Smoked my first pork butt...I give myself a C-

[aggieljh]

So the wife bought me a Large Big Green Egg right before Christmas...i have used it several times...grilled steak the day we got it, and made some pizza on Christmas day...both turned out great....

I bought a pork but half at the grocery store on Thursday.  I was right at 4 pound...figured that would be a good starter, and if i screwed it up, no big deal...it was only $7.00.  Took it out Saturday afternoon washed it down, patted it dry, and then injected it with some Tony Cachere Creole Butter and back in the fridge.  Sunday morning took it out, and put a light coating of mustard and then coated it in Stubbs pork rub.  I let it sit out a couple hours to get closer to room temp.

I filled the bowl on the BGE with the BGE Lump charcoal and got the fire going, and lit a fire in the back of the egg....once it got to 220, i added some Apple wood chips, the place setter, and a drip pan with a little apple juice.  Closed it up, and let it run for another 20-30 minutes until the temp was stabilized at 220 again.

I put the pork butt on about 1:30 and had a Thermopro thermometer set for 192.  The temp of the meat when i put it on was 52 degrees.  I had to keep adjusting the vents, because it kept getting hotter in the egg....i was checking the temp on the egg about ever thirty minutes...once it was up to 260.

About 4 (5:30pm) hours in, i was up to 140 degrees on the Thermopro, so I thought it was going ok, and then i guess i hit the stall...over the next hour and a half...i only got up to 151 degrees, even after increasing the temp in the smoker to 250 degrees.

About 7:00, i realized that I wasn't going to get to the 192 mark any time soon, and i was hungry, so I pulled it off, foiled it, and put it back on the smoker, increased the heat to 300, and let it go to 7:30.  I pulled it off at 7:30, it had reached and internal temp of 165, so we just sliced it and ate it.

The flavor was ok....but i'm starting to question my choice of meat.....once i sliced it, probably about 1/3 of my butt was just fat...

I'm just a little let down, figured that i could get it done at and hour and a half per pound...but i would have needed way more time to get it up to a pulling temp.  Also being the first butt i tried, i was surprised by how much fat was there...

Overall...i give myself a C-.....  i'm open to any suggestions to make the next one go better...

 

[scottma]

Sounds like everything was done right you just needed more time.  I always shoot to have it done sooner than planned as sometimes the same piece and weight can take such different times to cook.  Wrapping in heavy foil then putting it in a cooler with towels on top can keep it hot for hours. 

 

[SmokinAl]

It sounds to me like you just got a bad piece of meat.

Butts are well marbeled, but they seldom have large deposits of fat in them.

I think if you would have let the butt continue to cook to the 205 range, a lot of that fat would have melted out.

We usually figure 2 hours per pound.

Sometimes they just take a long time to cook.

Other times they get done before you know it.

It's just another learning experience.

Al

 

[atomicsmoke]

Yes, there is a lot of fat in butts. That's why they taste good. Make a loin as your next project and compare lean vs fatty cut. I am sure you'd prefer butt.

Slicing it won't give you great looking cuts/chops. Especially at over 190IT It's best pulled. When you pull it you separate all the fat connective tissue ending up with only moist awesome tasting meat.

The cooking time is what it is. If you need to finish faster go high, will still taste good. But I wouldnt plan my dinner based on any calculation. Give yourself at least 2h extra, if finished sooner let it rest longer.