is cooked at 170, you can slice it but not pull it.  Still some collagen left.  But it can taste wonderful. 

    If it's too soft for your tastes, undercook it from where you cooked it.   FTC is basically extending the cook...it'll cook for another hour or so (defined as the temp equalizing, a function of the temp you're cooking at) if you wrap it in foil and put in a cambro.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Cowdogs
    Cowdogs Posts: 491
    Skip the foIl. people here swear by it, but nothing ruins a pork butt like a couple hours in a cooler. I guess if all you you have cooked is dry pork, the moist Mushy pork butt you get when you foil seemd like an improvement.
  • texbagger
    texbagger Posts: 90
    I don't really understand "soft pork", I thought that was the goal? I'm completely missing the point here.
  • Cowdogs
    Cowdogs Posts: 491
    Tender is good. Mushy is not. Mushy is overcooked.