Pulled Pork Success!

[swthorpe]

The first time I tried a Boston Butt (July 4th), my family got tired of waiting and I ended up removing the Butt at 175F..tasted fine, but chewy.  This weekend, my wife and kids went to the beach and I had the whole day to myself, so I decided to smoke a 6.2# Butt.  I used mustard and Jeff Philips rub the day before for an overnight trip to the fridge, and had it on my #2 at 6am on Saturday.  Hit the stall at 165F around 11am, and then started creeping up around 3:30pm.    By 5:30pm, I reached the desired temp of 200F and wrapped and placed in the oven to rest for about an hour.  I think from here forward I am planning to use 2hrs/lbs, which is essentially what I experienced, rather than 1.5hr rule.

Huge success!  The pulled pork melted in my mouth.    The wife enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches on Sunday, and I am looking forward to more tonight!   

 

[UWFSAE]

Glad this session worked out for you!  A piece of advice for future cooks where hunger overwhelms patience ... 170-175 is the ideal temp for sliced pork butt (my personal favorite) and if sliced like brisket should not be chewy or stringy. 

Placement in the smoker does affect how long the stall lasts in my opinion.  By placing the butt on a low shelf immediately above the smoker box you'll see higher temps which lead to faster rendering of fat, which leads to decreased stalls.

 

[DivotMaker]

Nice looking butt!   I've found the point at which the stall hits, and duration of said stall, a total crap shoot - depending on the cut of meat.  Also, I've never had success with the "x-hours per pound" calculation.  Here's what I'm talking about:  I usually see the stall (in a butt) somewhere around 165-170.  This weekend, I had a 8.75 pounder not stall until 185!  I was freaking out!  But, it finally hit, and the temp backed down a few degrees, and sat there for the next 4 1/2 hours.  Another time, I put an 8 lb butt in for an overnight cook @ 11 pm (thinking it would be done for lunch)....wrong!  It was sitting at 198 at 8 am in the morning!  Ended up holding it in the smoker @ 140 for 4 hours before serving (which works great, btw). 

So, what I've learned is there is no real "formula," or consistency for large cuts.  When you go off of internal temp (which most of us do), there are a lot of variables that effect the time; ambient temp, cut of meat, amount of fat/connective tissue, humidity, etc... just to name a few.  I guess that's what both excites me, and frustrates me, about this hobby!  Of course, pork butts are really forgiving large cuts, briskets not so much.  There's really no easy solution.  Things like ribs, though, you can pretty much "dial-in" with a time that's going to be pretty consistent. 

 

[BIG BOB]

sounds like a butt may be a project more so than a planned event at a certain time.... ok...well- I cant wait to try.  anyone ever do two 7# butts in a #2..... ?