About my butts

[infamousterry2]

I'll give a quick run down on smokin my butts, maybe someone could let me know, if what I'm going to do is ok.
I have a small offset smoker, will be doing two 7lb butts, which will about fill the smoker, now my temp. gauge in lid normally reads about 50 or 60 degrees hotter than my et73 set on the grill behind the meat, away from heat, should I trust the et73, ( which usually is right on in the oven) should I place the temp. gauge on the side of the meat that the heat is coming from.
Also do I rotate the butts a some point, placing the one behind closer to the heat etc. I am doing the reg thing, Texas BBQ rub etc. I am leaving bone in, do I place the int. temp gauge away from bone. :?:

[cleglue]

My Maverick is right on. If in doubtt put the probes in boiling water and check it. It should read close to 212. I haven't cooked two butts in my smoker so I don't know about rotating them. I would probably put the grate probe between the two. Also keep the meat probe away from the bone. Good luck and keep us posted.

I don't know if I shared this site with you but I does help with keeping the temperature pretty steady for a few (4 or 5) hours in small offset smokers.

http://www.homebbq.com/content.asp?contentid=688

[bigwheel]

Well them smallish offsets cook as good one of them high dollar rigs..just got to fiddle with it a little mo often. Yeppers they is going to need shuffling. I do it every hour on the hour with a rotate in a counter or counter clockwise rotation as you see fit. Flip from top to bottom each two hours. Drink beer and quit being so anal about the temps. Just keep twixt 200 and 300..as measured in the lid with no obstrucitions and make sure you did not stab some fat cold butt with the stem on the down stroke. That can really jack with your figgers:) Try this. Place the palm of your hand on the pit. If you can hold it the count of 3 or 4 Missippiiss..you be about right. That should put you smack dab in the middle of from 250 to 225 which is close enough for guv'ment work. Only way you can mess up a but is to cook it too low and too slow (as is the custom of some yankees) or not long enough which sometimes happens up around Amarillo and New Yawk City and such places. Hope this helps. Just my dos centavos of course.

bigwheel


I'll give a quick run down on smokin my butts, maybe someone could let me know, if what I'm going to do is ok.
I have a small offset smoker, will be doing two 7lb butts, which will about fill the smoker, now my temp. gauge in lid normally reads about 50 or 60 degrees hotter than my et73 set on the grill behind the meat, away from heat, should I trust the et73, ( which usually is right on in the oven) should I place the temp. gauge on the side of the meat that the heat is coming from.
Also do I rotate the butts a some point, placing the one behind closer to the heat etc. I am doing the reg thing, Texas BBQ rub etc. I am leaving bone in, do I place the int. temp gauge away from bone. :?:

[HoosierTrooper]

What bigwheel said.

[rstcso]

I think the best butts I ever cooked were before I got my Maverick and started being too anal about watching the temps. After I got the Maverick, I decided I was cooking about 50* too hot, but they always seemed to come out better before. I'm talking butts only now.

I agree with bigwheel about flipping them around on your pit. Also, make sure you cook them to the point where you start thinking you're overcooking them. They'll be just about right then. If you've cooked them correctly, the meat will just about seperate itself when you pull it. If when you're pulling them and catch yourself wishing you had some of those "bear paws" to help you rip it apart, it's not cooked enough.

Pork butts are about the most forgiving thing you can cook. They'll come out great!

[infamousterry2]

Thanks Greg , for the tips, never did get that link to download.
I also thank you other fellows for your info, rotating etc. I am guessing that I should leave the int. probe in the same peice of meat thru out the cook, I will put the probe in the end of the butt so I can rotate top to bottom a little easier. I think I will foil the one with the probe at 165 and the other one an hour later, you gather all the info you can, and it still comes down to you have to work with it, but I guess thats what makes it all worth while..................Terry

[BBQ Angel]

Foiling a butt isn't necessary. I did that once and the meat was too greasy. Now I just cook to an internal temp of 195 and the meat practically slides off the bone and seperates easy. And foiling will also soften that nice crunchy bark you have created on the outside of the butt. I don't worry about pit temp either. I agree with bigwheel, 200 -300 degree range is good.

