My first pulled pork... And the Stall

Doing my first BUTT for pulled pork tomorrow for dinner. Will let you know if I also experience such a stall. Looks damn good tho!!

Thanks for sharing the pic!

That is some great looking pulled pork.

Each piece of meat is different when it comes to the stall. It is all dependant on how much connective tissue is inside of the meat that needs to break down.

There are several ways to combat the dreaded stall.

1. Cook at a higher temperature. at 215-230 degrees you are going to be going really slow. Also if you were at 215-230 degrees on the dome thermometer you were probably cooking anywhere between 185-200 degrees at the grate temperature which could be the cause of your long cook.

2. After your butt gets to the color you want, wrap it in foil or butchers paper. This will help you get through the dread stall as the meat will now braise and heat is retained in the meat.


I would recommend getting a thermostat or temperature probe that you can put down on the cooking grates so you know 100% what temperature your meat is cooking at. Also the myth that only good bbq comes at cooking at 225 degrees is just that a myth. Try taking your cooking temperature up to 250-275 or even higher. You will get the same great results.

If you want to get even more daring start doing hot and fast cooks 300+ degrees. The hot and fast cooks do need a long resting time however so the meat is able to relax and come tender after shrinking down so fast from cooking at a high temperature.

Crank that heat up to 250-275 boys!! You won't be sorry. I never foil..lazy and like bark. Congrats on your cook...and your English is fine.

First; welcome to the forum.

You are correct that you could should have been finished as planned if you were at 225°.

Many variables can effect the outcome of your cook;.....

The size of the amount of charcoal used in the cooker in relation to the size of your meat. A small heat source has to work harder to keep the temperature up inside the cooker.

Dropping outdoor temperatures also cool the cooker as well.

There are differences in the same cuts of meat themselves which affect the cooking time.

Suggest try to raise the temperature and even foiling the meat at 160° to help get it through the stalling temperature.

Little butts stall harder IMO... But everyone is right on the temps...

It helps to remember that the stall is when the magic is happening. Fat and collegian are breaking down which turns a tough cut into delicious, juicy BBQ. Nothing not to like about it.

Higher temperatures cuts the stall time down when you don't have enough beer on hand or need some sleep. :becky:

Jonas, your English is fine!!
The meat looks delicious, too.

The stall can happen to any large piece of meat and Jim is certainly right about the magic. Sometimes the stall can mess up the timing for your meal, but that's not a huge concern.

Arlin

Stall or no stall, that meat looks yummy! It is longer than I would have thought though. But still - YUM!


Alex

Agree with the higher temps. I just did a 7 pound picnic. My Char Griller seems to like 250 deg so that's where I cook. I didn't get any stall at all. Temp rose at a nice even pace and took about 7 hours. I put it in a foil pan sealed with aluminum foil for the last 2 hours. It rested for about 1 hour and was tender and jiucy.

HAH~ I never thought a small piece of meat could stall so long UNTIL I did it the other day. I had believe it or not a 5lb "packer" from the grocery store here and it took about 12 hours, by this time it was 11 pm and I took it off and the internal temp was still only like 180 and only some parts were probing we'll and the point on the brisket was way way undercooked still. Every piece of meat is different, so I'm not surprised you had such a long stall. Whatever you do, don't rush it (Even if your hungry.) I wasted 11 hours of smoking for a undercooked brisket

**Edit** And yes, I had 3 thermometers, so the heat in the smoker was spot on at 250.

Oh man I'm suprised the sammich didn't fall off the plate when you took that picture!

Jonas said:

Hmm what to do with an upside down picture?

Click to expand...

Upside down or not I'd eat it!!!!!!:clap:

Jonas said:

Thank you for all replys guys. It is good to know that this kind of stall may happen and what to do about it.

I guess My tactic next time will be to start earlier and have a few beers at hand ;-). And have the foil ready if I have this kind of stall again.

Here is a picture of a sandwich I made for my 10 year old daughter. She loved it ;-)

View attachment 84153

Click to expand...

I thought you were in Sweden, not Australia!

Rock

I'd eat that sandwich upside down if I had to.

Ron_L said:

I agree... I don't like cooking smaller cuts for this reason. They tend to take longer per pound, and sometimes, like Jonas experienced, take longer than a larger cut. I'd rather cook butts that are at least 9 lbs for this reason.

The pork looks great, Jonas!



Good point! Cooking very hot (over 300) is becoming popular because you don't see a stall, or it is very short, but the finish temp of the meat is typically higher because that magic didn't happen during the stall.

Click to expand...

But...is the final result markedly (or significantly) better low and slow and/or with no wrap, than it is done hotter and faster? And is a long insulated rest, by chance, more important when the meat hasn't gone through a stall?

Some really interesting information here.

Jonas said:

Hmm what to do with an upside down picture?

Click to expand...

Picture looks fine down Here Jonas, :becky: that's some nice looking pulled Pork mate