Hot 'n' fast boston butt

[Preb]

Well after hearing all about some of the top competition teams cooking hot 'n' fast, i decided to try it, and there is no time like the present. I have always been a proponent of low 'n' slow, but if I can put on a butt on a weekday at lunch, and have freshly smoked pulled pork for dinner, why not? Injected, rubbed and have the smoker (CS-680) fired up. It is supposed to take 5 hours @ 350. WIll try to post pics as i get through this.

 

[indianagriller]

When cooking hot and fast butts, you may have to finish to a higher internal temp than normal (205-210) and make sure you let it rest in a cooler to help with breakdown of connective tissue.

 

[Preb]

thanks for the tip, I usually pull @ 195-198.

 

[BBQBeaver]

Yes, when I did my first pork butt hot & fast @ 350, I cooked to 190 IT, then wrapped in foil and kept it on th esmoker until it hit 205.

Then wrapped the whole thing in towels and placed in a warm cooler for an hour.

I didn't get as much and as strong of a bark as low and slow, but you can correct that by modifying your rub if needed.

 

[Preb]

Well the results are in, and IMHO it is just not as good as low 'n' slow. Tenderness was pretty good, but it was a definitely drier than my usual 12-14 hour butts @ 225, even with the injection and cooking in a pan (which I normally don't do). The taste was okay, but although it had a smoke ring (albeit less of one) there was an absence of smokey flavor. The bark was pretty tasty, and although I stole Bentley's molasses glue idea, I was amazed that you could still taste a hint of the molasses, even though the bark was not overly sweet (I will give you full credit Bentley, but will be using molasses as a glue from here on out, thanks!). I just cant see how competition teams use this instead of low and slow. Some parts (including the "money muscle") were still really good, but lacked the smokiness of one cooked low and slow.
Stats:
Meat: 8.12 LB bone in Boston butt
Cook Time: 5:30
Cook temp 345-360

Cooked on a CS-680 with Traeger Hickory and Apple pellets, injected and rubbed 6 hours prior to being put on the smoker. Took 4 hours to get to 187, then wrapped and took to 205, removed from smoker, put in cooler wrapped in towels for 1 hour.

If given a choice always low 'n'slow, but still got good reviews from my better half and neighbors. I have never done pictures before, but i am goign to try, hope you can see them. The pic of the finished pulled pork is after the "bark shark" (my wife) picked some out.

 

[Midnight Smoke]

It looks good though. I am a Low-n-Slow guy too.

 

[WineMaster]

Hot and fast in a Pellet cooker is like throwing it in the oven. That could explain the lack of smoke flavor. The higher the temp, the more efficient they burn pellets without smoke.

 

[Dave Russell]

Tried my first one at around 300 the other day. The moisture and texture of the meat was really good, but I should've let it rest longer to let the fat and connective tissure break down better. Of course, when you're trying to get it done fast, it's counterintuitive that you need to let the things rest for a couple of hours!

Oh, and the bark sucked, to put it mildly... too dark from lots of carmalization, and greasy and lacking in texture from being wrapped in foil while on the smoker.

 

[MattTee]

I had similar results the first time I tried hot & fast butts. In trying to keep the temps up I lost alot of smoke. In fact, there was alot of time when it looked like almost no smoke was coming out and as Winemaster said the smoker turned into a wood fired oven.

Currently I am butterflying the butts and cooking around 280 with very good results, alot better smoke penetration than the original experiment and just as tender as a 20 hr cook. Butterflying reduces overall cook time to around 1 hr per lb (or less) so I can start butts a fire at 0500, put the butts on at 6 and have a good bit ready for lunch around 1p.

 

[chambersuac]

thanks for sharing your "experiment" - looks good from here.

 

[brownkw]

I know I didn't start this thread, but let me express my thanks for all the tips I've seen in here! I'm normally a low-and-slow guy, but I decided to go a little hotter on my last cook.

I cooked a 7.5 lb butt in a Bandera using briquettes, hickory wood, and apple wood. I used honey mustard as a glue for the rub. Kept the temperature between 270 and 300 for around 8 1/2 hours and ended up pulling at just over 190. This was the result...

But it made for some tasty sandwiches a few days later...

I was pretty pleased overall with it, but there was still a lot of fat inside that had not rendered down. Next time I'll know to let it go a little longer.

 

[Preb]

I thought I would still have some fat that didnt render, but my only theory is i let it go to 205 and rest in a cooler for an hour. That is one thing about the pellet pooper, even low 'n' slow I dont get that much bark (at least not yet). That is a nice looking hunk o' meat.

 

[bobsuosso]

a lot of good info, thanks Preb and all

 

[The_Kapn]

Preb,
Your results with lack of smoke flavor were predictable.

Hot and fast in a Pellet cooker is like throwing it in the oven. That could explain the lack of smoke flavor. The higher the temp, the more efficient they burn pellets without smoke.

There is the answer on pellet cookers.

I have done many Butts and Briskets at well over 300 deg with lots of smoke flavor. But, that was when I ran a stick burner with it's intense smoke flavor.

When I moved to pellets, I had to slow down and let the pellets do their job.

TIM

 

[jestridge]

Reason people don't get smoke flavor is because they use charcoal. Can't expect much smoke flavor out of few chips of wood.

 

[Jester]

Hot and fast in a Pellet cooker is like throwing it in the oven.

That was the first thing I thought of when I read the first post. :shock:

 

[Meat Burner]

"bark shark", lmfao!

 

[bigmo]

Preb - That's some good looking pork!

I do a lot of hot-n-fast butts on my kettle.
I've never had any problems getting a good smoke flavor and ring using charcoal and wood chunks..





I just rub my meat.. no injections.
I usually cook at 350 degrees until 200+ internal..about 4-6 hours then foil and place in cooler 1 hour to rest.
Then its pull-chop-sauce-eat!

I do low-n-slow too.
In my humble opinion low-n-slow produces a different but not better or worse flavor profile.

It really boils down to what I want to do any given day and how much time I have to cook.

Is a hot-n-fast brisket in your future next?

 

[K-Barbecue]

I've had great success with hot N fast briskets but I'm going back to low N slow for pork butts. Just didn't seem to have the deep flavor with butts hot and fast. At least that's my 2 cents which won't buy you anything anymore :wink:

 

[K-Barbecue]

Hot and fast in a Pellet cooker is like throwing it in the oven. That could explain the lack of smoke flavor. The higher the temp, the more efficient they burn pellets without smoke.

This is exactly right. Also, the brand of pellets make a difference. The Traeger pellets give very little smoke flavor compared to some other brands.