advice for planning 2 butts for pulled pork

[LaLaMatt]

Folks - looking for some planning advice - or perhaps just affirmation! This Sunday I need to take around 13-14lbs (pre-cooked weight) of pulled pork to a party for 1pm. I was planning on cooking it the day before, for a couple of reasons;
1. I won't have time to get it all done by 1pm "day of", and I don't want to risk running late.
2. Don't know if others have the same experience, but I find my pulled pork tastes better the next day.

I've only ever done 6-7lb butts before, but they've turned out great, and I understand the timing at that size, so I was planning on getting 2 to get me to the 13-14lbs i need. I have the MES30.

Saturday - both butts in at 220-230 degrees, around 10:30am, and fill up the A-MAZE-N. I have a party to be at on Saturday (busy time of the year!) from 11am-4pm. So I take off, knowing at the 6-7lb range size range, they should hit around 165 foiling around the 6-8hr mark. Back home at 4pm, and waiting to foil when the IT hits 165, probably around 4:30-5:30pm. Then wait for the IT to hit 203, I estimate around 8-9:30pm.

One early question - i've never done 2 butts at the same time - does that impact the cooking process much?

Otherwise, how does all that sound so far? Here's where i get a bit stuck. By the time I take the butts out it'll already be pretty late at night. Should i wait an hour and then pull it that night? Refrigerate it whole and pull it in the morning? What's the best way to warm it all up again the next morning? I have a crock pot I can put it in and keep it warm for the event at 1pm.

REALLY REALLY appreciate any help or advice on this!!!!
thanks,
Matt

 

[ristau5741]

large amounts of meats in the smoker can affect cooking time, less volume of heat, more volume of cold. so your temps may struggle to keep up, or may take longer cook time than expected. sounds good so far. If you are shreding by hand
shred warm, it's easier to pull apart, if you have some meat claws, would make shreding easier when cold, unless you are going to do the chop, then it doesn't matter either way. I usually put mine if a foil pan, into an oven at about 225 for a hours or so, maybe two. crock pot would be good. that way you can just let is sit when it gets warm. are you doing sauce on the side or mixing in? slow cooked smoked pork in crockpot with BBQ sauce mmm...mmm should not dry out.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Matt,

It sounds like you have a solid plan. Give yourself more time for the cooking process than you might think that it would normally take. In my Highland during the Summer there was no significant difference in cook time for two butts at once. It was just a whole lot of meat. With the cooler temps these days your smoker may struggle. If it can maintain temp then I would think that the difference it what time you typically get from cooking one butt will not increase drastically. That being said, better safe than sorry. That's why I say give yourself some extra time. If it isn't too late then I would shred it the same day by hand as advised above. In my experience, it's just more consistent when you shred the meat warm. It's not impossible to shred cold it just won't be as easy with hands or even the bear claws kind of shredders.

If you have a crock pot capable of holding that amount of meat then I think that's perfect for rewarming the next day. If you inject your butts then I would preserve some of the injection mix to add to the crock pot when you rewarm it. If you are using some type of barbecue sauce then it wouldn't be necessary but I still like to add it for mine to infuse those flavors from my original injection. Have fun with your cook and the event.

George

 

[oldsmokerdude]

Sounds like a good plan!

Two butts will slow you cook time somewhat as it will take your smoker longer to get back up to temp.

I would pull the butts while warm then add any drippings (you do have drippings, right?) back into the pulled pork. Easy to reheat in the oven or crock pot the next day. Should be perfect.

let us know how it turns out.

 

[LaLaMatt]

terrific - thanks guys!
Sounds like I should:
-allow a little more cook time - maybe an hour or so?
-save the drippings for the re-heat
-pull the pork that night while its warm
-reheat in the oven, combine in the drippings and transfer to the crock pot (hopefully it all fits!)

Really appreciate the help!!!

 

[zwiller]

I did 2 butts on MES once and was 25.5hrs (275F). I expected like 18. Normally 14 like you on a single. I would start them Friday. Crock works great but many tend to run too hot. Roaster oven is what I use.

 

[LaLaMatt]

wow - thats a really big time increase - how big were your butts (!)?

