Need quick answer -- pull brisket and pork when ALL parts are fork-twist ready?

Kimmykins · July 2012

Hi all:
I'm new to the BGE and am attempting my 3rd brisket and 1st pork shoulder. First brisket was pretty juicy, second one was a little more dry. Currently, my brisket meat is reading about 193 degrees in one area and a smallish area (near the center of the flat) is more like 184. Almost the whole brisket is fork-twisty (is that a word?) but the one smallish area in the brisket is not quite fork twist ready. The last time I did a brisket, when I waited for the whole thing to be fork-twisty, I thought it might have dried out the brisket too much. Do you all take the brisket off when the WHOLE brisket is fork-twisty or MOSTLY fork-twisty? Do you find big temperature variations on the same piece of brisket?

The same question applies to the pork. I'm not as worried about it because it's not quite there yet, but I am still finding some temperature variations across the piece of meat.

Rolling Egg · July 2012

I usually go with most of it tender. If the small portion thats not tender enough to twist don't turn out tender enough, you can always cube it up and add sauce with the burnt ends or something.

michigan_jason · July 2012

Although I cannot answer the brisket question, I certainly hope you know not to slice it until you are ready to serve. Also, hopefully you are serving sooner than later. The pork will FTC for as long as you need it to really, but I am not sure about the brisket. I see temp variations in every piece of meat I cook, I don't worry about that, I just take the average.

rontho · July 2012

Can't answer for the brisket but I have ftc'd the butt for 5the hrs and then pulled. No problems. Good luck

Kimmykins · July 2012

Thanks for all the quick answers, everybody. Follow-up question to the butt responses....So, it isn't unusual to have
parts of the pork super tender and other parts, not so tender? I'm just
worried about drying out pieces of my butt. The edges of my butt are
very tender. The center of my butt is only at 178 right now. it's
definitely not fork tender. Do you guys not have problems with having
parts of your butt being very dry if you wait for the center to get up
to temperature? Or do you just pull and mix all together so the dry
parts are not so noticeable?

I pulled the brisket, separated the flat from the point (burnt ends, baby!) and am FTC'ing the crap out of it today as we don't have company coming until 1 or so. Didn't slice the brisket, but just separated through the fat pocket running b/w flat and point.

michigan_jason · July 2012

Just cook to temp in the middle, the outside will be juicy still. Once sauced it will be hard to tell the diff.

troutgeek · July 2012

Just cook to temp in the middle, the outside will be juicy still. Once sauced it will be hard to tell the diff.

This all depends on who's being sauced, but yes, cook until temp at the thickest part of the meat.

michigan_jason · July 2012

Just cook to temp in the middle, the outside will be juicy still. Once sauced it will be hard to tell the diff.
This all depends on who's being sauced, but yes, cook until temp at the thickest part of the meat.

I just realized how funny my comment was, it works for both lol.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · July 2012

Thanks for all the quick answers, everybody. Follow-up question to the butt responses....So, it isn't unusual to have
parts of the pork super tender and other parts, not so tender? I'm just
worried about drying out pieces of my butt. The edges of my butt are
very tender. The center of my butt is only at 178 right now. it's
definitely not fork tender. Do you guys not have problems with having
parts of your butt being very dry if you wait for the center to get up
to temperature? Or do you just pull and mix all together so the dry
parts are not so noticeable?

I pulled the brisket, separated the flat from the point (burnt ends, baby!) and am FTC'ing the crap out of it today as we don't have company coming until 1 or so. Didn't slice the brisket, but just separated through the fat pocket running b/w flat and point.

the brisket should be super tender in the thickest part of the flat. Usually somwhere between 185-195. Just depends on the beast.

As for the butt, you have to let the internal in the deepest part come up to 195-205 (sper tender). If you do this, none of it should be dried out. when you pull it, the moisture all resdistributes anyway so it's all good. Don't ever pull briskets or butts early unless you want dry chewy meat.

Need quick answer -- pull brisket and pork when ALL parts are fork-twist ready?

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