[infamousterry2]

Thanks BBQ angel, I have always done the foil at 165 like people have suggested, I am going to try it your way this time, what you say makes sense, anyway there is more than one way to skin a cat, anybody doing cat's...........LOL I will be a little looser about temp and every thing this time, it may be the best.........Later

[Woodman]

Foil is good if you are cooking multiple butts that are getting done at different intervals and will need "holding" . Otherwise, it is not necessary. If you are running behind and have a bunch of hombres looking hungry at the dinner table, foiling will speed it up! I for one, have never used an internal probe. I still have a dial thermo, and only use that on loins and briskets. Good luck. W

[bigwheel]

If you want grand prize winners..foil one and cook the other one nekked..then mix em together when time to push and pull. That will give a nice mix of crunchy to mushy.

bigwheel

[infamousterry2]

I have a new problem now ,for me a beginner, my maverick smoker probe registered 250' when I plugged it in, keep in mind it wasn't in the smoker yet, and when I put the internal one in the meat, within 45 min. it was at over 200' so really I am cooking blind, I had a reg. therm but when you leave it in the meat it turns black and can't read it, so If I was going to foil one and mix with the other I don't know when to foil it or when it is done..........it's going to be a fun Friday evening.

[bigwheel]

If you cooking bone in models..when its done you should be able to reach in and pull out the bone by hand or rea easy with tongs or whutever. Time to wrap after about 45 min per lb in the smoke if you are holding around 250. Which should be the old 3 mississippii thang. 2 missippiis put you at close to 300. If you cant say no mississippiiis..without an irrestible urge to move your hand ..it time to cook split chickens or sideways grill some steaks.

bigwheel

[infamousterry2]

Ok thanks big wheel, I am cooking two butts and I'm sure the front one is getting more heat, so I am doing like suggested , rotating every hour and top to bottom every two hours, I don't drink, but I think it's time to start.........any body gotta cold bud light

[bigwheel]

Well I dont go for that sissified light stuff..cept for Shiner Light..thats purty tasty..but I drinking real Bud in your honor as we speak. Give em a spin from back to front too. Want all the parts to get equally spanked by the fire.

bigwheel

[infamousterry2]

Well, it's done, I should say it's over I guess,any way I cooked from 2:30 pm untill 10:30 Friday night and fell asleep and woke up at 1:30, fire went out so I foiled the other one, put in hot box untill 6 this morning, pulled them both and had to add a little time in the oven to get right, I think I have done 3 or 4 butts or more and yet have them cooked all the way done , one day I will get tit right, but like yaw'll have said , it's hard to mess up a butt, I think they will be just fine.Thanks for the help when I needed it

[cleglue]

Call Maverick Customer Service and see if they will send you new probes. The paper works says Limited Ninety Day Warranty. The phone number (732) 417-9666.

If you can get the butt to 195 internal temperature then wrap in foil and let it rest in a dry cooler for about and hour the pork should pull perfectly. This has worked for me every time.

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Boston-Butt/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Boston-Butt22006/

[infamousterry2]

Hi Greg, ok on the 195, but without a temp gauge I didn't know when it reached it, but i finished it in the oven and it was good, they told me to mail in the temp probes to be replaced.

[Woodman]

Cooking blind is actually the best way to learn this stuff. You will "know" when it is tryly done by the way it "feels". The bone will be very loose in the meat an the butt will have the feel that it wants to bust apart when you pick it up! Thermos are for weenies!

[Helen_Paradise]

Cooking blind is actually the best way to learn this stuff. You will "know" when it is tryly done by the way it "feels". The bone will be very loose in the meat an the butt will have the feel that it wants to bust apart when you pick it up! Thermos are for weenies!

I am gonna hafta kinda...agree with you on this one. Even though I still like to take the lid therm and stab the meat just to make sure. :D

[infamousterry2]

Well can you over cook a butt and dry it out, I'm not talking about burning it, just cooking it to much.

[Woodman]

I am gonna hafta kinda...agree with you on this one. Even though I still like to take the lid therm and stab the meat just to make sure. :D

Yeah, it's kinda like that old Beatles song........... :wink: :roll:

[bigwheel]

Yeppers it do be possible to over cook a butt. Mostly cuzed by cooking too low..too slow and for too long on a pit with rapid air exchange. Sorta dehydrates em like you put it in one of them fancy store bought food dehydraters. It turns it to thick sliced pork jerky. Now guess it do be possible to overcook one going too fast too if I person put their mind to it.
Most times if you cook it too fast it just have a bunch of unrendered fat in it. Works the same on ribs. Quick cooked ribs have big blobs of unrendered fat in there...super slow cooked ribs are dry and leathery. Trick on both in my view is to render out most of the fat..but not plumb total..which aint hard to do if you cooking at normal temps and times..and do not take any nappy poos and let the fire go out etc. :)

bigwheel


Well can you over cook a butt and dry it out, I'm not talking about burning it, just cooking it to much.

