1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk o' pork
about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the 188F internal that
I did with the beef brisket?

2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider during
the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is that to help
develop a crust?

-JasonW

JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk o' pork
about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the 188F internal that
I did with the beef brisket?

Do you want sliced pork or pulled pork?
Pork is "done" at about 160° and that will be good for sliced pork. It you want
pulled pork, you need to go to 195° to 200° to break down all the collagen and
make the pork pullable.


2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider during
the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is that to help
develop a crust?

Every time you open the lid, you lose heat and make your cooking time longer.
This also uses more fuel. I just use a dry rub, and if I want a darker crust, I
add more (brown) sugar to the rub. IME, the fat and the rub makes the crust.
Just drink the apple cider (hard cider is better).

BOB

-JasonW

BOB wrote:
JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk
o' pork about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the
188F internal that
I did with the beef brisket?

Do you want sliced pork or pulled pork?
Pork is "done" at about 160° and that will be good for sliced pork.
It you want pulled pork, you need to go to 195° to 200° to break down
all the collagen and make the pork pullable.

Yup, got impatient on the last cook and took em off at 190, figgering them
sitting for an hour or two before being pulled would make up for it. Nope,
they pulled, but not very easily. I'm sticking with 195 or better from here
out.

the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is that to
help develop a crust?

Every time you open the lid, you lose heat and make your cooking time
longer. This also uses more fuel. I just use a dry rub, and if I
want a darker crust, I add more (brown) sugar to the rub. IME, the
fat and the rub makes the crust. Just drink the apple cider (hard
cider is better).

I've been getting real good bark using wood logs, they can put out a lot of
smoke. That much smoke can overpower ribs or something smaller just gets
mixed into the inner meat on pulled pork.

Dale
--

JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk
o' pork about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the 188F
internal that I did with the beef brisket?

2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider
during the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is
that to help develop a crust?

-JasonW

I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice here, but I suggest you read the
faq http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/default.asp, which will answer all your
questions. It's the bible.
Jack Curry

"Jack Curry" Jack-Curry deletethis @cfl.rr.com wrote in message
. com...
JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk
o' pork about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the 188F
internal that I did with the beef brisket?

2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider
during the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is
that to help develop a crust?

-JasonW

I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice here, but I suggest you read the
faq http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/default.asp, which will answer all your
questions. It's the bible.
Jack Curry




Thanks, I have already read it but didn't find a real consensus on the
questions above. Some seem to swear by the spritzing/mopping, and others say
to never lift the lid until it is done. I will probably go with the latter
since I already rubbed the meat and let it sit for a few days in the fridge.

The internal temps seem to vary as much as 35 degrees, depending on what you
intend to do with the result (slice or pull). It can take a while to sort
through the various recommendations to get at what you really want to know.

-JasonW

JasonW wrote:
"Jack Curry" Jack-Curry deletethis @cfl.rr.com wrote in message
. com...
JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk
o' pork about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the
188F internal that I did with the beef brisket?

2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider
during the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is
that to help develop a crust?

-JasonW

I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice here, but I suggest you
read the faq http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/default.asp, which will
answer all your questions. It's the bible.
Jack Curry




Thanks, I have already read it but didn't find a real consensus on the
questions above. Some seem to swear by the spritzing/mopping, and
others say to never lift the lid until it is done. I will probably go
with the latter since I already rubbed the meat and let it sit for a
few days in the fridge.

The internal temps seem to vary as much as 35 degrees, depending on
what you intend to do with the result (slice or pull). It can take a
while to sort through the various recommendations to get at what you
really want to know.

-JasonW

Here's my opinion, for whatever it's worth. Pork butts do not need basting,
spritzing or anything other than a good steady 250-275° charcoal or wood
generated fire. They're loaded with fat and baste themselves as they cook.
The bark that develops is what makes them worth eating.
As to temperature, 190° is the "magic" number for pulling, but some butts
like a little more than that. Nuthin' wrong with going up to 200, since
it's hard to dry a pork butt out. Check your butt at 190 by sticking a fork
in it. The meat should be almost falling apart.
Jack Curry
Jack Curry

JasonW wrote:

Thanks, I have already read it but didn't find a real consensus on the
questions above. Some seem to swear by the spritzing/mopping, and others say
to never lift the lid until it is done.

Right. That's because it's a value judgement... it depends on what
want. Do you want it to cook as fast as possible, or do you want to wait
a little longer and get the possible benefits from mopping. That's
for you to decide.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

"JasonW" wrote in message
news:XYyQb.112020$5V2.519452@attbi_s53...
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk o'
pork
about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the 188F internal
that
I did with the beef brisket?


