Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Youtube | Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
Smoking: after plateau, why peak to 190°+ ?
Options
Dr. Eggstein
Posts: 36
I've read everything I could find on smoking and the plateau (collagen-gelatin conversion) that occurs around 160 - 175 degrees F. Certainly, pork or beef is fully [safely] cooked at this temperature (175°F), so what's the advantage of further cooking to around 195°F? I wonder if the meat would dry out some while climbing another twenty degrees?
If I want to serve the food the day after the smoking, could I pull the pork off at 180°F so as to maximize moisture for reheating the whole uncut meat the next day?
Danke,
Dr. Eggstein
If I want to serve the food the day after the smoking, could I pull the pork off at 180°F so as to maximize moisture for reheating the whole uncut meat the next day?
Danke,
Dr. Eggstein
Comments
-
You certainly could eat the meat at that temp, but from what I've read, it just wouldn't pull very well.
-
if you only cook it to 175 you can slice it, but you wont be able to pull it as in pulled pork.fukahwee maineyou can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
-
According to Mike Mills of Apple City BBQ fame, the higher the temp, the more tender the meat. At 165-170, pork butt will be good for slicing. 190 + makes it good for pulling.
He wrote the book Peace, Love, and BBQ. Great book. -
I see that the higher temp would help with pulling, for pork? But, how about for brisket? If it's sliced, is there a benefit to stopping at 180 or at 195?
-
I understand the reason for the question, but I like having the additional temp to 195-200. I have had such a variance in plateau levels that it is very assuring to watch the temp quickly climb over the last hour or two. I do not think that there is any significant drying out at that level, and I much prefer pulled pork to sliced pork...
-
brisket slices nice somewhere between 185 and 195 depending on the particular piece of meat and how its cooked, slice it when its fork tender. get up near 205 and it will pull.fukahwee maineyou can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
-
I don't know much about smoking a pork butt, but with Briskettttt it seems to be a lot more tender when you break the plat and go in the 190's.
-
I only do briskets occasionally, and have yet to have an excellent 1. However, the best I've had was taken off at 195. Was still moist, and the closest to perfectly tender. At 175, they are still chewy, and not all that much moister. Usually, the time between 180 and 195 is fairly brief, so in the Eggs moisture retaining environment, there's not a lot of water loss, and the increase in gelatin off-sets that.
I've been happiest with butts around 200-05. -
Some of this will depend on the individual piece of meat.
With pork, for slicing I like cooking to about 145° and rest. Slices nice and very moist. At 155° - 185° for slicing the meat is usually dry.
Pulled, I cook to 195° then test tender with fork usually end up pulling about 197° to 205° and rest.
Brisket, for me, usually takes 195° to 205° and finish dpends on the fork test. I have never tried pulled brisket. Fishlessman's comment was interesting.
Beef, 'spoon tender' - fall apart, seems to happen in the 200° to 225° and longer cook times.
GG -
I usually pull brisket at 185. Rarely do I let it go over 190.
-
Stick with me on this. It looks arcane, but it's pretty close to the truth.
This is all perception, too, not based on actual measurements and an in depth Charleston-Dave-meets Wiley-meets-Grandpa's-Grub kind of NASA level study. It's just one man's perceptions.
But, look at the thicker orange and blue lines. this is what counts. Take the pulled pork off the grill at any temp, and your perception of how "moist" it is and how "tender" it is will pretty much follow the orange/blue graph. At 125, your pulled pork is moist (meaning, there is water/juice in the meat), but not very tender. At 150, 160 or so, you would perceive a lot of lost moisture. This is worse if you were to do this to a pork loin roast, for example.
Notice the dip in the blue line. What? How does meat lose moisture and then gain it back?
Two kinds of moisture. One is the juices-on-your-plate moisture of water and water-soluble proteins. Nice juicy pork-chop kind of moisture. That is GONE at 160, and ain't ever coming back. So how does it get it back? The collagen is breaking down, and re-moistens the dried out meat.
The pink and green lines are basically the same, showing moisture and tenderness as a result of the collagen break down. Since both are dependent on collagen, they are pretty much the same curve.
The pay-off is when the tenderness and moistness curves cross again at the far end of the graph. It's a fluffy inexact area, based on personal preferences. Mostly around 195 to 205.
Another reason to hang out longer toward 200 is to allow the overly fatty shoulder cut to melt off more of the fat. Again, a personal preference.
this would look a little different for a regular pork chop or roast.
(thanks to 'strike' for the use of his pen tablet) -
Here's what he meant to post for the pork chop. Notice who everything pretty much quits at 165+. No moisture, no tenderness, and it ain't ever coming back, because there's no collagen.
we have to leave quick, because strike is cvoming back from the proctologist's, and we only broke in to steal beer and leather bound books, not to answer barbecue questions. -
this may have hit 210/215, fishing was good and even though there were hungry people waiting for it and a brisket still cooking in an egg, i wasnt leaving the fish. anyway this is newengland and noone knew what brisket even was and i didnt tell them it was supposed to come out sliced. :laugh:
fukahwee maineyou can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it -
That looks fantastic. Another to do cook.
GG -
.
What is the middle part again?
GG -
I am overwhelmed with your graph . It is quite what the doctor ordered. That does help me - I tend to be so (too) analytical about things.
-Dr. Eggstein -
geez, and ppl say *I* have complicated posts...LOL..
Eggcellent analysis, ghost-of-Stike.
Now if we just redraft it with a logarithmic transformation.... :silly: -
hahahaha
touche', mon frer (as they say in russia)
Categories
- All Categories
- 182.8K EggHead Forum
- 15.7K Forum List
- 459 EGGtoberfest
- 1.9K Forum Feedback
- 10.3K Off Topic
- 2.2K EGG Table Forum
- 1 Rules & Disclaimer
- 9K Cookbook
- 12 Valentines Day
- 91 Holiday Recipes
- 223 Appetizers
- 516 Baking
- 2.4K Beef
- 88 Desserts
- 165 Lamb
- 2.4K Pork
- 1.5K Poultry
- 30 Salads and Dressings
- 320 Sauces, Rubs, Marinades
- 543 Seafood
- 175 Sides
- 121 Soups, Stews, Chilis
- 36 Vegetarian
- 100 Vegetables
- 313 Health
- 293 Weight Loss Forum