 

[zwiller]

Around 7lbs each.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

If you are going to use the crockpot to reheat or keep your PP warm...err... that didn't sound right, keep in mind that a 5 Qt crock will hold about 10 lbs of meat, so how much will fit will depend on the size of crockpot. If you do elect to go the crockpot route, as others have said, pull the meat while it is warm. Also, after pulling, you could keep the meat warm in the crockpot and add a little bit of water, apple juice or apple cider to keep the meat moist. The keep warm feature on some newer crockpots allows you to keep the food at a safe temp for up to 10 hours. Just food for thought...

 

[fuzz415]

maybe its just me, but i like planning the start of the cook at the evening/night. which allows me to sleep a bit more.

IE meat in at 9 or 10pm - rest/sleep until 4/5am
wrap around 8am
pull the pork 11, straight into the crock pot with drippings and ready to be brought to the party.

i wouldnt be worried about the second butt adding "too much time" to your cook, it will definitely increase slightly, but i do not think enough to be noticeable.

i know iwththe above timeline it is a bit close, maybe you readjust back an hour or two. also cranking the heat up a little after wrapping may help advance the time as well.

 

[LaLaMatt]

Ok that might work, if I'm starting with 13-14lbs raw, i thinthink after it Cooks down and the bones are taken out it may drop to around 10lbs or maybe even below. Given I'm shooting for a cooked time around 11pm i think I'd be hard pushed to keep it all safely warm till 1pm the next day, so I think i best refrigerate and reheat....

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Ok that might work, if I'm starting with 13-14lbs raw, i thinthink after it Cooks down and the bones are taken out it may drop to around 10lbs or maybe even below. Given I'm shooting for a cooked time around 11pm i think I'd be hard pushed to keep it all safely warm till 1pm the next day, so I think i best refrigerate and reheat....

Yes, you do have a time constraint. So refrigerate and reheat would be the better option. Sounds like you are on the right track.

 

[jcam222]

Remember meat yield will be around 60% of the raw weight. I almost always serve mine next day. Here is what I do. 1) I fill the water pan with chicken stock. 2)I wrap and put about a cup of liquid in each pan. 3)After the smoke I pour off both the water pan broth and pan drippings into a pot and off to the frig. Next day I skim the fat and then mix this into the meat to the desired mositure / flavor in roaster pants. Since I have been doing this people RAVE about my pork. My 2 cents :)

 

[fivetricks]

I did 2 9.5 lb roasts in the MES 30 and it took 20.5 hours. Those were unwrapped roasts though

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Anytime I have a time crunch or colder outside temps such as we do now up here I enact what I call the North Dakota crutch. I run on the smoker as long as I can around, usually starting the night before at around 6-7pm for a 1pm next day feed. By midnight to 1:30am I get up and grab the butts and put in crackpots whole with a little liquid of choice and let them coast all night. Come morning the house smells awesome and everything it moist and tender. Remove from crockpot, reserve juices, cool for hand pull, and back into crockpots with whatever amount of juices I deem as enough. Sure my bark isn't going to win any competitions but it is amazing how the flavor is enhanced deeper into the meat.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Oh I should really watch out for auto correct. Apparently crockpot is not in its vocabulary.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Crackpots...hehehehe. Well, with our passion for smoking meats, some folks just might call us crackpots. But, that is only because they don't know what they're missing.

 

[kmmamm]

If you can get the smoker into a warmer area out of the wind, it will perform better. Alternatively, you can also put them on smoke for 6-7 hours and then pull them off and plop them in an aluminum turkey pan (I use disposable chaffing pans) and then into a 275-300 degree oven until finished. Some will say wrap them in foil first....others say don't cover. Personally I have done both ways and prefer a bit of bark so I leave them unwrapped. Pull the meat while warm and then refrigerate. About 1hr before serving, I add about 2-3 cups of chicken stock and reheat (covered) in 300 degree oven. The stock keeps the meat moist without adding any "off" flavors.

 

[LaLaMatt]

ok i should have said - I'm in West Los Angeles, daytime temps are mid-60s here

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

ok i should have said - I'm in West Los Angeles, daytime temps are mid-60s here

You'll be in the upper 60s lower 70s with no rain. So weather will be on your side. Maintaining smoker temp should not be too much of a problem.