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Behold My Butt! (2007– )

rama

By rama
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Chris Amirault

Chris Amirault

Posted
Posted

Thanks, everyone. My butt's in the fridge and getting nice and cold.

I do wonder how the temp of the pork got that high if you had it in a cooler with ice. Did you not chill the brine solution before you added it?  Was the butt chilled in the fridge before you put it in the brine?

I don't brine butt. I do brine turkeys using the cooler and ice method and have never seen this happen.  I guess what I am wondering was did the temp of the butt RISE after it went in the iced brine? Or was it at that temp or even higher when it went in.

My nice, cold butt came directly from the butcher's case, went into my fridge for a few hours, then into a very cold brine with lots of ice. And then, because it's been very hot around here the last few days and my cool cellar spot isn't very cool, it warmed up more rapidly than I had expected. When I got my butt out of the brine this morning I discovered my miscalculation: there was no ice left, making it merely cool, not cold, to the touch.

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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snowangel

snowangel

Posted
Posted

Chris, did you dump the cubes in loose? When I brined two turkeys in the cooler, I put some of the ice in loose, and a whole mess of it went into four ziplocks -- which kept it colder. My basement was pretty warm, too, when I did it, and the loose cubes all melted, but there hadn't been nearly as much melt with the masses of cubes in bags.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
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Yes, dumped in a slew of ice cubes, about 2/3s of the freezer container. That's worked in the past -- but in the past it hadn't been over 90F for several days, warming up the basement.

Hey Chris,

How'd this baby turn out? I'm hoping that your lack of a smoke report does not mean we gave you bad advice about using this hunk o' pork. Sincerely hope you and yours are not in serious gastro distress.

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Chris Amirault

Chris Amirault

Posted
Posted

Nope: I'm hale, thanks for asking.

It turned out fantastic, I must say. I used the scored skin method detailed above, smoked it for, I dunno, eight hours with hickory pucks in the Bradley until it was over 140 or so, foiled it, and finished it low and slow in the oven. The juices caramelized in the oven, too, so I scraped them into a pan and reduced some chicken stock to break down the fond: lovely.

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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  • 4 weeks later...
Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted

We've got 20 people or so coming for dinner on Sat, so we're smoking a pork butt. Well, actually we're smoking two. They're each about 10 lbs. I'm not quite sure yet whether both will fit on the top rack. I may have to do one on the top rack of the bullet and one on the bottom.

Will the bottom one be done before the top one? Do I have to switch them around now and then?

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
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We've got 20 people or so coming for dinner on Sat, so we're smoking a pork butt. Well, actually we're smoking two. They're each about 10 lbs.  I'm not quite sure yet whether both will fit on the top rack. I may have to do one on the top rack of the bullet and one on the bottom.

Will the bottom one be done before the top one? Do I have to switch them around now and then?

Most likely the top would be done first. However, if they are of equal size the time should be about equal. I do not rotate butt from top to bottom.

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Marlene

Marlene

Posted
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Thanks Mike. We put both butts on at midnight last night, in a torrential rain storm. At 2 this afternoon, it went into it's stall at 165. That lasted for a little over an hour. Now, 14 and a half hours later, it has risen to 171. We'll wait, and pull these off the smoker at about 185 or 190 and foil until we're ready to eat.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted

Butts at 13 hours.

gallery_6080_205_105032.jpg

At 17 and a half hours into the process, they hit 182, so we took them off and foiled them.

gallery_6080_205_3067.jpg

And they pulled perfectly

gallery_6080_205_62553.jpg

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
Posted
Butts at 13 hours.

gallery_6080_205_105032.jpg

At 17 and a half hours into the process, they hit 182, so we took them off and foiled them.

gallery_6080_205_3067.jpg

And they pulled perfectly

gallery_6080_205_62553.jpg

Lovely Marlene. My back has healed enough that I am planning on smoking a butt for Labor Day next weekend. Will be the first time the smoker had been out since the surgery

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Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted (edited)

Glad to hear you are feeling better Mike. Lately, I've been having my butcher take the skin off my butts, but leave a good fat cap on. I've found I now prefer them skin off. I spray the butts during the smoking, with a mix of bourbon, apple juice and maple syrup as per Daddy-A, and I find with the skin off, the fat gets nice and crispy with the glaze which is wonderful for snacking on while you're pulling the pork.

