Pork Butt Cut Into Parts

[GladSmokin'013]

I'm new to smoking and new to the forum. I've used my Traeger Silverton 620 five times so far with satisfying results.

We are having guests over later this month and we are serving pulled pork. One of our invited friends offered the pork butt for me to smoke, so naturally I said yes. When she brought the frozen meat over, it was in approximately 3lb chunks. She had cut up the whole pork butt into these chunks for when she makes pork green chile.

So, here's my question: is it better to just smoke the separated pieces or tie them together with kitchen string? I'm worried about the meat drying out. I've smoked a 6 lb butt, but it came out a little dry after following the Traeger recipe included in a cookbook that came with the smoker.

I appreciate your help.

 

[bdawg]

One idea- prep the parts separately with rub on all sides. Smoke them apart to an internal temp of 145F which is slightly lower than I would normally go up to when I wrap (usually I go to 165F) to help keep more of the juices in. Then, I'd wrap them all together in the same foil wrapper (as opposed to my normal butcher paper), spritz with apple juice w/ a little cider vinegar, and put them back in wrapped until they get all the way up to 195F, spritz again, and finish up unwrapped to 203F or so to firm up the bark a bit. You'll get rub and smoke on more of the meat this way, I think.

One other thing -- I try to save the juice from in the foil then de-fat it (put it in the fridge and skim off the solidifed fat) then heat it back up to form a base for a sauce made out of that juice, some BBQ sauce, some apple juice and a bit of cider vinegar. That sauce really helps keep the end product moist.

I'm sure others will chime in with other ideas on how to keep them from drying out.

 

[kruizer]

Rather than a foil wrap, I would suggest a foil pan with a tight foil cover. That will help avoid a messy conclusion at the end. Then you can shred the meat in the pan with the juices.

 

[GladSmokin'013]

Rather than a foil wrap, I would suggest a foil pan with a tight foil cover. That will help avoid a messy conclusion at the end. Then you can shred the meat in the pan with the juices.

The pan is a good idea to help contain the juices. On my first and only (so far) pork butt, I managed to spill the liquid contents all over the place from an unfortunate tear in the foil. I think a person should only mop the meat with juice/sauce and not mop the floor to clean juice/sauce.

 

[bauchjw]

There was a lot of discussion on a similar topic a week or so ago:

Smoked Pork Butt (Bone In vs Boneless) | The Bearded Butchers

always heard leave the bone in but these guys did one each way . i've only been smoking a hair over a year and i've always left the bone in , but getting seasoning inside doesn't sound like a bad idea . what are your experience/thoughts ? take care , jeff

www.smokingmeatforums.com

There are a few that believe it may be better/more bark to do in chunks, may be a good time to try out!

 

[GladSmokin'013]

There was a lot of discussion on a similar topic a week or so ago:

Smoked Pork Butt (Bone In vs Boneless) | The Bearded Butchers

always heard leave the bone in but these guys did one each way . i've only been smoking a hair over a year and i've always left the bone in , but getting seasoning inside doesn't sound like a bad idea . what are your experience/thoughts ? take care , jeff

www.smokingmeatforums.com

There are a few that believe it may be better/more bark to do in chunks, may be a good time to try out!

Thank you for the link!

 

[tallbm]

I'm new to smoking and new to the forum. I've used my Traeger Silverton 620 five times so far with satisfying results.

We are having guests over later this month and we are serving pulled pork. One of our invited friends offered the pork butt for me to smoke, so naturally I said yes. When she brought the frozen meat over, it was in approximately 3lb chunks. She had cut up the whole pork butt into these chunks for when she makes pork green chile.

So, here's my question: is it better to just smoke the separated pieces or tie them together with kitchen string? I'm worried about the meat drying out. I've smoked a 6 lb butt, but it came out a little dry after following the Traeger recipe included in a cookbook that came with the smoker.

I appreciate your help.

Hi there and welcome!

Smoking each as 3 pound pieces shouldn't be an issue, I'd just roll with em like that.

Remember that a pork butt is only done when it is tender, never by time or temp.
You can use the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat to tell you when to check for tenderness. On a pork butt I start checking for tenderness at a meat IT of 203F degrees.
I check by stabbing ALL OVER with a wooden kabob skewer and if it goes in like butter all over then its ready to come out and shred for pulled pork.

If you do this with a pork butt it should not be dried out. If you want to wrap the pork butt chunks I would wait until a meat IT of 180F or so to ensure you get great flavor and bark first before wrapping but with a pork butt even in chunks you likely don't need to wrap it.

I hope this info helps :)

 

[GladSmokin'013]

Hi there and welcome!

Smoking each as 3 pound pieces shouldn't be an issue, I'd just roll with em like that.

Remember that a pork butt is only done when it is tender, never by time or temp.
You can use the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat to tell you when to check for tenderness. On a pork butt I start checking for tenderness at a meat IT of 203F degrees.
I check by stabbing ALL OVER with a wooden kabob skewer and if it goes in like butter all over then its ready to come out and shred for pulled pork.

If you do this with a pork butt it should not be dried out. If you want to wrap the pork butt chunks I would wait until a meat IT of 180F or so to ensure you get great flavor and bark first before wrapping but with a pork butt even in chunks you likely don't need to wrap it.

I hope this info helps :)

Your answer definitely helps and I appreciate the welcome. I've got some skewers and leaving the pork rest until the IT goes down to 180° before wrapping is something I've not run across in my research, so thanks for that. On my previous attempt with a shoulder, I did go strictly by the temperature protocol in the Traeger recipe.

