Dry, stringy butt

[conor610]

So I braised a 1.5-lb piece of pork butt yesterday in a beer-apple cider mixture with a bunch of root vegetables, etc. This was in an enameled cast iron dutch oven, and it was in the oven for 2 hours at ~300*F, which I thought would be far too little time to properly braise, but when I checked the meat it was already dried out and tasteless, as well as falling apart. So, it seems to have overcooked. Given that the liquid was not at a full boil for those 2 hours (I checked), how could it have overcooked in so little time?

[Edited for typo]

Edited January 25, 2009 by conor610 (log)

[rooftop1000]

I dont think I have cooked anything smaller than 5 pounds ...often up to 9 or 10

It will all actually taste better reheated gently the next day if that help any

tracey

[heidih]

Was it truly a fatty butt or was it something more along the lines of those "boneless country ribs" which are way more apt to dry out?

[conor610]

Hmm...that may have been the problem. Apart from a strip of fatty meat on one side, it didn't seem to have as much fat as I expected, but I've never cooked butt before, so I guess I just figured one was the same as any other.

In terms of size, I knew it was pretty small, but I figured that the connective tissue needed plenty of time, regardless.

Anyway, lesson learned: bigger, fattier butts. Heh heh.