June 26, 2016

Nice 7.75 pound butt with a thin fat cap slathered with yellow mustard then rubbed on Stubb’s hot pork rub. Put in MES about 5:30 AM after it came to 250. Ambient temp was in the high 70s and at the end of the smoke phase it was in the mid 80s. Humidity was 59% before sundown.

6:00 am – Temp has settled down after worrying with the smoke. Meat grate (third from the top) with air probe is at 260. On the fourth grate is an alum pan to catch the drippings for finishing sauce. Pecan chips in the tray had apparently caught on fire so pulled it and set in the driveway. Had AMNZTS half full but began burning too deep and I left the low flame burn too long before blowing it out. So, had more smoke than preferred. Let it burn and waited for grate temp to come down to 250.

7:00 – Set temp is 250 but grate is cycling around 260 so lowered set temp to 240. Thin blue smoke is steady from the AMNZTS with hickory pellets.

9:00 – No more smoke so opened, added aluminum foil fillers to TS and filled the front 1/3rd with Hickory pellets. Re-lit.

11:30 – Set is at 240 and grate is 255. Good thin smoke almost invisible.

12:45 PM – Pulled it from the MES, wrapped and into the convection oven on bake at 300. IT is 160.

2:45 – IT is 205 so turned off the oven and left it in there wrapped.

4:00 – Have not opened the door an even though oven has been off the IT is still 203.

5:30 – Removed from oven with IT of 190. Bone slide out clean. Meat was very tender and moist. Large muscle fibers cut easily. Pour on some hot Finishing Sauce made as described below.

Finishing Sauce

When alum drip pan had cooled poured the liquid part into a 1C measuring cup and there was a little less than 1C. Put in refer to harden the fat to skim off. Fat was 2/3rd of the liquid. When butt had sat for 15 minutes or so outside the oven, poured the jus out of the foil wrapper into a sauce pan. Added the jelled jus from the drip pan. Let sit for 15 minutes or so and skimmed off some of the warm grease. Poured it into a measuring cup and added equal amount of Apple Cider Vinegar; a double shake of black pepper, a little cayenne pepper and some granulated garlic. Heated it back to a boil and immediately turned it off to sit maybe 20 minutes. Poured some on a small pile of pulled pork.

Conclusion

Had a great meal of smoked pulled pork, Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Relish (from New South Grilling book) and Mary added fresh cilantro, cole slaw with Chef John Folse’s dressing and a slice of Ciabato bread from HEB. The pork was tender and moist especially due to the finishing sauce.

It could have had a bit more spicy as the bark did not have a zing. Dipped it into cold (should have warmed it) Senate BBQ Sauce. The bark seemed dark that maybe resulted from the higher cooking temps as there were times when the temp went up to 280 for no reason. Maybe that burned off some of the zing in the rub or maybe there was not enough to begin with.