Bought a couple of butts and found they were deboned. Makes them sort
of floppy with a big hole inside. What should I do with them?

I've smoked lots of bone-in butts on my ECB. Takes forever, 12+ hours
and even then I can get the meat to 190 deg. only by letting the water
pan run dry in the last couple of hours.

If butterflying is an option, won't they reach 190 deg. a lot quicker
and provide lots of bark.

Any advice appreciated.

Cook them the same way you did before. But I think the bone-in models taste
better.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"stark" wrote in message
...
Bought a couple of butts and found they were deboned. Makes them sort
of floppy with a big hole inside. What should I do with them?

I've smoked lots of bone-in butts on my ECB. Takes forever, 12+ hours
and even then I can get the meat to 190 deg. only by letting the water
pan run dry in the last couple of hours.

If butterflying is an option, won't they reach 190 deg. a lot quicker
and provide lots of bark.

Any advice appreciated.

"stark" wrote in message
...
SNIP
I've smoked lots of bone-in butts on my ECB. Takes forever, 12+ hours
and even then I can get the meat to 190 deg. only by letting the water
pan run dry in the last couple of hours.

If butterflying is an option, won't they reach 190 deg. a lot quicker
and provide lots of bark.

Any advice appreciated.

First, sounds like you have cooker/temp. issue. It should only take about 5
hours tops to cook typical butt. (4-5 pound) Do you pre-boil your water pan
water, if not, do so, greatly speeds up temp. Second, don't take lid off,
don't peek! Third, use temp probe to tell you cooker temp and second probe
to tell you butt temp. Place probe in thickest part of butt. I wouldn't
butterfly. Fourth, put as much lighted coals as will fit into coal pan, even
to the point of heaping it up til it just touches the bottom of the water
pan, don't spalsh water into coals! At this point it should be set it and
forget it. You can also fill half the coal pan with unlit coal and half lit
coals, but in my experience the first method works and should give you a
burn of 4 hours, get lid vents wide open. IMHO

--
"Piedmont", from Northern South Carolina!

IN REVERSE: MOC DOT OOHAY AT 4201LIWMW

In article , \"Piedmont\
wrote:


First, sounds like you have cooker/temp. issue. It should only take about 5
hours tops to cook typical butt. (4-5 pound) Do you pre-boil your water pan
water, if not, do so, greatly speeds up temp. Second, don't take lid off,
don't peek! Third, use temp probe to tell you cooker temp and second probe
to tell you butt temp. Place probe in thickest part of butt. I wouldn't
butterfly. Fourth, put as much lighted coals as will fit into coal pan, even
to the point of heaping it up til it just touches the bottom of the water
pan, don't spalsh water into coals! At this point it should be set it and
forget it. You can also fill half the coal pan with unlit coal and half lit
coals, but in my experience the first method works and should give you a
burn of 4 hours, get lid vents wide open. IMHO

--
"Piedmont", from Northern South Carolina!


I think it's the ECB that has the cooker/temp. issue. I've smoked a
dozen bone-in butts, with reliable temp. probes in solid muscle and
only once have I ever reached 190 deg. and that was after 12+ hours
when the water pan had run dry.

I always use near-boil water in the pan; never drip; never peek;
replenish with hot coals and sometimes dry chips to jack up the temp;
and usually refill hot water at least once for these long hauls.

I've never had a reliable temp probe for the ambient heat in the
cooker, letting the built-in ECB guage mislead me. But now that things
busted, so I'm just probing the meat.

I suspect its time to replace my ECB with a WSM or other equally
reliable smoker.

Tks

"stark" wrote in message
...
Bought a couple of butts and found they were deboned. Makes them sort
of floppy with a big hole inside. What should I do with them?


I cook boned butts all the time cause thats what I can find around here.
Works fine. You can butterfly em but they dry out a bit more.

I usually just kinda roll em up like they aren't boned to the regular shape
and rub em and cook em. 7-8 lb-ers usually take me about 9-10 hrs on the WSM
at around 250.

Whatever you do, don't apply rub to the inside of the "big hole" if you fold
the butts up to cook em. The rub on the inside won't cook and turn to bark
and you get kind of a yucky mess that don't taste all that good.

