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Boston Butt - Why 195 degree internal temp? Starting it tonight

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Comments

  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Jay,[p]I guess it depends how much you want to mind your fire all night. The meat being cold will give it plenty of time to form the smoke ring.[p]I usually put a few chunks of wood in with the lump in various places in the firebox so I get smoke throughout the cook.[p]I am also a believer that you need to burn the lump for a while to get rid of the thick white smoke that the newly lit lump emits. That thick white smoke will not impart a good flavor on the surface of the meat and also contains the VOC that you want to burn off without your food inside. Once that smoke thins to a tiny bit of bluish colored smoke and the temp is stable at 250, then I add the meat to the egg.[p]
  • Jay
    Jay Posts: 53
    Fidel,
    Man I am glad I saw this thread. I really don't want to tend to the fire at all. I think what you are suggesting makes great sense. I just want to get up twice tonight to make sure to avoid total devestation but I of course need my beauty rest![p]Thanks for the advice.

  • Pork Butt Mike,[p]I am a pastor and cook butts each weekend for members of my congregation that are sick or shut in. I help them out while feeding my obsession with the egg. Though my wife is not as charitable and says that she is going to put me on a meat budget. I told her that I was cooking wings tomorrow (hopefully like Rick's), and she said, "no more meat until next weekend!!!"

  • spbull472
    spbull472 Posts: 128
    Jay,[p]You hit my sentiments spot on, I have four buddies waiting to see how I do. Like you I'm worried I'll flood the engine, stall the motor, or spin out the tires and slam the car into the wall.[p]I'm going to go back to drinking my beer, finish it, relax and then start the fire.[p]Gotta jump in at some point, I'm sure the water's just fine.[p]STL Scott

  • Jay
    Jay Posts: 53
    spbull472,
    All I can say is ....AMEN BROTHER....[p]Just opened a cold one and put flame to coals!

  • Wise One,[p]Everything you say there makes sense. I just wonder why it shouldn't be OK to use a higher temp (maybe something like 280) for the first hour or until the meat temp gets to 130 or so. Then drop the egg temp back to 225.This being done to get the meat to the plateau temperature in a shorter time. If all the real conversion is happening during the plateau, what's the harm of getting there quicker? I like to experiment and have tried this a couple times. Last week when I tried this I got two 7 pound butts done in 8 hours and couldn't tell any difference except that there was less smoke flavor after they were pulled. Maybe I was lucky, or it might depend on the individual piece of pork. I would like to see some actual side by side tests done under controlled conditions. Maybe a project for the Whiz?