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First Cook Question

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V975
V975 Posts: 6
in EggHead Forum
Hello. Am a new BGE owner. Did first cook following directions for Pork Belly Burnt Ends from BGE website. Used plate setter and Egg Genius to ensure temperature control. Recipe said to cook at 275F for 3 hours to get meat to internal temperature of 190F. Meat reached temp in 45 minutes. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,026
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    Welcome!

    How about the actual thermometer you used to check the internal temperature? Could that be bad? Not the dome thermometer but probe itself. 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,341
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    Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.
    That said, the search function here with your cook choice will yield many options, likely all of which will work.  
    Specifically, pork belly burnt ends are a staple here with many threads.
    Same with most anything you want to cook that is main-stream.  Exotic cooks also abound.
    Have at it.  Give one method a go, then if another sounds good, try it and eventually land where it works for you.  FWIW-
    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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  • dbCooper
    dbCooper Posts: 2,081
    edited September 2021 Answer ✓
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    Were you measuring the 275 temp at the dome or at the grid level?  If at the grid it's possible you were cooking hotter than you thought.
    As @lousubcap mentioned, lots of recipes for that cook on the forum.  This is my go to...

    LBGE, LBGE-PTR, 22" Weber, Coleman 413G
    Great Plains, USA
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    They were undercooked.  They start out tough and they become tender when done.  Common mistake to misinterpret toughness with overcooking.  Don't use temperature as a gauge of doneness.  45 minutes from raw to 190F won't tenderize anything.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • dbCooper
    dbCooper Posts: 2,081
    edited September 2021 Answer ✓
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    V975 said:
    Temp was constant 275F at grid.

    Cooking temps for BGE recipes are implied to be measured at the dome thermometer, not at the grid.  So I believe you cooked at a higher than intended temp.
    One option is to clip the pit temp sensor to the stem of your dome thermometer.  Experiment, learn, keep posting and as said, enjoy the journey.
    LBGE, LBGE-PTR, 22" Weber, Coleman 413G
    Great Plains, USA
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  • cheeaa
    cheeaa Posts: 364
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    unless they were burned up, not sure you can overcook belly. if they were tough, they were undercooked. like others have said, temps are a guide. as you do this more, you'll start using look and feel way more than temps. good luck on the next one though! 
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  • Mark_B_Good
    Mark_B_Good Posts: 1,516
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    nolaegghead said:
    They were undercooked.  They start out tough and they become tender when done.  Common mistake to misinterpret toughness with overcooking.  Don't use temperature as a gauge of doneness.  45 minutes from raw to 190F won't tenderize anything.
    Agreed. I take my burnt ends to 205F, they were tender ... like really tender.
    Napoleon Prestige Pro 665, XL BGE, Lots of time for BBQ!
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    Let me clarify. 

    Meat, depending on where it came from and how the muscles were used will generally fall into a two categories.  1. mostly muscle tissue and fat with little collagen and elastin, and 2. "tough" muscle tissues because there's plenty of collagen and elastin.

    The first category we typically eat as steaks.  They will get less tender the more they cook.  There is little collagen and elastin to make them tough.

    The second category we typically cook for a long time.  They get more tender the more they cook as heat and moisture causes collagen and, to a certain degree, elastin, to break down.  Collagen breaks down to gelatin, which is tende

    The process of breaking down the material that makes meat tough isn't just a matter of heating it up to a certain temp.  It can be accomplished at lower temperatures with more time (see: sous vide).  It can be accomplished at high temperatures in a short time (see: pressure cooker). 

    You can "overcook" something by driving the water out of it.  Think jerky or a well done, dry steak.  This typically takes a long time.

    Pork belly has a lot of connective tissue in it.  It starts off tough.  Curing and cooking will make it less so.  If you tried chewing a cube of raw belly, you would tire quickly from mastication.  If you just threw some cubes in boiling water, until they hit the boiling temperature of that water, they will not be tender.  It would take time, up to hours, for the collagen to break down.  It's not a function of temperature, but time and temperature.

    When meat with a lot of connective tissue is under-cooked, regardless of the final temp, it will appear "over-cooked" when it is actually under-cooked.

    This is probably the most important information you can learn when tackling low and slow cooking.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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