Pork butt question

Doctor Evil · March 2008

I am about to cook my first pork butt. This one is a doozie! It weighs in at 20 pounds. My advanced math skills tell me that I will be cooking this monster for 40 hours! No thanks. If I cut it in half and cook approximately 2 hours per pound, can I cook both halves at the same time and expect it to be done in about 20 hours, rather than 40? Do you suggest that I cook only half and freeze the rest raw, or will it freeze better after it is cooked?

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

You might want to open the cryovac. You might find it's already cut in half.

Yes you can cut it in half and make sure there is space between the two chunks.on the grate

You can cook both or freeze half. That is up to you.

Jeffersonian · March 2008

I think a minimum of 2" is the recommended spacing, no?

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

Just need air around it. Never really considered a minimum space.

Buckethead · March 2008

They been talking about that hog in Georgia for years, Hogzilla. That may be a record for a single butt. I would say that is one fat ass pig, but shoulder meat and ham meat is a fer piece apart. I agree with CW that you have two pieces of meat on one package.
Good luck, don't start a grease fire.
Doug

stike · March 2008

two butts touching won't slow the cook really. you need a pile before the cook time is affected. they will shrink a bit and pull away from each other anyway...

WooDoggies · March 2008

Are you sure you don't have a whole shoulder? 20 lbs is an awfully big pork butt. How is it packaged?

Raw pork freezes well and bbq'd pork freezes well. I'd cook it all at the same time and vacuum freeze what you can't use.
It's always nice to reach in the freezer and have pork bbq when you want it!

john

Nature Boy · March 2008

Howdy Doctor.
As the other knowledgeable folks have mentioned, you don't have one pork butt there. You either have 3 pork butts (or 2 really big ones) or a whole shoulder. Does it have any skin on it??

We'll get you straight here one way or the other!
Beers
Chris

Nature Boy · March 2008

Yo Stike. Good to see you so active around here still.

Okay, so two butts with their sides pressed against each other won't "slow the cook really". I'd think it has to, since one side of the butt is basically cut off from any heat....except for what comes from the neighbor. Ya gotta think it makes a difference. I am simply a right-brainer though, and have not done (nor will do) any scientific tests. So I was hoping to tap into what you are thinking here. Why doesn't it slow the cook??

Just so you know, and unrelated to this post, but I am a big fan of your humor here on this board.
Beersmang!
Chris

Eggtucky · March 2008

cook em both or all 3..whatever u got there...there are many many uses for cooked butt.. I package it in 2 cup quantities vacuum packed..that is enough for most where you just need some to add to another cook and you can always open more than one

stike · March 2008

it might be nice to put one butt up against the other in bed, but it don't keep you warm, does it?

i got my info re: multiple butts affecting cook time from fishless (i did NOT get my info re: rubbing butts in bed from him at all. no way).

he went so far as to say four butts affect the length of the cook only because of airflow. once they shrink, the airspace around them opens up and the cook goes on as normal.

i always revert to "thought experiments"... habit of the profession. so. think of two pork butts touching like a hot dog. a hot dog is longer than it is round. it cooks based on the amount of time it takes the heat to go the shortest distance toward the center.

two butts jammed together are still gonna cook in about the same time as one, because the shortest distance to the center is still from the side. four butts, and another on top, is a different story.

if you make the two butts into a sphere, well, your cook would get longer.

stike · March 2008

oh. meant to say thanks for the props, yo. hopefully you weren't being facetious and i just missed it!

yeah. i have been active.

work is slow this time of year. hahaha

i'm glad you appreciate the sense of humor. fishless is convinced that 90% of the folks here don't understand the yankee sense of humor, and that they just assume i'm an ass. i mean, i AM an ass, just not entirely in the way they THINK i'm an ass.

