Help!! Are two butts better than one?

Mac in NC · May 2003

I'm having a party for the families of the guys I work with on Thursday and need some advise on cooking pulled pork for a crowd. They've asked me to make some p.p and of course, I gladly accepted. Problem is, I've never cooked more than a solitary 4 lb'er at any given time. [p] I just picked up two butts that weigh in at 5.3 lbs. each. How long of a cook should I expect by cooking these two together? If I was just cooking this for myself, I would merely crack open a brew and follow the "time will tell" rule but with roughly 30 folks on their way, I'm hoping to find a litle more technical guidance from those folks with more experience than me. [p]Thanks in advance, Mac

Mac in NC · May 2003

One last question...should I put the meat on as soon as the coals start to glow (when the temp. still reads 100 degrees) or should I wait til its riding steady at the 250 mark? Trying to figure out how to compensate the cook time if I started the meat on the grill right away.

Tim M · May 2003

Mac in NC ,[p]"should I put the meat on as soon as the coals start to glow (when the temp. still reads 100 degrees) or should I wait til its riding steady at the 250 mark?"[p]This is an easy question for me. I suggest you wait. The time you save in an 18-20 hr cook won't matter much but the smoke you get as the lump cranks up is often acrid or full of less desirable smoke as the last meal burns off. The acrid smell is often the dust on the fresh lump and it quickly burns off as you stabilize the cooker. [p]Many people use different times vs temps but 2 butts won't take much longer to do than just one. I always do 2, if I am going to do all the work doing one - I just might as well do 2 of them and freeze the extra. [p]Good luck and have fun with it.[p]Tim

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

Mac in NC ,
Hey Mac! If you read my webpage on my pulled pork experience, you'll see that I dumped a chimney of lump roaring like an afterburner on an F16 on top of the lump. I closed the lid and the egg zoomed up to 400 degrees. I then put the plate setter, drip pan and butt in the egg and the egg was soon down to 150 and I had to then let the fire build back up to 230. My point is that if you get the egg up to 250 or more and then put the butt in, the temp will drop quite a bit as you add the cool ceramic and meat. So don't worry about getting it too hot (as long as you don't leave it at 300 for an hour before you proceed...) The butt page is on my recipes page under pork, if you are interested. Good luck![p]TNW

Help!! Are two butts better than one?

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