My first pork butt

tcaptain · Sep 17, 2012

This weekend was my first smoke session since my class. I was really eager to give this another try. It was my fourth session overall.

Prior to start, I modded the pan on my ECB, made one 1" hole in the bottom and 2 1/4" holes around the sides under the pan grill. I've always had a problem getting it up to temp, I figured from what I read in these forums that it would help.

I was up at 5am (needed to be done for lunch), it was a cool morning but this was kinda nice, just me and the fire:

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tcaptain
Sep 17, 2012

Had NO problems getting up to temp despite it being only 7 celsius...it wasn't long before I was all set and getting TBS:

IMG_1723.jpg

tcaptain
Sep 17, 2012

I lost temp around 9ish and panicked sadly, I started a whole new load of lump charcoal and had to spend time venting white smoke. Looking back, I wasn't thinking and it wasn't necessary. The ash had simply clogged the holes I made. When it happened again later, I just cleared the holes with a BBQ skewer and temp came shooting back up. My next mod will be something to deal with the ash, there isn't a lot of room in that pan for it.

All in all, all's well that end's well:

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tcaptain
Sep 17, 2012

And with a nice smoke ring too:

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tcaptain
Sep 17, 2012

It ended up being delicious and done on time.

The main thing I want to try and figure out for next time is how to get better bark. I didn't baste or anything until hour 3, and even then, only sparingly. I did keep the water pan full and I don't want to dry out the meat, but I just don't know what else to try. It's a minor detail.

sqwib · Sep 17, 2012

Looks great.

Better bark or more bark?

Rubs and mops high in sugar will give you more bark.

You could also mop with a thicker mop high in sugar.

Some folks use mustard to get more rub on the meat, I use plastic wrap and a ton of rub when doing butts/picnic this way.

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sqwib
Sep 17, 2012

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sqwib
Sep 17, 2012

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sqwib
Sep 17, 2012

tcaptain · Sep 17, 2012

SQWIB said:
Rubs and mops high in sugar will give you more bark.

You could also mop with a thicker mop high in sugar.

Some folks use mustard to get more rub on the meat, I use plastic wrap and a ton of rub when doing butts/picnic this way.

Oh that makes a lot of sense. I didn't mop, I misted with apple juice and that only sparingly.

I'm aiming for a little of both...thicker bark, and more bark.

I didn't put much rub overnight (just a light dusting), going heavy only 2 hours before because I read that if the rub is heavy on salt, it draws out the moisture and overnight might be too long.

The thing is what's "heavy"? I mean it's 50/50 salt and sweet. I don't have any issues getting it to stick to the meat, it's a very fine rub.

I think next time (maybe next weekend), I will go heavy on the rub and leave it overnight (and re-dust before putting on the grill) and see what that does.

smokinhusker · Sep 17, 2012

Looks pretty good though!

tcaptain · Sep 17, 2012

SQWIB said:
20111216768.JPG

sqwib

Sep 17, 2012

I forgot to ask, are you basting pork butt with straight JD on that shot? I might have to try that! I used JD in my BBQ sauce this time around and it worked well with the rub flavor profile, so I might switch from apple juice!

SmokinHusker said:
Looks pretty good though!

Thank you!

I have to admit, it was damn tasty! I had the last of it for lunch today at the office (the rub was my own recipe and so was the BBQ sauce...I was experimenting).

sound1 · Sep 17, 2012

Looks tasty!! That bark thing is all about personal taste, and the best part is having the excuse to Q..."Oh Honey, I'm just trying to perfect my (insert recipe name here)". But be forewarned, improper/excessive use of Sqwib's magic basting juice may nullify any excuse you come up with.

bruno994 · Sep 17, 2012

I have done several things to increase bark over the years. One is include a good portion of Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) in my rubs. I have also sprinkled brwon sugar on several times after spritzing during a smoke. Both have worked really well. Not sure how many people have actually eaten the bark off my pork since while I'm pullling the meat, I am sampling the bark the entire time.

sqwib · Sep 17, 2012

Yep, straight JD, That was for my Jack Daniels Bacon Pulled Pork.

Sprits, Mop and Basting are used interchangeably around here.

Gosh no, not 50/50

Here is my Basic Rub to give you an idea.

