Advice on pork butt

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Hi Bill,
 
I have your book and read your newsletters and blogs as well.  Question for you:
 
Last time I did a pork shoulder, it didn’t turn out as tender, juicy or as pullable as I imagined it could be.  I used a Boston, bone-in butt, about 3.5 pounds.  After seasoning with a dry rub, I had it on my smoker at 225 degrees for about 3 hours before even looking at it.  At that point, temp was about 140 and I started spraying with Apple Cider about every half hour.  After about another 3 hours it got to about 165 degrees and I wrapped in tin foil and continued to heat until about 195 degrees.  I took it off the smoker and let it rest about 45-50 minutes while I prepared the rest of the dinner.  The bone seemed loose and came out, smoke ring was nice, but I wasn’t able to easily pull the pork and had to slice it for sandwiches.  Any suggestions?  Thanks!
 
Wally

3 thoughts on “Advice on pork butt”

  1. Wally:

    I don’t think you cooked it long enough. If you can slice a pork butt, it ain’t done. That’s a pretty small pork butt, so at first glance, it seems like you did everything right – even cooking for the right amount of time. Here’s some suggestions…

    1) Make sure you are measuring your cooking chamber temperature at the grate where the meat is. And sometimes your meat probe is in a spot that may naturally cook faster – so reinsert if you think this may be the case.
    2) Make sure your butt is at room temperature before smoking. Cold or frozen meats can produce the results you described.
    3) Don’t spray with apple juice every half hour. Keep your lid closed as much as possible to conserve heat. If you’re lookin’ you ain’t cookin’.
    4) It should wiggle like jello when done.

    Thanks,
    Bill Anderson

  2. Bill,
    Are you advising to have the butt above 40 degrees F when you refer to “at room temperature before smoking”? Even though the butt was sprayed every 1/2 hour, could it have still dried out causing the toughness?
    Regards,
    Richard

  3. Richard:

    When I say “allow it to come to room temperature” I mean just let it sit out of the ice box or refrigerator for about 1 hour only before smoking. It doesn’t have to come all the way up to room temperature. You can do all your trimming and rub application during this time. And, of course, cook to the proper internal meat temperature. Sorry for the confusion.

    Bill

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