Put sand in yer pan and cover it with foil....I find this cooks a bit hotter
than havin' water in the pan. some of the guys'll tell ya to toss the pan
altogether. You could do that.

As for a probe for the grate temp. Take your Taylor or polder or whatever
you use and stick the probe through a potato. Put the potato on the grate
and ya got ya a good thermometer for your cookin' temp. you could just buy
another since they're cheap, or you could use an instant read thermometer to
check your meat.

Good luck.

--
Fosco Gamgee Whitfurrows
and his 6" boner

In article , F.G. Whitfurrows
wrote:

I cook boned butts all the time cause thats what I can find around here.
Works fine. You can butterfly em but they dry out a bit more.

Thanks Fosco, got tons of bark but inside remained moist.

I usually just kinda roll em up like they aren't boned to the regular shape
and rub em and cook em. 7-8 lb-ers usually take me about 9-10 hrs on the WSM
at around 250.

Must be a world of difference between a WSM and an ECB. My ECB butts
were perking along and had reached 181 deg. after 8 hours when suddenly
they lost 2 deg. A slight, intermittent wind came up, but when I
removed the lid and probed around on the butts, temps dropped into the
160 deg. range. So I added lump, stoked the fire and let my water pan
run dry. After an hour of popping and crackling as I cooked my foil
water pan liner, the butts suddenly jumped to 197 deg. and a removed
'em. As I said there was lots of bark, but easily pullable and still
moist meat inside.

This is only the second time of many butts that I've reached the 190
deg. mark and both times it was when I had let my water pan go dry.
Other times I've smoked for 14 to 15 hours and still haven't reached
that mark.

Whatever you do, don't apply rub to the inside of the "big hole" if you fold
the butts up to cook em. The rub on the inside won't cook and turn to bark
and you get kind of a yucky mess that don't taste all that good.

Didn't do that.

Put sand in yer pan and cover it with foil....I find this cooks a bit hotter
than havin' water in the pan. some of the guys'll tell ya to toss the pan
altogether. You could do that.

I'll try the sand instead of letting the pan run dry next time. It
should be easier on the pan.

As for a probe for the grate temp. Take your Taylor or polder or whatever
you use and stick the probe through a potato. Put the potato on the grate
and ya got ya a good thermometer for your cookin' temp. you could just buy
another since they're cheap, or you could use an instant read thermometer to
check your meat.

Good idea. I should have done this long ago to see if the problem is my
ECB or my fire control.

Good luck.

I'm sure this will be old stuff to most, but can't hurt to say it again.
I gauge the doneness of pulled pork by a method taught me by the FatMan
- when you can't turn it over on the smoker without it starting to come
apart, it's ready. To my mind, you shouldn't have to chop pulled pork
(though there's nothing wrong with doing so after "pulling" or shredding
it, if you want the "fibers" shorter). If its done the way I like it,
you should be able to shred it easily with your fingers, or two forks,
and the falling-apart test is just the thing for recognizing when the
meat's reached the point where you can do that.

At what was probably my most successful cookout, a bunch of us just sat
around a table picking at a nicely barked cut that was set whole on the
table, no silverware, no buns, no sauce, just paper plates, napkins, and
assorted libations. Although now that I think back, such savagery may
have resulted in most of the wimmings sorting themselves into a more
civilized group at a separate table....

Even in my WSM with temp a pretty constant 225-250, I don't think I've
ever had picnic or butt reach the falling-apart point in much less than
one and a half hours per pound - except when using the WSM with no water
pan - a method which, by the way, can turn out some mighty fine pork. On
the other hand, I've cooked several that *never* began falling apart and
never became really "pullable". These were always abnormally small
shoulders or picnics and I've avoided the really small ones ever since.

When buying butts, I look for cuts with the fat cap intact (this can be
hard to determine, grocers like to face that fat toward the bottom of
the package), and as much "interior" fat in the cut as possible. A
really lean cut will be too dry before it ever gets pullable, if it ever
gets pullable.

