Turbo Pork Butt?

minniemoh

We have some new neighbors that just moved in a month or so ago. He just had back surgery last week so I thought we would take them some eats. I got a late start this morning so I thought I would give turbo a try. Just dusted it with Butt Rub and threw it on.

I've never done a turbo before (had one by accident once and it was pretty good) but I'm settled in at 350 degrees and it's been on since 9:30 AM. Internal is 181 degrees and I haven't wrapped it. Should I wrap now or let it ride until tender? Just don't want it to dry out. It's a boneless 8# from Costco. Thoughts?

RRP

My personal experience is not to foil a turbo as it ruins the bark. Being boneless however I imagine you might want to recheck the internal by moving the probe so it's not in an air pocket. My turbos get to 200-205 in 5 hours so I'm wondering about the probe reading.

Durangler

I would wrap it @ 185ish & run it up to 210ish. 

Others would tell me I'm nuts to wrap.)

Durangler

Looks good if that pic is at 180.  =D>

minniemoh

Thanks for the input guys. 

I just checked it with my Thermapen and it's anywhere from 172 to 194 in a variety of spots and starting to get tender. I think I might just let it go now as I'm at 187 on the probe. I didn't put my Maverick probe in until about 150 and it never stalled at all. I was at 375-380 on the dome for a while. 

I just don't want to take them something that sucks because it's dry. 

rholt

Foil. It has never steered me wrong. I wrap my turbos all the time and family and friends rave about it consistently.

minniemoh

Well, the turbo butt came out VERY juicy so no disappointment there. However, it had no egg'd/smoked flavor. It had a nice smoke ring and the bark had a nice texture to it but it didn't even taste as good as one coming out of a crockpot. I used 5-6 chunks of hickory and had a hard time getting the smoke to clear. I ended up taking one of the chunks out as it was the cause of the ridiculously nasty white billowing smoke and then I got my nice blue drift I was looking for. It smoked well for a couple of hours and then went away like most times. 

Normally, I would go 250-275 and use Meathead's Memphis Dust. Sometimes I inject Chris Lilly's simple injection too and I've been pleased with every pork butt I've made to this point using this combo. I really like the sweet and salty bark that I get from Memphis Dust. This time, I used Bad Byron's Butt Rub. I've used it on a lot of chicken, potatoes, beef, etc - just never a butt until today. This one just had no real bbq flavor for some reason. 

Is this common on a turbo/high heat cook for pork shoulder? Anyone else have this issue before? 

RRP

One thought comes to mind. You said this was boneless so I wonder if when the bone was being cut out the pockets of fat were all removed. It could still be juicy but not the taste from internal rendered fat through out the butt.

minniemoh

@RRP - it still had decent pork taste but it was pretty boring to me. It just didn't taste like smoked pork shoulder. It looked good and the bark was chewy and salty but no smoke. I've done the boneless many times before and never had this issue at the lower temps. Maybe the faster cook time just doesn't let the smoke settle in?

RRP

minniemoh said:

@RRP - it still had decent pork taste but it was pretty boring to me. It just didn't taste like smoked pork shoulder. It looked good and the bark was chewy and salty but no smoke. I've done the boneless many times before and never had this issue at the lower temps. Maybe the faster cook time just doesn't let the smoke settle in?

Could be, but I believe it stated as gospel here that after meat reaches 140 degres on the surface no more smoke will penetrate but instead just start laying bitter taste on the exterior. Since this was your first turbo then the meat got to 140 long before it does at low & slow.

minniemoh

Yep, I believe you're right on that.  I guess maybe low-n-slow is just my preference for taste. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @RRP.

jtcBoynton

Smoke adheres much better to wet surfaces than dry. Turbo will dry the surface sooner than low and slow. This could account for the less smokey meat. The hotter fire may also have burnt up the wood chunks faster than you normally experience in lower burns, resulting in less time the meat was exposed to the smoke.

Mattman3969

You could do a modified turbo. 250 heavy smoke for 2-3hrs then bump to 350. That is how I do mine unless there just isn't enough time.