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20 Pork Butts - Lessons Learned
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QDude
Posts: 1,057
I had to cook 20 butts this last weekend on my XL for a company picnic. I found that I could only do about 5 per cook using the CGS adjustable rig. This was the first time that I had cooked that much pork in one go around. I used a Pitmaster IQ110 temp controller and my Maverick 732 for monitoring meat temps. It took about 60 hours to do the four different batches starting last Friday morning. Many of you may say "I already know these things", but this list may help newbies. Lessons learned were:
1. Each butt is different. Don't take all of them off just because one is ready to pull off. Each one should come off only when it is ready.
2. When are they ready? The temp is only an indicator that the butt may be ready to pull. The probe test (fork goes in like butter) was pretty accurate but the best indicator was when the bone was pulling away from the meat - not just a little bit but a lot!
3. Things go wrong at 3 am in the morning. When I was done with the second batch of butts, I noticed that the drip pan was almost overflowing. (Should have changed out the foil and emptied the fat in between each batch). I ended up dumping a lot of oil on the patio during the transition. 3 am is not a good time to be trying to clean up a grease spill!
4. Injecting the butts with apple juice and spices makes a difference in my opinion. Use the Chris Lilly injection recipe but I recommend cutting back on the amount of salt by 50%.
5. Peach wood is great for flavor.
6. Cook times can very greatly between butts. Some of the 8 pounders were ready in 8 hours and some took almost 13 hours.
7. If you under-cook the butts, pulling the meat is really difficult. It is still tasty but takes a lot more time to pull.
8. Be patient - I am always worried about overcooking meat which causes me to pull it off before it is really ready to go. When the bone is loose, it is time to pull it off of the egg.
9. The metal injector is great. I got it from Amazon and it has the "Butterball" name on it. I had a plastic one before that lasted less than one year.
10. Injecting butts is less messy if you don't remove the plastic wrapper.
I hope this helps someone else who may get roped into doing a big cook like this.
Northern Colorado Egghead since 2012.
XL BGE and a KBQ.
Comments
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That was quite a task and it seems you were up to it. Thanks for the lessons learned.XL BGE; Medium BGE; L BGE
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Would have thought you could fit more than five on an XL, but dang that's a lot of meat! Congrats on this cook!
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Thomasville, NC
My YouTube Channel - The Hungry Hussey
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tarheelmatt said:Would have thought you could fit more than five on an XL, but dang that's a lot of meat! Congrats on this cook!
Northern Colorado Egghead since 2012.
XL BGE and a KBQ.
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Nicely done.
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Nicely done and that's a lot of pork to pull by hand. I've only done 2 at one time. I am thinking of doing to 2 large briskets on my XL, 2 pork butts, 6 slabs of ribs and baked beans on my Weber Smokey Mountain. In October for a birthday party for my brother.XL, WSM, Coleman Road Trip Gas GrillKansas City, Mo.
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Thanks for the post and the tips. Mission accomplished!Louisville, GA - 2 Large BGE's
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Great write-up (a little refresher never hurts) and even greater undertaking. I'm sure the pork was a big hit!Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win. Life is too short for light/lite beer! Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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One more lesson - you lose 50% of the weight after the fat cooks out. So an 8 pound butt yields 4 pounds of meat.
Northern Colorado Egghead since 2012.
XL BGE and a KBQ.
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Good write up. Thanks for sharing.Very good info for someone attempting their first marathon bulk cook.Steve
XL, Mini Max, and a 22" Blackstone in Cincinnati, Ohio -
Awesome contribution. Thanks for sharing.
XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle
San Antonio, TX
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@QDude1. Great post2. Excellent cook3. Maybe most people knew all of but I did not,so thank you!4. Party On !Belleville, Michigan
Just burnin lump in Sumpter -
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Looks fun!! And Tasty!
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@QDude
Excellent post my friend. You made a lot of great points above. Glad you was able to pull the cook off. I want to add one point to yours above. Massive cooks like you just did is why I bought this. I highly recommend one if that sort of cook is going to be a regular thing in the future. It makes that sort of cook simple. You could have did all 20 at once with room to spare for several briskets. Just thought I would share. Again great post.Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.
Status- Standing by.
The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. -
Excellent post, many thanks for sharing.
Manning our FOB in occupied Northern Virginia... -
^:)^
I would much rather be able to say I was glad I did than wished I had........
XL owner and purveyor of pallette perfection...
Homosassa....Mecca of Florida
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I'll never cook that many anything at one time, but I picked up a few useful pointers from your post; thanks!_____________
"The reason I go out with young men is because men my age or older — well, now they’re all dead."
-Cher
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