Several butt firsts

Cooked a 10+lb butt for a gathering next weekend. It was a strange cook.

First, there was a 4 hour stall. Very unusual.

I cooked it at 250 and didn't foil. It was ready after 15 hrs, and when I grabbed it with my rubber gloves to take it off, liquid squirted out of it from several places. Never had that happen before.

As I pulled it, I noticed it was moister than any butt I've ever cooked. I also noticed that there was almost no fat left; there's usually a little. When I tasted it, it was OK, but I didn't have that, "Oh, yeah!" reaction I usually have.

Put it in the fridge late Monday and took it out this morning to freeze for the weekend. It was like someone had melted several pounds of pork fat and poured it over the meat. When it was in the freezer bags, the container I refrigerated it in was completely covered in grease.

I've cooked dozens of butts over the years and several have been this brand. I've never had a "greasy" butt before. It's OK, but the people who will be eating it this weekend always rave about my Q. I don't think they will be raving this time. I'm not looking forward to it. In fact, I'm thinking about smoking another butt Thursday.

I froze it right after I bought it. It was pink and had no odor when I put it on; looked just like it did when I bought it.

Same recipe. I made a new batch of rub before I cooked the butt and used a coarser turbinado sugar than I usually do. I noticed when I rubbed the butt that some of the sugar didn't stick, so it's possible that the rub that did stick wasn't as sweet. I have since ground the whole batch of rub to fix that. I thought about the lack of non-rendered fat.

I have cooked enough butts that I know what to expect. Every cook is a little different, but this one was a lot different.

gtr said:

Could just be that particular piece of meat. How long did it rest before pulling?

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I thought about that too. I usually double foil, wrap in towels, and put in a cooler for a couple of hours. It was after 11:00PM when I took it off so I double wrapped in foil only and let it rest for an hour on the counter. None of this explains the greasy feel of the meat.

Follow up: I didn't have time to cook another butt. My wife tasted the original and said it tasted fine. Everybody at the gathering raved about it, and I have to admit, it wasn't terrible frozen and warmed up. Maybe I'm just too picky.