188° may be OK, but for pulled pork you might want to go a little higher,
195 or so.


2. Several websites talk about spritzing the meat with apple cider during
the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is that to help
develop a crust?


Don't bother with spritzing with anything. Every time you open the cover,
your extending the cooking time. In the summer time may not be that big of a
deal. But if you live in an area that gets cool in the winter, (under 40°)
spending time spritzing you could be extending the cooking time by 20
minutes or more every time you open the cover. If you like some sauce on
it, when its done put your sauce on and let it cook for another 10-15
minutes. Or when you pull the pork, can add sauce then too.

Happy Q'en,
BBQ

-JasonW

Duwop wrote:
BOB wrote:
JasonW wrote:
1. Internal temps are still a little confusing to me. I have a chunk
o' pork about the size of a football. Should I be aiming for the
188F internal that
I did with the beef brisket?

Do you want sliced pork or pulled pork?
Pork is "done" at about 160° and that will be good for sliced pork.
It you want pulled pork, you need to go to 195° to 200° to break down
all the collagen and make the pork pullable.

Yup, got impatient on the last cook and took em off at 190, figgering them
sitting for an hour or two before being pulled would make up for it. Nope,
they pulled, but not very easily. I'm sticking with 195 or better from here
out.

I'm mostly shooting for 200 in my most recent cooks. It pulls easier, and the
juicy-ness is still there. I do crank up the temperature a little (maybe 300 or
so) when internal starts moving again after the plateau (if there's any type of
a deadline) Mostly, it's impatience.

BOB



the roasting and then after. What do y'all think of that? Is that to
help develop a crust?

Every time you open the lid, you lose heat and make your cooking time
longer. This also uses more fuel. I just use a dry rub, and if I
want a darker crust, I add more (brown) sugar to the rub. IME, the
fat and the rub makes the crust. Just drink the apple cider (hard
cider is better).

I've been getting real good bark using wood logs, they can put out a lot of
smoke. That much smoke can overpower ribs or something smaller just gets
mixed into the inner meat on pulled pork.

Dale
--

JasonW wrote:
Thanks, I have already read it but didn't find a real consensus on the
questions above. Some seem to swear by the spritzing/mopping, and
others say to never lift the lid until it is done. I will probably go
with the latter since I already rubbed the meat and let it sit for a
few days in the fridge.
The internal temps seem to vary as much as 35 degrees, depending on
what you intend to do with the result (slice or pull). It can take a
while to sort through the various recommendations to get at what you
really want to know.

I doubt you'll ever find concensus in the FAQ simply cuz there's more than
way to get to a finished product the cook wants to achieve. It does,
however, give you some parameters to work within and get good results as you
narrow things down til you make it your way.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

Thanks, I have already read it but didn't find a real consensus on the
questions above. Some seem to swear by the spritzing/mopping, and others
say
to never lift the lid until it is done. I will probably go with the latter
since I already rubbed the meat and let it sit for a few days in the
fridge.

I did my first shoulder two weeks ago, we just finished off the meat
yesterday. My theory was to do nothing to it the first time. No rub,
nothing. I minimized the variables, so next time I know I need more smoke
and a bit more cook time.

It came out great, mild and great.

-John O

John O wrote:

I did my first shoulder two weeks ago, we just finished off the meat
yesterday. My theory was to do nothing to it the first time. No rub,
nothing. I minimized the variables, so next time I know I need more smoke
and a bit more cook time.

This is the right approach, IMO. Master the basic recipe/technique first.
Embellish later, one variable at a time if necessary.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

"frohe" wrote in message
...
I doubt you'll ever find concensus in the FAQ simply cuz there's more than
way to get to a finished product the cook wants to achieve. It does,
however, give you some parameters to work within and get good results as
you
narrow things down til you make it your way.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry



I ended up 8.5 hours on the country style "ribs" and 12 hours on the
shoulder. Since the end product was nearly the same, I'll probably stick
with the ribs in the future, just for the shorter time. Actually, if I don't
go for the bark, smoking for an hour then finishing in the oven at 350 for
1.5 hours in foil gives me good tasting pulled pork...but then that wouldn't
be Q now would it?

-JasonW

JasonW wrote:
I ended up 8.5 hours on the country style "ribs" and 12 hours on the
shoulder. Since the end product was nearly the same, I'll probably
stick with the ribs in the future, just for the shorter time.
Actually, if I don't go for the bark, smoking for an hour then
finishing in the oven at 350 for
1.5 hours in foil gives me good tasting pulled pork...but then that
wouldn't be Q now would it?

8.5 hours for country ribs?? I grill those thangs.

Everone has their own way of gettin to perfection, Jason. But cookin in the
oven is not what I call BBQ. YMMV.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry