Been watching the youtube channel "SousVideEverything" if you haven't seen it, check it out, they are great! Anyway, they do a pork butt where they smoke it for 3-4 hours, then SV for a few days. Anyway, it got me in the mood to try it, so here you go:
So first off, they put theirs in for a couple days after, but I had a really small Butt, and also based on other recipes iv found online, 20 hours at 150-165 is plenty of time, so I ended up doing 20 hours at 155 figuring that it would give me the most consistent texture throughout the different muscles.
Smoked the Butt for 3 hours on a mix of Orange and Oak wood, here is the butt after the smoker:
Not as strong of a bark as I would have liked, so I may be more attentive and do some spritzing with juice next time, and possibly go another half hour. Temp was at 125.
Put the Butt into a vac bag and into the Souse Vide bath. I use NutriChef Immersion Circulator, I bought it primarily for price, it was on sale for just $80 so I bought it!!! and turns out I REALLY like it. Its got a great clip attached so you can clip it to the side of your bath/container.
(I use ping pong balls to help insulate the bath, and also help prevent some evaporation)
After 18 hours, I added in some fresh pork sausage from a local farmer here into the bath for the last 2 hours. At 20 hours, I pulled it all out, threw the sausages on a burning hot grill for a couple minutes per side, then also put the Butt into the broiler for a couple minutes per side. Here is what they looked like after that phase:
The smells when opening the bags was just amazing, such a nice concentration of flavors! And here for your viewing pleasure is the money shot:
Just WOW! This was probably the best Butt I’ve ever done, and my favorite part is that the texture is consistent, so that the money muscle was the perfect texture to slice while the rest was the perfect texture to shred or pull chunks! Normally you either need to choose pulled for everything or separate the money muscle prior to finishing the rest (or in competition, I just cook two Butts and literally throw away the rest of the butt I used for the money muscle… wasteful I know, but that’s competition in general)
Anyway, this thing was amazing, it had a nice smoke ring, a good yet mild smoke flavor (if you want a stronger one, maybe use stronger woods than I did to get more in there during the smoke period, or commit the cardinal sin and add some liquid smoke), and best of all, the SV really concentrates the great natural pork flavor, and makes it Oh so juicy! The money muscle in particular was PERFECTION!
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