my first attempt at pork butt

mactoolman

this is the first attempt that i have made at smoking two pork butts 

Foghorn

Looks good from the pics.  Any problems or issues? Or just plain old boring success?

mactoolman

I was actually quite surprised as to how easy it was i used some pecan wood for some smoke and a dry rub with mustard. On the one I used a spicy brown mustard on the one and a honey mustard on the other the one with the honey mustard had a nicer bark and came out much juicier. 

Foghorn

"the one with the honey mustard had a nicer bark and came out much juicier."

That's some useful information.  It may influence how I do my next butt.  Thanks.

 

Blwilliams

Cooking a butt is the only thing I've had problems with. I've had great turkeys, beer butt chickens, tenderloins, steaks, etc on the first try but the 2.5 lb butt I cooked last week wasn't worth it.

So what am I doing wrong? I used the plate setter and drip pan. Pretty much kept it at 275 for about 4-5 hours until it hit 200 degrees. Used Jack Daniel's chips to for smoke. Parts tasted okay, but it was dry and tough for the most part. I did make the mistake of turning the whole thing one time.

nashbama

Lower the temp to 225 - 250 and don't turn it. Keep the fat side up the whole time. As the fat renders, it flows down through the meat and keeps it juicy. Pull it at 190 and rest it for at least 30 min - 1 hour. I'll also leave the probe in as it rests to make sure to keep juices in until time to pull.

lousubcap

@Blwilliams-sounds like you did everything right (no harm in turning) but the small butts (generallly under about 4#'s) are tough to get great pulled pork with.  My thought-not as much connective tissue to break down and contribute to the pulled pork texture.  Try a bigger butt and see how it turns out.  If you get a bone-in butt about the best indicator for "finished" is when the bone pulls clean.  FWIW-

tazcrash

@Blwilliams in addition to cap above, instead of cooking to a temp, take a bamboo skewer, or your thermometer probe, and slide it in and out. There should be no resistance in either direction. 

Blwilliams

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know about letting the fat side drip down. I'm ready to try another one. That 2.5 lb butt did look small. 

I've wanted a DigiQ for a while and finally picked one up on Friday. 

While reading around about this problem I ran across a thing where someone tossed in ears of corn still in the husks with whatever seasoning stuck down inside the ear. That sounds like a great idea for the next time I fire it up.