Behold My Butt! (2003–2006)

[Al_Dente]

Did this pork butt on the Weber over the course of about 4 hours. I used real lump charcoal pushed up against 2 sides of the grill to heat indirectly. The meat turned out well, but could have been more "fall off the bone" tender. I tracked the temperature inside and was able to keep it to about 250 most of the time, but it occasionally spiked to 350 or a little more when I added a few coals.

After it rested for about 45 mins, I shredded it and served it up Carolina style with some vinegar based hot sauce I made.

Any advice on how to keep the temp down and perfect this thang?

Edited August 11, 2003 by Al_Dente (log)

[CathyL]

While a butt may be cooked after 4 hours, it's not cooked enough to be pulled pork. It needs to stay on the smoker long enough for the internal fat & collagen to break down; that's what makes the meat tender and juicy. Let the next butt go longer, and when you think it might be done, stick a fork in it. If you can pick the butt up, it needs more time.

A few temp spikes along the way don't matter.

edited to correct a sudden attack of dyslexia.

Edited August 11, 2003 by CathyL (log)

[Al_Dente]

I'll keep that in mind Cathy.

Can anyone see my butt? The picture of my butt won't display on my monitor.

[Dave the Cook]

I can't see your butt.

Ofoto and Imagestation are notoriously unreliable for these purposes.

[Jinmyo]

Alas, I too am unable to see your butt.

[Al_Dente]

Damn shame. It's a lovely butt.

Try again...

[howard88]

I would love to see your butt after four hours on a weber.

[Dave the Cook]

Damn shame. It's a lovely butt.

Try again...

Still buttless here.

[vengroff]

Click here to see Al's butt. If that doesn't work, paste

http://images.ofoto.com/photos445/4/69/24/80/10/0/10802469405_0_ALB.jpg

into your browser.

Ofoto doesn't like to serve inline images to other sites. Imagestation will do it for the preview-sized images, but not the full-sized ones.

Edit: Once you have the image in your cache, it magically shows up in the posts above.

Edited August 11, 2003 by vengroff (log)

[guajolote]

Damn shame. It's a lovely butt.

Try again...

try pasting the link without the img button. maybe we can help you debug this problem.

[Dave the Cook]

Click here to see Al's butt.

This link tells me that I am forbidden from seeing Al's butt.

[Stone]

Imagestation will do it for the preview-sized images, but not the full-sized ones.

Imagestation will work, but you have to find the image's url in the source code. It's not as hard as it sounds, and it's described in one of the image site tips.

As for the butt -- I assume it's just a question of more time. Even a smaller 4 pound butt will probably take longer than 4 hours, and from what I know about you, I'm guessing your butt is closer to nine or ten. Did you take an internal temp?

[tryska]

i'm really trying to see some butt over here, but it's quite difficult.

Edited August 11, 2003 by tryska (log)

[MatthewB]

Imagestation will work, but you have to find the image's url in the source code.  It's not as hard as it sounds, and it's described in one of the image site tips.

One should be able to right-click the image, choose "Properties" & get the URL. Just make sure you don't use a double jpg extension with Imagestation. (If you've double JPG extensions in the URL, just delete the last extension.)

[vengroff]

Click here to see Al's butt.

This link tells me that I am forbidden from seeing Al's butt.

Repaste the address, and hit enter. It works that way for me.

[Al_Dente]

Imagestation will do it for the preview-sized images, but not the full-sized ones.

Imagestation will work, but you have to find the image's url in the source code. It's not as hard as it sounds, and it's described in one of the image site tips.

As for the butt -- I assume it's just a question of more time. Even a smaller 4 pound butt will probably take longer than 4 hours, and from what I know about you, I'm guessing your butt is closer to nine or ten. Did you take an internal temp?

Nine or ten pound butt!?!?!?! My butt weighs in at a svelte 6 1/2 pounds. The internal temp of my butt (I can't believe I said that) was 165 when I took it off the grill.

[Dave the Cook]

Click here to see Al's butt.

This link tells me that I am forbidden from seeing Al's butt.

Repaste the address, and hit enter. It works that way for me.

Thank you.

I have now seen Al's butt.

It's a beaut.

[Dave the Cook]

The internal temp of my butt (I can't believe I said that) was 165 when I took it off the grill.

A butt is more likely to be at 190 by time it's ready for pulling.

As CathyL said, temperature is not the whole story -- it's a feel thing. The bone should be pretty loose.

[tryska]

that's one hell of a butt...

[Katherine]

Having seen Dave's butt, I can see how beautiful it is. But I think you're going to have problems if you try to cook it any longer at that temperature, and it's going to get too dark,

I'm not a grill or barbecue specialist in any way, but I made an oven-roasted boned pork shoulder recently that was just totally, meltingly tender. I roasted it at about 200 degrees for approximately 8 hours. So I think what you need to do is get your temperature down a bit, so you can roast it longer without blackening it.

[maggiethecat]

it's a feel thing.

Um.

[Stone]

Imagestation will work, but you have to find the image's url in the source code.  It's not as hard as it sounds, and it's described in one of the image site tips.

One should be able to right-click the image, choose "Properties" & get the URL. Just make sure you don't use a double jpg extension with Imagestation. (If you've double JPG extensions in the URL, just delete the last extension.)

It's not that easy. You can't link to the viewing page. The explanation should be in here. But essentially, after you upload your picture to your storage bin in Imagestation, you must click on the image to view it in the viewer. Then, you must click on view/source to get a page of source code. In that code, you can find the url, and paste it into the eGullet image box. The correct url code starts with something like img=src www.imagestation . . . . . .jpg. It's not as difficult as it sounds.

Don't worry about the butt getting too dark. The dark color is not "browning" like on the stove top. It's from the smoke -- and the butt should be close to black by the time it's down. Good old yummy nitrites.

[Dave the Cook]

Having seen Dave's butt, I can see how beautiful it is.

Er, I want it on record here that we are not discussing my butt (though I wonder how you knew?)

This thread is about Al's butt.

Thank you.

[=Mark]

A full sized pork butt will need to smoke for 6 to 8 hours at 220 to 250 degrees. The temp will rise to about 160 - 170 degrees and then hold there for 2 or 3 hours while the collagen and fat break down and render off. You also want to go easy on the smoke if you are going to use wood for flavoring. Lots of folks like to see tons of smoke billowing around but over that long a cooking time it may impart a bitter flavor. Here is my first try on my Weber Smoky Mountain (Pictures you can actually see! )

Starting out... 10:00am - A half pork butt ready for smoking

10:30am - Beginning setup. Umbrella shading thermometer from sun. Purchasing that clamp-on umbrella the day before would later avert tragedy!

2:30pm - They didn't forecast rain... One inch of rain in 40 minutes halfway thru the smoke session! Luckily with the umbrella the temp in the Weber Smokey Mountain drops only from 250 to 239.

5:30pm - This pig be done!

6:00pm - Well rested Smoked butt ready to be pulled

6:20pm - The finished product!

Edited to add - "I still have not seen Al's butt!"

Edited August 11, 2003 by =Mark (log)

[Raynickben]

Now I'm laughing MY butt off at these posts...and I'm hungry.