Another butt question..... guidance needed.

[mheimann]

Im relatively new to smoking, and need some help.  Ive smoked a couple butts in the past year, and each one turns out a little different.  My family loves the meat, but i think it could be better.  Im seeking guidance from start to finish.   The major problem I am having is my meat seems mushy.  I am looking for moist meat, but mine keeps turning out too soft/mushy.  My last smoke went as follows.

The night before the smoke i put a layer of mustard on the pork, rubbed it with rub, wrapped it a saran wrap, and put it in the fridge for about 5 hours.  At about midnight i pulled the butt out of the fridge, unwrapped it, and applied more rub.  I let the meat come up to room temp for about an hour.  While the meat was coming up to temp, i started the smoker.  The temp in my smoker ran between 225 to 250.  I put the butt on the smoker fat cap up, put a digital temp prob in the meat and let it go until internal temp reached 160.  I would spray the butt every hour.  Once the butt reached 160, I wrapped the meat in foil, and cooked it until internal temp reached 198.  I then pulled the meat out of the smoker, with it still wrapped in foil, I wrapped a towel around it and put it in a cooler for two hours to rest.  After two hours, I opened the meat and pulled it.  It had great flavor, but wasnt what I thought it should be.  I used cherry wood for smoke.

Please give some guidance, what should I do the same or differently?

thanks,

Matt

 

[s2k9k]

If it seems mushy you might want to skip the foil, it might take longer to cook but it should come out more firm. When you foil you are basically braising the meat and it is soaking up any liquid you put in the foil or it's own juices and just getting more and more tender, too long in the foil makes it over tender IMO. 

I'm going to link a couple of threads that I read and tried my best to follow to the T and it really took my pulled pork to a whole other level:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...dry-smoke-chamber-q-view-finished#post_855699

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...t-dry-smoke-chamber-q-view-method#post_830635

 

[mheimann]

Thanks S2K9K, I will read and follow  what I read.   I

The butt i smoked before the one mentioned, was not wrapped, but still turned out mushy.  I am scratching my head, trying to figure this out.

What If i pulled the meat out of the foil, and put it back into the smoke, like the 3-2-1 for ribs?  Just a thought.

thanks for the response.

 

[gotarace]

Mheimann welcome to SMF. I have a few comments and questions about your smoke. 

1 What do add to he butt when you foil it? I usually add 4-6 ounces of apple juice when i foil and i foil at 165* or more.

2 What do you do with the juices that gather in the foil after your butt has rested? I put them in a bowl and stick them in the freezer to separate the fat off the remaining liquid gold. Skim the fat off and and add it back into my pulled pork. I don't take my roast out of the smoker until it reaches 205*...easier pulling and better melting of fat and connective tissue. Also i remove the fat cap for more bark on the meat. 

3 Do you use a finish sauce? This is a great one. 

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/49892/finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork

Here is a butt i did not long ago...see if this helps at all

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/127983/iou-butt-for-a-buddy-with-q-view#post_865207

Hope this helps...

Len

 

[mheimann]

I didnt add anything when I foiled it.  Just wrapped it and put it back on.  The juices that come out of the foil, I mix back into the meat once its pulled.  I do a finishing sauce after its pulled.  But the meat was already mushy.  I actually put the pulled meat into a 250 degress oven to dry out a bit.  It was great after the oven.  But id really rather have to do that.  I removed the fat cap after cooking, but before I pulled it.

Thanks Len.

 

[mheimann]

I have about 5-6 finishing sauces that i use, but on this particular cook, it was just KC Masterpiece original that i added some honey and jack daniels with a little rub mixed in.  nothing fancy, but i think its pretty good.

 

[dad of four]

We all do butts differently, so here is what I noticed different about yours:

1.  The butt is full of internal fat, so I trim as much of the fat-cap off as possible.

2.  I only rub the butt for an hour before cooking

3.  The butt goes straight from the fridge to the smoker.  It is safer this way

4.  I do not spray the butt at all

5. As others have mentioned, I do not foil

 

[sqwib]

Are you shredding the pork?
Try a coarser "finger pull", it makes a big difference.

 

[mheimann]

Yes I am shredding, I didn't think finger pulling made a difference like that. Thanks, ill try it next time.

 

[jarjarchef]

You have a lot of great advise given here. A couple things jump out at me. Mushy in my opinion means it was over cooked. How accurate is your thermometer? This is a great video on making a proper ice bath. I personally cook at 250-275 till IT of 190 and do not wrap till I rest the pork, then it is placed in a pan then wrapped. It sits for about an hour before i finger pull mine. I try to utilize what is going to happen anyways and that is the carryover cooking. Basically it is the temperature of the outside balancing with the temperature of the inside. So usually the IT will rise as much at 15 degrees.

Jeramy

 

[bama bbq]

We all do butts differently, so here is what I noticed different about yours:

1.  The butt is full of internal fat, so I trim as much of the fat-cap off as possible.

2.  I only rub the butt for an hour before cooking

3.  The butt goes straight from the fridge to the smoker.  It is safer this way

4.  I do not spray the butt at all

5. As others have mentioned, I do not foil

That's the way I do it.  In fact I not only don't spray and don't foil, I don't open the cooker until the Mav says it's at temp.  Then, I use a therma pen to probe it in several places to ensure it is in fact tender.  The last butt I did was I Dec.  According to my notes, I trimmed and rubbed the pork, started my chimney, let it get "volcano hot with fire shooing out the top", added it to a nearly full ring of unlit lump and let the unlit engage until the fire burned clean, then put the smoker together and added water to the pan. I added the meat and a cpl chunks of Oak to the fire. This process takes about an hour.  It took 1.5 hrs per lb at an avg cooker temp of 268* using lump charcoal on a WSM.  I let it rest on a countertop, without foiling/wrapping, for about 30 to 45 min and pulled with insulated silicone gloved hands.  It was not mushy.

You have a lot of great advise given here. A couple things jump out at me. Mushy in my opinion means it was over cooked. How accurate is your thermometer? This is a great video on making a proper ice bath. I personally cook at 250-275 till IT of 190 and do not wrap till I rest the pork, then it is placed in a pan then wrapped. It sits for about an hour before i finger pull mine. I try to utilize what is going to happen anyways and that is the carryover cooking. Basically it is the temperature of the outside balancing with the temperature of the inside. So usually the IT will rise as much at 15 degrees.

Jeramy

I think Jeramy has hit the nail on the head: pulling the meat from the cooker at the desired temp, then wrapping in foil and towels simply made the meat continue to cook until it was over cooked and mushy.  Mushy pork makes good tacos and nachos but I really don't like it. 

 

[mheimann]

Thank for the help. I would assume my thermometers are accurate. I have several. I tested them in boiling water, and they read 212.

I will try these tips on my next cook. I should also try to keep a log of my cooks.


Thanks for the help!

 

[fpnmf]

Most of us have learned that the higher temps,trimming the fat off (use for sausage later), not foiling and keeping the door/lid closed is a great help...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128258/todays-smoke-a-tale-of-two-butts

  Craig

 

[mheimann]

Thanks everyone