There's so much to learn and it looks like this forum is a good spot!

 

[bdawg]

Rather than a foil wrap, I would suggest a foil pan with a tight foil cover. That will help avoid a messy conclusion at the end. Then you can shred the meat in the pan with the juices.

Yeah, that's a great idea. I didn't even think of that.

 

[jcam222]

Rather than a foil wrap, I would suggest a foil pan with a tight foil cover. That will help avoid a messy conclusion at the end. Then you can shred the meat in the pan with the juices.

100% , this is how I wrap my butts always

 

[chef jimmyj]

I've got some skewers and leaving the pork rest until the IT goes down to 180° before wrapping

Welcome from PA I'm thinking there is a misunderstanding here....
Chunks go fast. Tall is saying to get Max Smoke Flavor and Bark...Smoke the chunks to an IT of 180°F Before covering and finishing the cook to Probe Tender.
I have been doing this for a couple of years now to save time at the smoker...JJ

 

[civilsmoker]

I just did what you will be doing! There is a 3 lb butt chunk along with the rib tips

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/simple-321-spares-with-bourbon-maple-glaze.310857/

like JJ said smoke till you get a nice bark then wrap and take to tender. If your friend is going to use them for chili verde than just SPOG them....we do this ALL the time, just fantastic! They take less time than full butts!

 

[GladSmokin'013]

One thing about getting into a new specialized activity--new acronyms to learn! Just added SPOG to my education after I looked it up.

Also, I never would have thought to smoke a chunk of shoulder for making green chile. Hmm, I'll have to try that for a batch my ownself.

 

[GladSmokin'013]

Welcome from PA I'm thinking there is a misunderstanding here....
Chunks go fast. Tall is saying to get Max Smoke Flavor and Bark...Smoke the chunks to an IT of 180°F Before covering and finishing the cook to Probe Tender.
I have been doing this for a couple of years now to save time at the smoker...JJ

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[civilsmoker]

One thing about getting into a new specialized activity--new acronyms to learn! Just added SPOG to my education after I looked it up.

Also, I never would have thought to smoke a chunk of shoulder for making green chile. Hmm, I'll have to try that for a batch my ownself.

Yes lots of new acronyms, ie mainly because most posts are from a phone so.....

Oh in my book there isn't any other way to make chili verde!!! Once you try it....well you have been warned!

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for the clarification.

Yep ChefJJ has you cleared up.

With many meats like a pork butt or a brisket, etc. people will smoke to meat Internal Temp (OT) of like 160F degrees when it starts to stall and then wrap it in foil to push through the stall and cook faster.

Doing this definitely helps go faster and get through the stall BUT it sacrifices a TON of flavor and in many cases can leave your meat tasting like an oven roast rather than BBQ. This is especially true with beef.
It's a disappointing experience to pay a ton of money and spend a ton of time smoking a 15 pound brisket to wrap at like 160-165F and have it come out tasting like oven roast beef rather then the amazing bbq brisket that is like the king of all BBQ meats.

So a very good rule of thumb is to wait until the meat's IT is 180F or so and then wrap. It won't speed things up too much but it darn sure will give you amazing flavor if you must wrap something or you need to speed things up by wrapping.

And remember Pork Butts, beef Chucks, Brisket, and Beef Ribs are all done when they are tender. Never by time or IT of meat. The IT of the meat just tells you when to check for tenderness by stabbing all over or if you get real good by the feel of the bend of the meat :)

I hop this info helps :)

 

[GladSmokin'013]

The Traeger recipe for pulled pork says to wrap it at 160°. I'm about 30 mins away from getting the pork in the smoker. I'll pull it at 180°, wrap it, and see what happens. After it's all done and my wife and I get a small meal out of it, (we have to give it a fair test, right?) I'll pack it away in the freezer for the get-together taking place in twelve days.

I appreciate the welcome here and all of the advice.

 

[GladSmokin'013]

As an aside, it's interesting to see at the top of my posts, there is the notification " This message is awaiting moderator approval, and is invisible to normal visitors. " So I take it that my posts are only visible to abnormal visitors until the mod gives his/her approval.

 

[tallbm]

The Traeger recipe for pulled pork says to wrap it at 160°. I'm about 30 mins away from getting the pork in the smoker. I'll pull it at 180°, wrap it, and see what happens. After it's all done and my wife and I get a small meal out of it, (we have to give it a fair test, right?) I'll pack it away in the freezer for the get-together taking place in twelve days.

I appreciate the welcome here and all of the advice.

Their recipe advice is to maximize speeding up the cooking.
Wrapping at 180F internal temp and putting it back to cook is about much better flavor and getting some speed up on the cooking.

I personally don't wrap at all and go for max flavor but pay the price with cook time. I smoke pork butts at 275F smoker temp though which helps. Pork butts, briskets, and ribs don't care what temp you cook them at as long as you aren't burning them... and as long as you aren't putting sugar in the rub/seasoning. Sugar wants to burn and get bitter at a smoker temp over 250F I believe. In TX it is uncommon thing to put sugar on the bbq while smoking it so no issues here :D

 

[GladSmokin'013]

A short time ago, I made it, finally, (the wind is terrific today) to 180° on the IT. I pulled it out of the smoker, placed the pieces in a broiler pan, added two cups of apple juice, and sealed it up with foil. I put it in the oven at 250° , it's too cold outside--it's 50℉! (This is Vegas, for Pete's sake) until an instant thermometer indicated 204°. I turned the oven off and am letting it rest, all sealed up, for at least an hour. It looks and smells wonderful. Then, let the shredding begin.