Doctor Evil · March 2008

Thanks for all your help. I'm not going to start the cook until tomorrow night, so I'll open the package tomorrow. I'll let you know how it comes out and what was in the package.

lowercasebill · March 2008

save us the suspense...open it now put some rub on it and wrap it over night ???? please :laugh: :laugh:

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

Well if my wife's cold butt is pressed against mine hers warms up and mine cools off. Then it takes time for both to get warm again without manual intervention.

stike · March 2008

i bet most of your "manual intervention" takes place in the shower. or when that hot chick is anchoring CNN

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

A bet you will lose!! I don't watch CNN!!

stike · March 2008

...and apparently you do not shower.

somehow i already knew that.

Nature Boy · March 2008

LOL. Interestin thoughts. I guess if the long ends are butted up against each other, then you still only have 20% or less of the butts that are getting no heat/air. And like fishless sez (and I'd hafta say that's a credible source) a seperation will occur at some point. Still...it's gotta increase the time, and there is no way the butts can cook evenly, and your crust will suffer where buttage occurs. I avoid buttage at all costs, but I love the fact that I now know I can get away with butt buttage if need be. Which is why I love this forum! Thanks for rollin with that question,
Beersmang!
Chris

Nature Boy · March 2008

Naw, I am not being facetious. And, actually, I usually try and be at least SLIGHTLY obvious if I am being sarcastic ;-)

I thought you were an ass at first. Now you crack me up. I hope that I feel the same way when I finally meet you! hee!

You slow enough to pop on down to Waldorf in May?
Gonna be fun.

Nature Boy · March 2008

Open the package! Open the package!

stike · March 2008

aw MAN. Natureboy thought i was an ASS....

that's saying somethin. ooof! right in the solar plexus.

you know. maybe i will pop down there. but if you think i'm bad now, wait til i;'ve had a cuppla beverages!

WooDoggies · March 2008

I will be the first to contribute to a travel/gas fund to assure that you, J. Stike, will attend the 2008 Waldorf Eggfest.
Anyone interested in signing on can contact me.

Sorry, man, but you have no say in this. :~)

john

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

He'll probably run off with the cash to Jamaica, but I'll pay to throw his skinny butt on a bus..

stike · March 2008

so tonight i mentioned.... gee you know, one of the guys mentioned waldorf.
my wife didn't even turn to look at me, or pause: told me "you're going"
hahaha

so ok
so i'll commit. i'll go.

whattayoo all sleep in tents down there, though? few years ago there wasn't a pic posted by you or NB that didn't have a damn tent in it. i'm cool with that. long as there's ice for the beverages.

why she tryna get ridda me, anyway? yoo i think she has a lover?

(dude. using my real name on the web is like pulling down my shorts in gym class. chicks all "ooooh STIKEY". and freaky peeple like celtic wolf'll be googling my ass and all. hahahaha)

stike · March 2008

not so skinny anymore.

the only reason i ain't shown up at yer place to school yer ass in the art of fighting-like -a-gurl is that greyhound said i have widened so much that i need anutha ticket....

my wife came home today and saw me at the 'puter with the top button of my pants undone and i blurted out "no no no. it ain't whatcha think!"

i had to bring up my post on the forum about eating a giant damn kielbasa at lunch to show her.

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

Trust me I will not be googling your ass.

You can sleep in a tent. The rest of us will be in the Comfort Inn or the Country Inn.

Celtic Wolf · March 2008

Do you beep when you back up?

stike · March 2008

i can do whatever you want me to, sailor. it's your dime

stike · March 2008

wherever i sleep, you can bet there's a tent, my friend.

WooDoggies · March 2008

Awesome! That's great news.... I look forward to finally clinking beers with you. But I'll tell you now, the 10 bucks I was going to throw in for gas will only get you as far as Hoboken... and no one else has contacted me to to contribute. How are your hitchhiking skills?

If you're really intent on sleeping in a tent, there's Cedarville State Forest just a few miles up the road.... my friends from England camped there for eggfest a few years ago and seemed not to be bothered by the locals if you know what I mean.

john

previous post edited for anonymity. :~)

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