Ingredients

1/3 cup coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1-1/2 cup (packed) Brown Sugar
1-1/4 cup paprika
1 Tbsp freshly coarse ground black pepper
2 Tbsp garlic powder
¼ cup dried onion flakes
¼ cup onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp coriander
1 Tbsp rosemary

Lay some plastic wrap in a pan, load the plastic wrap with Rub, place teh meat on the rub, add more rub to the top of the meat making sure everything is coated, wrap the meat tightly and place in the refrigerator (still in the pan),

The next day it will be like a slather

I think you'll get a heavier and deeper bark using a lot more rub, then just spritzing as you were.

Don't worry about the salt in this recipe, I would venture to say that salt may be part of the reason for a thicker chewier bark.

True, True sound1 One sip for the chef one sip for the meat CHEERS!

tcaptain · Sep 17, 2012

LOL!

Ok, I think I'll be making some pulled pork again next weekend!

I'm making note of your recipe SQWIB, but I really love the rub I came up with on Saturday so I'm gonna play with that a little more. A lot more and overnight and see what that does and I'll spritz with straight JD. 2 squirts for the pork, 4 for the chef! Best of all, it will look like apple juice so no one's the wiser (until I get to a few dozen squirts hehe)

Sound1 said:
Looks tasty!! That bark thing is all about personal taste, and the best part is having the excuse to Q..."Oh Honey, I'm just trying to perfect my (insert recipe name here)". But be forewarned, improper/excessive use of Sqwib's magic basting juice may nullify any excuse you come up with.

Hehe. I hope my wife doesn't read this forum because I'm going to be using THAT excuse a lot.

Then again, she raves about the Q, so I don't know that she'll complain TOO much.

scarbelly · Sep 17, 2012

Looks like it came out great.

gmc2003 · Sep 18, 2012

Looks really good. I'm not into a heavy bark nor do I use a whole lot of rub. A little garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper, and kosher salt. All done the morning of the Q. I guess I perfer the smokey pork taste. TCaptain to bad the wind wasn't blowing south so I could have gotten a whiff of that smoke. I'm only a couple of hours away in VT.

Chris

smokedreb · Sep 18, 2012

Of course a little JD would be a perfect mop to the Butt, I wish I had heard of it before my last smoke.

chef jimmyj · Sep 18, 2012

A 24-48 hour rest with your rub, assuming it does not contain a ton of Salt, will not hurt anything. As the salt pulls moisture out of the meat it liquefies, essentially creating a Brine, combines with the other flavors in the rub and then goes back in. It's the whole Osmosis/Diffusion process. The end result is even more flavor penetrating the meat and the salt denatures the Proteins tenderizing the surface allowing for better Bark formation. However, although the surface proteins will brown nicely from the Maillard Reaction the addition of Sugar, I prefer Turbinado aka Sugar in the Raw, creates Caramelization and a much enhanced bark formation as well as great flavor. As far as bark thickness goes, Spritzing or Mopping keeps the surface of the meat Moist. It will add some additional flavor, Jack Daniels is a good one, but for the thickest bark the surface need to dry out. So you must stop by at least the half way point to allow the best and thickest bark to form. It should be noted that a few of our members, Forluvofsmoke and S2K9K, have found a combination of Moisture, Spritzing, in the beginning allows great smoke penetration but for overall moisture retention in the meat, Dry Smoking a significant amount of time results in the Juiciest end product...JJ

sam3 · Sep 19, 2012

Great thread guys, a whole lot of good information here. Nice job on the cook TCaptain.

tcaptain · Sep 19, 2012

sam3 said:
Great thread guys, a whole lot of good information here. Nice job on the cook TCaptain.

Thanks! I'm getting a ton of ideas in here too!

I'm fixing to try again this Saturday, same meat, same rub...different techniques, different spritz.

Chef JimmyJ said:
A 24-48 hour rest with your rub, assuming it does not contain a ton of Salt, will not hurt anything. As the salt pulls moisture out of the meat it liquefies, essentially creating a Brine, combines with the other flavors in the rub and then goes back in. It's the whole Osmosis/Diffusion process. The end result is even more flavor penetrating the meat and the salt denatures the Proteins tenderizing the surface allowing for better Bark formation. However, although the surface proteins will brown nicely from the Maillard Reaction the addition of Sugar, I prefer Turbinado aka Sugar in the Raw, creates Caramelization and a much enhanced bark formation as well as great flavor. As far as bark thickness goes, Spritzing or Mopping keeps the surface of the meat Moist. It will add some additional flavor, Jack Daniels is a good one, but for the thickest bark the surface need to dry out. So you must stop by at least the half way point to allow the best and thickest bark to form. It should be noted that a few of our members, Forluvofsmoke and S2K9K, have found a combination of Moisture, Spritzing, in the beginning allows great smoke penetration but for overall moisture retention in the meat, Dry Smoking a significant amount of time results in the Juiciest end product...JJ

As much as 48 hours? That seems long. I guess even if the salt pulls out the moisture, there's a good marbling in the pork butt that the fat will render and keep the inner meat moist. I think I'll go overnight this next smoke (12+ hours, but not 24) and see what the difference is.

