How fast can you cook a butt?

Kirk

Kirk

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This is a comp question but I think it's equally appropriate to ask here. I'm looking to enter a local contest and they're only allowing 8.5 hrs between meat inspection and turn in. :shock: Can you even Q and prep a butt for turn in in that time? This is the first time this event has been held and I'm not sure if the organizers really know anything about what it takes to make good Q. I have contacted them and suggested allowing more cooking time but if they don't, what can I do?
 
yup, raise the temps and get a small boneless (~6lb Butt). Inject the hell out of it and cook in the 300's. Leave it loose and spread out(dont tie it)Foil whenever your ready, but i foil somewhere in the "stuck' zone. Take off when tender wrap in a towel and cooler it as long as feasible. 6 lb butt is done in under 7 hours.
 
I cook alot of butts in 8-9 hours. They are so fatty that the higher temps don't affect them in a negative way.
 
Thanks Phil, have you ever done this? If so, what did you think of the end result? I'm not going to have a lot of time to experiment before the comp, so any experience that anyone can share will be priceless.

Edit: Oops, I type slow... 'Preciate the input from you too Woodfarker. Do you pretty much follow Phil's method?

This comp is just a small time affair with only chicken, ribs and butt categories but they found a way to make it tough on us anyway. :-D
 
What he said. I picked up a bunch of those boneless butts cuzz the price was right. Kind of cool, you have a lot more surface to rub. And what Poo said. Injecting definately reduces cook time.
 
Why would you have more surface to rub because the butt is boneless? You mean because they're smaller than bone-ins?
 
When you remove the bone you have the meat area around where the bone used to be to rub. I will often burrterfly a butt to get more area to apply the rub to.

I don't know what the rules are in this contest but you could even go for a butt that is < 5 lbs. It would get done within your time frame. KCBS contests require butts to be > 5 lbs.
 
The rules state that "Contestants in all categories must cook at least 5 pounds of meat" but they don't say that all 5 lbs has to be one piece of meat. The rules do state that "The pork category includes only Boston butt, picnic or whole pork shoulder; the meat may be boneless, but it must be cooked all in one piece, not in slices or parts." What if I had two 4.5 lb butts, or two 6 lb'ers that I trimmed to < 5lbs? I'd be cooking each "in one piece" AND I'd be cooking more than 5 lbs total. They don't say how the meat can be trimmed though and they don't disallow butterflying it either. The 5 lb rule applies to all categories but I haven't seen many 5 lb racks of ribs lately and while they do require breast and thigh meat for the chicken entry they don't disallow butchering the bird either, so it seems that there's some room for interpretation.
The rules can be found here (scroll down and click on the BBQ contest link):
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/
 
5 pound chickens are hard to come by. 5# racks of ribs too.
 
A sure fire way to git 'er done is...inject the butt with plenty of injection (at least a pint)...you can use bone-in or boneless and get the same result...boneless is thinner, usually, so may cook faster....get your cooker up around 300-350...let the butt go about 1.5-2 hours to get the COLOR you want (it'll be around 150-160 but don't worry about temp at this point)...when you have the bark color where you want it double foil the butt and put it back in the cooker -- still 300 or so and let it go to about a 5 hour total -- or 205. At this point take it out of the cooker and wrap, still in the foil, in a heavy blanket or several beach towels.

You can use a cooler but you may wind up with mush after cooking to 205. Leave it foiled and towel wrapped until time to pull it.

You gotta believe!!
 
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I have a tough time keeping my WSM over 250 for any length of time. I never thought I'd be considering buying a kettle for doing butts at a comp! Glad to hear that it can be done though. If it works out that my entry gets called, you guys will definately be given the credit (prize money I keep for myself though :wink: ) I'll have to get some Brethren Wear to properly represent at the contest!
 
IMO-- The contest organizers are asking you to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!! Go small butterfly butt and roll the dice!!

Spice
 
use some lump in the wsm, and a full chimney of lit stuff on top(using the minion methood) with all vents wide open, you will hit 350. the full chimney will get lots of coals excited and they'll lite up.

Ive done it like this, with good results.. higher temps and inject alot.. my prob was the hold time in the cooler overcooks it..i think dave may have the answer by skipping the cooler.
 
Yeah, I was thinking lump myself but I've never used it. I hate having so many unknowns in the equation when the results are being judged but I might be able to get some experience with it before showtime. Come to think of it, this is my first time competing so I guess pretty much everything will be an unknown this time around.
 
I've done pork butts in the WSM and held solid at 300-330 using briquettes and small wood chunks...one key to "rushing" the pork is to foil early and don't worry about what temp it is when you foil...look for the bark to develop and then foil it and let it go up to 200-205...then let it rest.

Cook time is usually about 5 hours...then let it rest.

Your mileage may vary!!
 
Try adding a couple of handfulls of brown sugar to the butt when you wrap it in foil. The brown sugar melts and mixes with the butt juices (now that doesn't sound good) and it will come out great.
 
I would try my method of putting the Butts in an aluminum pan with beer. Like everyone else is saying, smoke it at 300-350. The moisture really speeds up the process, especially when you foil (the pan and all). I can get them done that quick, but hardly ever do. I love the smoke to roll for about 12-15 hours.
Good Luck and have some fun there.
Smoke On!!!!!
ed
 
Agree with all the experts here on cranking up the heat, injecting, and foiling around 165 to speed things up.

I found some very small (~3 lbs) boneless butts at Super Target last weekend. They're fairly well trimmed and wrapped in a netting. I'm not a big fan of laying out a butterflied butt as you usually wind up with some pretty charred hunks of meat. But with these, they stayed nice and tight in the net, but the small size made them cook up very fast - about 4.5 hours at 250. Great flavor, too.

Good luck!
 
Gentlemen, you have allayed my fears, quelled my anxieties and I believe that I am now prepared to do whatever it takes to win this contest in the name of the Brethren. Thank you for your help. I just bought my 2nd WSM today and I have a friend delivering some Royal Oak lump next week, so it's time to get some practice, nail down the technique and get ourselves ready for competition. Thanks again.

Edit: You know, another thought comes to mind. Everyone's been kvetching (yes that's spelled right, look it up) about new Kingsford and how hot and quick it supposedly burns, maybe I'll pick up a twin pack and give it a shot too. Maybe I've found a niche for it.
 
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