I prefer butts to picnics because of the greater surface area exposed to
smoke on the butt - more bark, and better penetration of smoke flavor
throughout the meat. If you do a picnic, IMHO, always cut off the rind
or skin before cooking, nothing can penetrate that skin - seasoning,
smoke, nothing, and it never gets edible. That's not to say that you
should cut off all the fat that's under that skin - you want that, to
keep the meat from drying out.

"Douglas Barber" wrote in message

I'm sure this will be old stuff to most, but can't hurt to say it again.
I gauge the doneness of pulled pork by a method taught me by the FatMan
- when you can't turn it over on the smoker without it starting to come
apart, it's ready.

Simple, but true. Most problems come from not cooking long enough or hot
enough. It can also dry the meat if cooked too long and low. Impatience is
a big problem learning to bbq as many of us are brought up as the microwave
generation. Another problems is timing. "I told our guests that we'd have
dinner at 5. Is it ready?" No, so let them wait if they want the real deal.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

In article , Douglas Barber
wrote:

I'm sure this will be old stuff to most, but can't hurt to say it again.
I gauge the doneness of pulled pork by a method taught me by the FatMan
- when you can't turn it over on the smoker without it starting to come
apart, it's ready. To my mind, you shouldn't have to chop pulled pork
(though there's nothing wrong with doing so after "pulling" or shredding
it, if you want the "fibers" shorter). If its done the way I like it,
you should be able to shred it easily with your fingers, or two forks,
and the falling-apart test is just the thing for recognizing when the
meat's reached the point where you can do that.

"Butt-forking" produces a shred more to my liking than cleaver chopped.
Another sign of doneness is the bone. It sticks out and gets wiggly
when ready. The meat will start to slump on the grill and fat will
start to render out more.

At what was probably my most successful cookout, a bunch of us just sat
around a table picking at a nicely barked cut that was set whole on the
table, no silverware, no buns, no sauce, just paper plates, napkins, and
assorted libations. Although now that I think back, such savagery may
have resulted in most of the wimmings sorting themselves into a more
civilized group at a separate table....

If it was a deep discounted rack of Blahnik shoes, the 'wimmings'
would've been the savage ones. Hell hath no elbows like a woman
shopping for a bargain......

Even in my WSM with temp a pretty constant 225-250, I don't think I've
ever had picnic or butt reach the falling-apart point in much less than
one and a half hours per pound - except when using the WSM with no water
pan - a method which, by the way, can turn out some mighty fine pork. On
the other hand, I've cooked several that *never* began falling apart and
never became really "pullable". These were always abnormally small
shoulders or picnics and I've avoided the really small ones ever since.

Bigger is better. 4 lb butt cuts are for a crockpot. Even the runt of
the litter can grow a 6 lb boston butt - I say 'no' to anything under 8
lbs.

When buying butts, I look for cuts with the fat cap intact (this can be
hard to determine, grocers like to face that fat toward the bottom of
the package), and as much "interior" fat in the cut as possible. A
really lean cut will be too dry before it ever gets pullable, if it ever
gets pullable.

A bigger hog is usually a fatter hog. The floppy brisket test can sort
of translate to porkbutts as well-the more internal fat, the looser the
butt will feel in the package . You don't want the shoulder off of the
rock hard chiseled Bowflex pig for BBQing.

I prefer butts to picnics because of the greater surface area exposed to
smoke on the butt - more bark, and better penetration of smoke flavor
throughout the meat. If you do a picnic, IMHO, always cut off the rind
or skin before cooking, nothing can penetrate that skin - seasoning,
smoke, nothing, and it never gets edible. That's not to say that you
should cut off all the fat that's under that skin - you want that, to
keep the meat from drying out.

I skip the picnics when possible. The musculature on them is less
divided up and there's a lot more bone to pay for.

monroe(leave the fat on)

"Monroe, of course..." wrote in message
...
"Butt-forking" produces a shred more to my liking than cleaver chopped.


Ah, leave it up to you!

