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Fresh vs. Vacuum Sealed Butt

Deaneaux
Deaneaux Posts: 45
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
This past weekend, I cooked 2 butts that I bought vaccum sealed and noticed that the cooktime was much less as compared to "fresh" butts.

Anyone have similar experiences? I'm going to make sure that my dome thermo is not out of wack tonight, but was wondering if anyone else had any input.
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Comments

  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Deaneaux, I have not noticed but I always buy the largest butt I can get and the ones I get are always in a cryovac two pack.

    It's been my eggsperience that every butt is somewhat unique in that one may take 8 or 10 hours to smoke while the next one may take 12 or 16 hours or more. Tim
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  • Deaneaux
    Deaneaux Posts: 45
    Understood, and thanks for your reply. I haven't cooked butts in a while (well, 3 months), and cooked the fresh ones last time. It just seemed that it took much longer then.

    Now that I think about it, what you're saying is correct. This past cook, I cooked 2 vac butts that were both the exact weight (8.5#), and one took 2 more hours than the other.
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Vacuum selaed butts are just as "fresh" as the ones you get in the foam tray at the market. Probably preserved even better.

    The difference you experienced may be more an effect of enhancement rather than packaging. Was one of the butts "enhanced with a natural solution"?
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,806
    tiny changes can effect it, setup may be different with butts sitting closer to the edge, 5 degrees higher temp etc, i dont pay much attention to times any more. now when you say fresh, were the fresh at the supermarket cause they have a habit of taking cryovac butts out of the packaging and relabelng it as fresh under their own label, sometimes not even mentioning the solution added in these fresh pieces of meat. ribs the same way :ermm:
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Deaneaux, These are just my thoughts I have only been egging for a year and I'm no expert by any means.

    I believe each butt goes through the platou for what ever duration it takes to break down the collagen.

    I may be wrong but I also think a butt right out of the fridge may take longer to get to the platou rather than a butt that has set out for a short time. That being said I think a cold butt may absorb more smoke.

    Lets see if any others will chime in here. Tim
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  • Deaneaux
    Deaneaux Posts: 45
    Fidel,
    I'm not sure if they were "enhanced" with anything. I'll check into this next time.

    fishlessman,
    Agreed that there are several factors that could have affected the time of the cook. If I wasn't cooking 6 other things for Super Bowl, I could have paid more attention!! ;)
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  • PapaB
    PapaB Posts: 146
    What temp do you pull them off at, and do you wrap with foil and let sit for awhile in a cooler, etc.?
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  • Deaneaux
    Deaneaux Posts: 45
    Pulled at 198, foil/towel wrapppedset in a cooler for about 3 hours before pulling...had to cook some wings before everyone got over! It just got to 198 REAL QUICK as compared to usual cooks. This is only my 10th butt or so on the egg, so I'm still figuring out the process.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,806
    195 if the probe slides nice, yes i do the cooler thing to, makes timing things easier if needed
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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