Edited by Marlene (log)

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
Posted
Glad, Mike, that you're back in smokin' shape.

I urge you to try the skin scoring method that Chris mentioned.  I did it on my last butt, and it was absolutely wonderful.

The pork butt I get here is always skin free. To get one with the skin I have to place an order. And, I hardly ever think that far ahead. I have seen Chris's efforts and the look wonderful. Maybe i will stop after work and order one and try it. All I have to do it remember to do so.

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  • 2 weeks later...
lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
Posted

I am happy to report that my first attempt since surgery was a success. No pictures this time as i was too relaxed to think about the camera.

I am sorry to report to Susan that I did not order in the skin on butt. I smoked up 9 lbs of nice pork and it came out perfectly. I also did a turkey breast and some hot sauages as well.

Nothing exciting to report other than I was thrilled to be able to even do this after a long slow recovery.

The pork made me feel better and I was even happier to see my family enjoy it.

Thanks to all my smoking friends for their kind wishes during my recovery.

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Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted

Skin on, skin off. The main thing is that you were well enough to smoke some butt! Glad you're feeling better Mike. :smile:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Slamdunkpro

Slamdunkpro

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've quit brining butts as well. I just don't see the point. I do inject them with a mixture of apple juice, beer and cider vinegar, rub them down and smoke.

I did 8 butts, 2 briskets and a case of ribs to break in my new smoker this past weekend.

Butts after 11 hrs

The final pull

Edited by Slamdunkpro (log)
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
viva

viva

Posted
Posted

I finally have a Butt to behold…my half-size Apartment Butt. I can’t join the ranks of those with Smokin’ Butts, given the apartment situation, so I opted for a brined, slow-roasted butt (at 275 for 6 hours), covered in a little mustard, paprika, brown sugar & garlic.

gallery_19995_4798_386282.jpg

After pulling…

gallery_19995_4798_480909.jpg

On tortillas with pickled onions & carrots and some hot sauce…

gallery_19995_4798_11808.jpg

Someday… a Smokin’ Butt will be mine…

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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lancastermike

lancastermike

Posted
Posted
I finally have a Butt to behold…my half-size Apartment Butt.  I can’t join the ranks of those with Smokin’ Butts, given the apartment situation, so I opted for a brined, slow-roasted butt (at 275 for 6 hours), covered in a little mustard, paprika, brown sugar & garlic. 

gallery_19995_4798_386282.jpg

After pulling…

gallery_19995_4798_480909.jpg

On tortillas with pickled onions & carrots and some hot sauce…

gallery_19995_4798_11808.jpg

Someday… a Smokin’ Butt will be mine…

Pork porn at it's finest, Viva

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viva

viva

Posted
Posted

I feel like this thread has allowed me to enter a secret Pork Porn club.

Alas, my Butt has already been depleted. So easy to make another though...

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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  • 2 months later...
C. sapidus

C. sapidus

Posted
Posted

Quick newbie question: if I cut my 14-pound boneless butt in half and smoke my two half-butts, does that double the cooking time? I will be cooking my butt(s) on a Weber bullet, so half of my butt would be in the top chamber and half of my butt in the bottom (heh) chamber.

Figuring on 1 ½ hours per pound, nine hours in the bullet would get pulled pork on the dinner table, but 21 hours would not. Thanks, and apologies if this has been answered upthread.

Bruce, a.k.a C. sapidus

eG Foodblog: Crabs, borscht, and fish sauce

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Chris Amirault

Chris Amirault

Posted
Posted

Waaay back uptopic, you can see that I learned the hard way: this is not an exact science. Sure, you'll cut down on the smoking time by halving the butt, but estimates like 1 1/2 hrs per pound are unreliable, particularly on a Weber bullet. You want to go by temperature and feel.

You can always rest it a little longer and keep it warm post-pull, so I'd get it started as soon as you can and keep fingers crossed. Having said all that, 9 hours sounds extremely optimistic to me -- and you don't want to hurry your butt!

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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