[david brace]

... The bone will be very loose in the meat an the butt will have the feel that it wants to bust apart when you pick it up!
Kinda like a pop-up timer for pork...makes sense to me.

DB

[infamousterry2]

Loose bone for a pop up timer, sounds good, but you need to check it after so many hours, check it regularly to see if bone is loose, will opening the smoker that often cause a problem.

[TexLaw]

Well, you don't need to check it all that often. First off, you know you can let it go for six or seven hours without even thinking about the thing. After that, just start checking it when you think it might be done. If it's not done, check it again in an hour or so.

Unless you are teetering right on the edge of done, you don't need to check it any more often than that, and you can probably check it less often. It's hard to overcook a butt, and there's not much that happens in an hour while you're cooking it.


TL

[infamousterry2]

Thanks for the input, it may sound like dumb things that I ask, but my goal is to do a butt right , just one time anyway, I've done 5 or six now and always take them off to early, and have to finish them in the oven. I want to know the ans. to all my ques. because I take this smoking thing serious........again , thanks everybody for now.

[bigwheel]

Well this scenario sorta remind me of my cousin James Robert Wheeler who currently hang his hat in Mineral Wells but we was both raised together down at Graham back in the good old days. Anyway they bought that boy books and sent him to school...And whut did he do in reuturn? Yeppers you guessed it..he chewed on the book covers :(

bigwheel

[TB]

Well this scenario sorta remind me of my cousin James Robert Wheeler who currently hang his hat in Mineral Wells but we was both raised together down at Graham back in the good old days. Anyway they bought that boy books and sent him to school...And whut did he do in reuturn? Yeppers you guessed it..he chewed on the book covers :(

bigwheel
Ah yes, ole "Chewy" Wheeler. Loved him in Star Wars.

[TexLaw]

Shoot, Terry, don't worry about it. It's not like anyone around here was born with barbeque knowledge (although some may claim it). We all have to ask about what we don't know, or we ain't gonna learn it! :D


TL

[infamousterry2]

Well Texlaw, This is how I look at it, when you pay money for a offset smoker, buy wood and charcoal and a chimmney and a maverick et73 and kitchen utensils to make life easier and everything else like going to town to look for a brisket or butt and then stay up all night cooking it, then you really should do the best job you know how to make people holler for more, there's the pay off, I am getting close to doing it right, but only with the help of the good people here and TEXASBBQRUB,so thanks for any input. When I get it right , then I'm going to perfect it......Terry

[gsmith]

I would suggest starting first thing in the a.m. pretty close to O dark thirty and cook throughout the day. Although I have done overnighters it is easier to stay awake during the day and if you need to rest a spell there is always some one around to keep an eye on the temp every now and then.
My butts take at least 8-12 hours with my temps running between 200 & 300*. They come out pretty good but I strive for perfection.
It took me a long time to believe in the BBQ motto - "it's done when it's done" - but now my family and friends know they will not eat until I say it's done. I must say that we have eaten some pretty late meals. :)

[infamousterry2]

Yes sir mr.gsmith thats what I'm talking about perfection, so far , I'm the guy who didn't wait long enough for it to be done,but I too am working on that, I want to see the butt, almost just crumble in my hands, because it's so tender, when I get that down then I am going to play with making it better and better, I only cook for me and a neighbor or two, but I still want it to be something they talk about. If it's worth doing it's worth doing right.

[TexLaw]

Well Texlaw, This is how I look at it, when you pay money for a offset smoker, buy wood and charcoal and a chimmney and a maverick et73 and kitchen utensils to make life easier and everything else like going to town to look for a brisket or butt and then stay up all night cooking it, then you really should do the best job you know how to make people holler for more, there's the pay off, I am getting close to doing it right, but only with the help of the good people here and TEXASBBQRUB,so thanks for any input. When I get it right , then I'm going to perfect it......Terry

Ab-so-lutely!


TL

[david brace]

I agree !!!

DB

[vinman]

Yes sir mr.gsmith thats what I'm talking about perfection, so far , I'm the guy who didn't wait long enough for it to be done,but I too am working on that, I want to see the butt, almost just crumble in my hands, because it's so tender, when I get that down then I am going to play with making it better and better, I only cook for me and a neighbor or two, but I still want it to be something they talk about. If it's worth doing it's worth doing right.

Amen to that. Isn't that why we're all here?
Is there any such thing as perfection? I think I speak for everyone when I say NO WAY!
Always room for improvement and something better always comes to mind.