had a bit of a problem with my last butt smoke. I bought them from Costco, usually a pretty good source for meat , they were deboned and two to a pack about 5.5 lbs each. I did all the prep right and the first half of the smoke went as planned. I wanted to try Jeff's " best mistake I ever made" method (found on the Smoking Meat site under "pork"). So I wrapped one piece of butt in foil at the IT of 140* and left one uncovered for comparison.
After 9 hrs. the unwrapped butt was only at about 160* so I put both on the oven @ 275* for 3 more hours. Finally after 12 plus hours of heat I took them out of the oven. The IT of the unwrapped was still only about 180* but the wrapped one was a perfect 205, so I let them rest and started the pull.
Now here's where it gets weird. the wrapped one was perfect, nice and juicy and full of flavor, But when I pulled the unwrapped one, half fell right apart as it should but half was much more like a pork loin than a shoulder that had been slow and low for over 12hrs. The "loin half" was fully cooked but didn't have any of the flavor or smoke penetration of the other half. Keep in mind this the same piece of meat!
In the end I separated the two halves and saved the "loin" half in a contained to repurpose later, and ended up with 3/4 of great pulled pork.
So the question is, was this a matter of a strange cut of meat, or incorrect execution? If it is me, then what can I do differently?
P.S. sorry about the length of the post, but I wanted everyone to have all the facts.
After 9 hrs. the unwrapped butt was only at about 160* so I put both on the oven @ 275* for 3 more hours. Finally after 12 plus hours of heat I took them out of the oven. The IT of the unwrapped was still only about 180* but the wrapped one was a perfect 205, so I let them rest and started the pull.
Now here's where it gets weird. the wrapped one was perfect, nice and juicy and full of flavor, But when I pulled the unwrapped one, half fell right apart as it should but half was much more like a pork loin than a shoulder that had been slow and low for over 12hrs. The "loin half" was fully cooked but didn't have any of the flavor or smoke penetration of the other half. Keep in mind this the same piece of meat!
In the end I separated the two halves and saved the "loin" half in a contained to repurpose later, and ended up with 3/4 of great pulled pork.
So the question is, was this a matter of a strange cut of meat, or incorrect execution? If it is me, then what can I do differently?
P.S. sorry about the length of the post, but I wanted everyone to have all the facts.
