High heat butts NOT a disaster...

[lastmajordude]

I'm still learning fire management on my Used Jambo. Yesterday was just one of those days with 2 five pound butts...was banking a longer cook but my heat was high (got to get smaller splits and wait till temp gets lower). Much of the time my heat 300 deg with some big swings.....sort of like that Bama/LSU game....point is at 160 foiled, then at 196 pulled WAY TO EARLY ...company coming hours later. I put the foiled butts in the oven on warm for several hours ...like how I have read on here about doing a Brisket......low and behold.....my ballgame guest were gushing over the moisture and tenderness. Flavor lacked a little something but i figure that's my fault somewhere. So just wanted to relay thanks for the info on here...I didn't freak as I would have in the past and they turned out very well ...........

[Boshizzle]

Congrats! Pork butt cooks well at low and high temps. Just pick one and go with it. Some people even have success starting low and then cranking up to high heat later in the cook.

The key for best results is, just don't let temps spike then drop, spike then drop, etc., etc. Just maintain consistency in temp. If you cook low n slow, keep temps low. If you cook hot n fast, keep temps hot. If you start low and finish high, keep the low temp period low and the high temp period high.

[Bludawg]

I've got an 8 lber in the UDS cruising at 300 as I type I'll never cook one below 275 ever again.

[Ole Man Dan]

There's a lot to be said for hot & fast. Attention to detail and it's good.
Lack of attention and it won't matter if its low and slow or hot and fast...

When I converted over I've never looked back. Don't take nearly as long either. Nowadays my low is closer to 275°. I like Beef and Pork around 300°
and Chicken around 325-350°.
I just had to get it thru my head that my smoking was going to be like cooking in the oven in my kitchen... Higher temps and Shorter times.

[jrn]

I had been reading lately about hot and fast butts. Always done them at 225 before. Did a 7.5 pounder on the uds last night. Decided to try it at 300 degrees. Definitely my best butt yet! Didn't take near as long. Just seemed to plow right through the stall. Pulled at 199 degrees, then foiled to rest. Definitely will be going with 300 again. :)

[chad]

These threads crack me up! Back in 2005 or so I took a cook class with Myron Mixon. I kept quiet about cooking at over 300 degrees for a while and then when I came out of the closet I almost got lynched!
I still cook pork and brisket in excess of 325 when using my stick burner, about 300 or so with the WSM. I have to go back to more low 'n slow with the Masterbuilt since it maxes at 275.
Go for it! Enjoy the results.

[wazza220951]

Amen to 300 degrees, works great on my UDS, still low and slow for my brisket though

[chriscw81]

i know it will work too but i honestly think it is kinda silly to cook at 225. the days of over night cooks are gone. i have finished a 9 pound butt in under 5 hours and it was perfect!!!

[jrn]

Yeah. It seems like cooking at 225 just wastes unecessary charcoal.

[chad]

Low temps make sense from a traditional perspective: cooking on an open pit with a sheet tin cover, no foil, no apple juice, no insulated cooker, etc. meant a fire going all the time to keep the coals ready to be added to the pit by the shovel full. When someone got around to actually check temperatures it was 225 or so. High temps were harder to maintain and didn't yield the results needed for these big coarse cuts of meat. Just my observations from looking at a lot of traditional pits in very successful joints. Nothing wrong with tradition but in my daily cooking I'll usually go hotter and faster, though as my earlier post stated, my electric cooker forces me to cook slower since it doesn't go above 275.