Also, what's "a ton of Salt"? That's what seems subjective. The rub I made has a nice balance (I think) of salty and sweet (almost one for one). I'll risk it.

As for Turbinado, I'll definitely have to give it a try if I can find it up here. I'm using plain white sugar this time around (but I might dry out and grind some brown sugar for the next batch of rub, see what that does).

So you mist right away? I left the meat alone for the first 2 and half hours, then spritzed every hour (total of six hours)...other than that, I had a full bowl of water in the smoker.

SmokedReb said:
Of course a little JD would be a perfect mop to the Butt, I wish I had heard of it before my last smoke.

Me too, especially since my sauce had JD in the recipe! This weekend, I still haven't made up my mind if I'll mist with straight JD or a mix of JD and apple juice...but JD will be part of it.

gmc2003 said:
Looks really good. I'm not into a heavy bark nor do I use a whole lot of rub. A little garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper, and kosher salt. All done the morning of the Q. I guess I perfer the smokey pork taste. TCaptain to bad the wind wasn't blowing south so I could have gotten a whiff of that smoke. I'm only a couple of hours away in VT.

Chris

Not really into heavy heavy bark either. I'm still making up my mind about that because a good bark is where all the flavor sits from what I've experienced. Since the class with Paul Kirk though, I'm really enjoying playing with rub recipes and that's where my interest in a decent bark came from.

I'm trying again this weekend rain or shine, so if I feel the wind go south I'll set my vents open to full for ya :)

frosty · Sep 19, 2012

No doubt SQWIB and Chef JJ have given you a wealth of information to keep you moving forward.

Good job on the pulled pork, and even better to come.

Good luck!

chef jimmyj · Sep 19, 2012

As much as 48 hours? That seems long. I guess even if the salt pulls out the moisture, there's a good marbling in the pork butt that the fat will render and keep the inner meat moist. I think I'll go overnight this next smoke (12+ hours, but not 24) and see what the difference is. To answer your question, YES. 48 hours is fine. If you add a Salty Rub ans drained away the liquid that accumulates the yes the meat would be dry. But without going real deep into the science behind it, the Salt draws out moisture...BUT...since there is now a Brine around the meat and a higher concentration of salt outside than inside the meat...The whole process reverses and the Salt, Moisture and any other flavor go back into the meat. You get a balance inside and out side with plenty of flavor. Same thing happens with Marinades to a point, balance is achieved.

Also, what's "a ton of Salt"? That's what seems subjective. The rub I made has a nice balance (I think) of salty and sweet (almost one for one). I'll risk it. I use 4 parts Sugar to 1 part Salt, Pepper, ETC.

As for Turbinado, I'll definitely have to give it a try if I can find it up here. I'm using plain white sugar this time around (but I might dry out and grind some brown sugar for the next batch of rub, see what that does). Brown Sugar dried in a 175-200* oven works too.

So you mist right away? I left the meat alone for the first 2 and half hours, then spritzed every hour (total of six hours)...other than that, I had a full bowl of water in the smoker. That is fine, but for best final moisture, stop spritzing and remove the water bowl at the half way part...JJ

tcaptain · Sep 20, 2012

Chef JimmyJ said:
Brown Sugar dried in a 175-200* oven works too.
So you mist right away? I left the meat alone for the first 2 and half hours, then spritzed every hour (total of six hours)...other than that, I had a full bowl of water in the smoker. That is fine, but for best final moisture, stop spritzing and remove the water bowl at the half way part...JJ

Thanks for the advice I will DEFINITELY try drying brown sugar in an over. I love it in a rub.

I don't know that I'm comfortable removing the water bowl altogether, but I'll keep it in mind. I guess I'm trying to find a happy medium between the really moist and juicy roast I got and a bit more bark.

The "bad" news (not really bad) is that I won't be smoking another pork shoulder this weekend.....RIBS ARE ON SPECIAL!!! WOO!!!

porker ace · Sep 20, 2012

Definately going to have to try JD on my butt and my belly this weekend!!

My first pork butt

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