What the heck happened?

J

jon s

Guest
I got a five pound pork butt. Rubbed it on Friday night. Threw it on the Vision Kamado grill at 7:00 am Saturday morning. The temperature was at a constant 225-250 degrees throughout. After six hours, the probe hit 195 degrees. i stuck a fork in it to confirm and it seemed easy to turn.

Took the pork out of the grill and wrapped it in aluminum foil and left in sitting for an hour in the oven. I took out the pork and pulled it. While very tasty, the pork was undeniably tough and dry. What the heck happened?

:confused:
 
Sounds like it wasn't ready throughout. The piece of muscle you stuck the fork in might have been a little pullable, but perhaps the rest wasn't there.
 
Was undercooked. like the other 2 above said!
 
Next time use a long probe that will go to the center of the roast. If there is resistance, you will need to cook it more. How did the temp probe feel going in when you checked temp? If it did not feel like going through soft butter, like everyone else said it wasn't done.

You will want to try and get away from relying on temp to tell when a piece of meat is done. With the larger pieces of meat we cook, the feel of the meat will be your best indicator. Every piece of meat will have different fat and collagen content and will cook differently. Temp can be used as a guideline for when to start checking to see if the meat is done. If you have any left, put it back in the oven to finish cooking it.
 
Last edited:
Jon, if this is any consolation......I did a chuckie on my weber. No snow on the ground but wind HOWLING......Cooked all afternoon till It reached 195....felt "close enough". When I went to pull it was like a freaking old boxer glove......AWFUL.....stuck it in the oven for an hour more and it helped but still not where I want it.....Point being (as I learned) wind and especially cold wind can really suck the heat from a cooking device......I'll know better next time!!
 
First off, 195F internal temperature means nothing relative to the meat being done. The fork test is not always accurate, as Bigabyte mentioned, you might have stuck a part of the butt that was ok, but, the rest was not. At the temperatures and times you mentioned, I would seriously doubt you were done cooking.

If you must use an internal temperature, which is a good way to start, measure to 190F only to determine when to test. Use a method, with a butt, such as wiggling the bone, or if there is no bone, then reach on in there, grab the roast and pull it in half, it it resists, leave it in there. There will only be one of two results doing this, it resists, stop and cook some more; it gives easily, remove and rest. Probing and forking a butt :)shocked:) are unreliable. There is no substitute for the getting in there are feeling that butt.
 
for pork butt, the bone is your indicator, slide it out when it's done. if it resists, let it stay in and give it more time to finish.
 
jon s said:
I got a five pound pork butt. Rubbed it on Friday night. Threw it on the Vision Kamado grill at 7:00 am Saturday morning. The temperature was at a constant 225-250 degrees throughout. After six hours, the probe hit 195 degrees. i stuck a fork in it to confirm and it seemed easy to turn.

Took the pork out of the grill and wrapped it in aluminum foil and left in sitting for an hour in the oven. I took out the pork and pulled it. While very tasty, the pork was undeniably tough and dry. What the heck happened?

:confused:
Click to expand...
BBQ RULES FOR SUCCESS


YOU CAN NOT COOK GREAT BBQ ON A CONSISTENT BASIS BY COOKING TO AN INTERNAL TEMPERATURE OR BY TIME ( XXX MIN PER LB) YOU MUST COOK BY FEEL! For Brisket it must pass the poke test(probe like soft butter) Ribs pass the Bend Test, Pork Butts when the bone wiggles loose. These are the only reliable methods to ensure that your cook will be a success. There is one exception to these rules and that is Poultry which must achieve and internal temp of 170 deg in the thickest part of the thigh and 160 in the breast.
 
When i probe mine, i got all out alien style probing, ill stab it at least 6 or 7 or 8 times in different spots. If ANY spot has resistance, it stays in. And it doesnt really loose much juice either.
 
landarc said:
First off, 195F internal temperature means nothing relative to the meat being done. The fork test is not always accurate, as Bigabyte mentioned, you might have stuck a part of the butt that was ok, but, the rest was not. At the temperatures and times you mentioned, I would seriously doubt you were done cooking.

If you must use an internal temperature, which is a good way to start, measure to 190F only to determine when to test. Use a method, with a butt, such as wiggling the bone, or if there is no bone, then reach on in there, grab the roast and pull it in half, it it resists, leave it in there. There will only be one of two results doing this, it resists, stop and cook some more; it gives easily, remove and rest. Probing and forking a butt :)shocked:) are unreliable. There is no substitute for the getting in there are feeling that butt.
Click to expand...


^ +1 on this method.......
 
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is keep going. The temp is X. The color is X. Its been X hours. It "should" be done. Probe, probe, probe. Then if you got one, wiggle your bone.


Easy fellas, easy. Just let it go.
 
As the others have said ... Temp is just a Gauge on when maybe to check but I have had butts go to 210*f before they felt right or bone pulled out. :clap:
 
I have a feeling your probe was touching the bone when it read 195 and it was fork tender on the outside but not broken down yet inside.
 
A forks tines are an inch long. So the outer inch or 2 of the butt was probably "probe tender."
 
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