bone in pork butt/different temps-different sections

rangerwillie

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Good morning. Basic question on checking temps of bone in pork butt. I did one this weekend that turned out well and I know from reading on the forum that you should start checking to see if the bone is loose and ready to effortlessly turn out of the meat when the internal temp is around 195. . This weekend when I took the temp of the 6.8 lb. butt, in the fattier part of the butt (the part away from the bone) the temp was 201-205 and when I stuck the Thermopen in the part near the bone it was only 187 and the bone seemed still firmly in place. My concern was I would overcook the part away from the bone if I waited until the bone itself was loose and easy to remove. That brings me to two questions, when you take your initial readings to indicate how close you are temp wise to being done
(1rst) in what part of the pork butt do you stick the thermometer, in the fattier part away from the bone or in the meat that is located closer to the bone. (2nd) question-say the bone is still firmly in place and the part away from the bone reads 205 but the the bone needs to cook longer and reads 185, will I totally dry out the sections of meat located away from the bone if I continue cooking it . In the above the scenario should I wrap or put foil around the section of meat that has the higher temp and leave the parts exposed that read a lower temp and need to cook longer or wrap the whole thing in foil:confused:? Hope this rambling makes sense, appreciate any input.
 
You don't need foil to cook awesome BBQ

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
 
I don't even bother taking the internal temperature of pork butt before I start checking for doneness. I will normally do the bone wiggle test after 1hr per pound if I am cooking around 250ish and will adjust accordingly if I run higher or lower than that.

Don't worry about the pork butt drying out. It has plenty of fat and connective tissue that breaks down and will keep the meat nice and moist. It is really hard to dry out a pork butt.
 
You'd have to cook pork butts for a LONG time to dry out the meat. Even when one is overcooked, the meat gets just a little mushy, but is still very tender and moist. The only thing that will yield tough, chewy pork is to not cook it long enough. If the bone doesn't slide out clean, it's not cooked enough.


As Bludawg has said over and over again....don't worry about temps. Worry about tenderness. You can check this either with a temp probe, toothpick, fork, skewer or whatever. After a while, you'll be able to pretty much tell just by pushing on or squeezing the butt. I can pretty much tell just by how the butt feels in my hands :shock:.
 
Thanks guys. Point well taken and I feel better about not drying it out. I usually cook them about 300. Thermopen will stay in the drawer. I would assume with pork butt being so moist you guys never do the foil thing at 165?
 
Nope the butts I do stay unwrapped until they hit 200-205 then I wrap them and put in a cooler for one hour
 
Whether I foil or not depends on the type of rub I use. If one has a good amount of sugar, I go till I get the color I want on the bark and then foil. If the rub does not have a lot of sugars in it, I will let the pork butt go unfoiled until it is done.
 
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