Stalls while smoking.

[meat hunter]

Ok, heres one for the veterans of the smoking world. Will your meat always stall while smoking? Or can you have it just make a steady climb to the disired temps? I have seen several articles on here where people say that they had their smoke stall at a certain temp for hours. I have been lucky so far I guess as the longest I have had was 30 minutes to an hour.

What causes your meat to stall?

 

[pineywoods]

Every piece of meat is different and some will stall and others will not. As the meat slow cooks it breaks down the connective tissues and collagen in the meat and depending on the amount and condition of the connective tissue and collagen may or may not get a stall/plateau. While frustrating I've actually found the meat that stalls is some of the most tender meat I've prepared. So remember when you hit that stall that the connective tissues are breaking down and giving you a more tender piece of meat.

 

[gnubee]

My longest stall, just last week as a matter of fact while frustrating as all get out, yielded some very fine eating. Amazed me how good that pig was. It was 4 hours later than I had planned on it being done. To speed it along Pineywoods and Irishteabear talked me into foiling it and beating on it a tad. Really it didn't seem to help, in fact the temp of the meat dropped 5 full degrees. I assume this is because the cooler juices got jetted around bringing the average temp of them down a tad. Finally it finally started to move. Whew!! By this time Mrs. GnuBee had gone to bed. I sliced it at 190f, put it on a bun with some coleslaw. Out of nowhere Mrs. GnuBee appeared. Apparently alerted by the smacking of my lips as I tasted that wonderful Sammie.

Beating on it a tad is supposed to get the juices moving around the meat and speeding things up. I have had limited success with this method, however once when I turned it over and slammed it on the counter one time, It immediately sped up.

Like Piney said every piece is different. Some cruise along as if stalls never happen and others are surly as hell.

Also reading Piney's post made me wonder if the longest stalls are caused by the most connective tissue giving the best results. If so a stall might be something to cheer at instead of something to give the middle digit salute too. ????????????

 

[bman62526]

Personally, since I've probably done pulled pork maybe 7 or 8 times now, I feel that if the meat DOESN'T stall, then I may be slightly disappointed

I agree with what others are saying, it's worth the wait. If you get a stall - you know you are cooking at the right temps! If it doesn't stall (IMO) then it may be due to cooking too hot OR not hot enough...leaving the finished product a little tough or a little dry.

My last pulled pork (two 8 1/2 lb. butts, deboned and cut in half) stalled for 90 minutes...even cut in half they stalled out.

but when it finally hit 195...foiled and into the cooler for over an hour and the result was very good.

 

[Dutch]

The age of the critter being smoked plays into the amount of connective tissues and collagen in the meat. A younger animal like veal and suckling pigs while still having connective tissue and callagen won't have near the amount that pork and beef grown to normal slaughter weight will.

 

[gnubee]

I wanted to eat the darn thing at 180f but Piney wouldn't let me, so I waited another hour and a half for it to get to 190f . Don't tell him I said so but it was sure worth the wait.

 

[mballi3011]

I have definely had meat hit a plateu many times and it is frustrating it is worth it. The meat is always tender if you wait it out. Sometimes you want to pull your hair out tring to figure out why, but remember your not doing anything wrong it just smoking.

 

[meat hunter]

Thanks for the input. I see your points on the benifits of stalling, breaking down the tissue and such. I was just curious as to why it happens sometimes more often than others. Interesting.