Nawh, I'm not going there


It all depends on where the meat is intended to go. I pull the meat for a
plate and if a sandwhich is involved, I chop the pulled meat to allow for a
more tightly compacted sandwich. I hate having a sandwhich that falls apart
on its own weight (or when eating due to a long piece of bark that doesn't
wish to sever - especially when masticating the meat that has been ''butt
forked")

-CAL

"cl" wrote

It all depends on where the meat is intended to go. I pull the meat for a
plate and if a sandwhich is involved, I chop the pulled meat to allow for
a
more tightly compacted sandwich.

I do mine according to my wifes desires. She likes big pieces of meat, so
thats exactly what I give her.
No shredded for us.

--
Fosco Gamgee Whitfurrows
and his 6" boner

F.G. Whitfurrows wrote:
"cl" wrote


It all depends on where the meat is intended to go. I pull the meat for a
plate and if a sandwhich is involved, I chop the pulled meat to allow for

a

more tightly compacted sandwich.


I do mine according to my wifes desires. She likes big pieces of meat, so
thats exactly what I give her.

Ummmmmm..... Thanks for sharing:-)

Matthew

--
If the war in Iraq was over oil, we lost.

"F.G. Whitfurrows" wrote in message

"cl" wrote

It all depends on where the meat is intended to go. I pull the meat
for a plate and if a sandwhich is involved, I chop the pulled meat
to allow for a more tightly compacted sandwich.

I do mine according to my wifes desires. She likes big pieces of
meat, so thats exactly what I give her.
No shredded for us.

I agree. I like a bit of "tooth" and mouth feel so a course shred/chop is
the order of the day.

JD

stark wrote:
In article , \"Piedmont\
wrote:


First, sounds like you have cooker/temp. issue. It should only take
about 5 hours tops to cook typical butt. (4-5 pound) Do you pre-boil
your water pan water, if not, do so, greatly speeds up temp. Second,
don't take lid off, don't peek! Third, use temp probe to tell you
cooker temp and second probe to tell you butt temp. Place probe in
thickest part of butt. I wouldn't butterfly. Fourth, put as much
lighted coals as will fit into coal pan, even to the point of
heaping it up til it just touches the bottom of the water pan, don't
spalsh water into coals! At this point it should be set it and
forget it. You can also fill half the coal pan with unlit coal and
half lit coals, but in my experience the first method works and
should give you a burn of 4 hours, get lid vents wide open. IMHO

--
"Piedmont", from Northern South Carolina!


I think it's the ECB that has the cooker/temp. issue. I've smoked a
dozen bone-in butts, with reliable temp. probes in solid muscle and
only once have I ever reached 190 deg. and that was after 12+ hours
when the water pan had run dry.

I always use near-boil water in the pan; never drip; never peek;
replenish with hot coals and sometimes dry chips to jack up the temp;
and usually refill hot water at least once for these long hauls.

I've never had a reliable temp probe for the ambient heat in the
cooker, letting the built-in ECB guage mislead me. But now that things
busted, so I'm just probing the meat.

I suspect its time to replace my ECB with a WSM or other equally
reliable smoker.

Tks

One of my first smokers was an ECB, rest 'er soul! One thing that you could
also do is make sure the butt is at room temp prior to placing in cooker and
also, cook the butt directly over the coals, minus the water pan. This makes
a good jump start on the internal temp, plus adds a lot of extra flavor,
then after the first hour to 1-1/2 hours, reset with boiling water in pan
and let it do its thing. I always like the versatility of the ECB, I could
bring up the pan to grill thin meats and chicken, cook like a pit with meat
high over coals and do indirect, once I learned to add boiling water and
heap up the coals to do, say a 12 pound turkey, it was set and go.


--
"Piedmont", from Northern South Carolina!

IN REVERSE: MOC DOT OOHAY AT 4201LIWMW

stark wrote in message . ..
Bought a couple of butts and found they were deboned. Makes them sort
of floppy with a big hole inside. What should I do with them?

I've smoked lots of bone-in butts on my ECB. Takes forever, 12+ hours
and even then I can get the meat to 190 deg. only by letting the water
pan run dry in the last couple of hours.

If butterflying is an option, won't they reach 190 deg. a lot quicker
and provide lots of bark.

Any advice appreciated.



Here's a website that shows you how to modify your ECB to get better
temps. It's modified version of a WSM.

http://www.randyq.addr.com/index.html