Pork Butt

A

A-dub

Guest
Question for the Brethren-

Last weekend we did a "dry run" for our upcoming competition (will be or first). We tried several different methods of cooking butts from what I normally do.

Two of the butts we injected with a homemade marinade. The first butt was great. I think it was probably everyone's favorite. However, the other one which we injected with quite quite a bit more marinade, was way over cooked compared to all the others.

The marinade had a pretty high ratio of vegetable oil to other liquid ingredients. Could it be that the oil contributed to the over cooking?

I really don't think it was on a hot spot since we rotated them during the cook and took them off at the same time (each about 7 lbs).

Anyone experienced this before?
 
Butts get done at different times. I doubt that the injection recipe had anything to do with it.
 
Why are you injecting a butt? There's enough natural moisture and fat to keep it from drying out. Maybe the oil displaced the fat and water causing it to dry out and overcook.
 
I wasn't injecting to keep it moist. We decided to try a few new methods for a different flavor etc. I really feel like it did something to it.
 
Yeah, I knew that he injected his. Definitely can't argue with his methods. I wonder what his injection is made of and whether or not it has a lot of oil.
 
IbrahimSS said:
Injecting a butt is not at all uncommon... in fact it's been Chris Lilly's technique for a while. I don't argue with a guy whose pulled pork has made him a 6+ time world champion.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21767
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but from what I've heard about comps, doesn't he just turn in the money muscle from several different butts?

But for backyard BBQ'ers, a PB doesn't need injection, unless you simply want to experiment, or practice for comps.
 
You missed the part about the money muscle and several butts to choose from :)
 
A-dub said:
I really feel like it (the injection) did something to it.
Click to expand...

Get that notion out of your head. Sometimes you have to accept it was you, the cook, who screwed the pooch. It wasn't the fault of some magical force out there. You simply over cooked one of the butts.

You said earlier that you took both butts off at the same time because they both weighed the same. That was your mistake. Learn from it.

Pork has a tendency to not cook equally. Just because one piece of pork is done does not mean an "identical" piece will be done at the same time. That is the most important lesson you can carry from this "experiment".

Two butts were identically injected. One was good and one was dry...yet you are trying to blame the dryness on the injection? What about the other "everyone's favorite" butt that was treated the same? Did you forget about that one? The injection obviously didn't screw it up and it turned out just fine.

Learn to cook individual butts...even if you have multiples on the pit at the same time. Treat them all individually.
 
Cook said:
Get that notion out of your head. Sometimes you have to accept it was you, the cook, who screwed the pooch. It wasn't the fault of some magical force out there. You simply over cooked one of the butts.

You said earlier that you took both butts off at the same time because they both weighed the same. That was your mistake. Learn from it.

Pork has a tendency to not cook equally. Just because one piece of pork is done does not mean an "identical" piece will be done at the same time. That is the most important lesson you can carry from this "experiment".

Two butts were identically injected. One was good and one was dry...yet you are trying to blame the dryness on the injection? What about the other "everyone's favorite" butt that was treated the same? Did you forget about that one? The injection obviously didn't screw it up and it turned out just fine.

Learn to cook individual butts...even if you have multiples on the pit at the same time. Treat them all individually.
Click to expand...

I don't think he was in some form of denial like you are inferring here. He didn't beat the "I swear it wasn't my fault" horse at all. He told us what he did once in his first post and then made a few other comments on what others suggested/posted. None of his followup replies said it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to get some help.
 
Yeah butts just cook differently even when they are the same size. We too learned it this year (our rooking competition year). Our first comp we got good money muscles off of 2 butts so plenty to turn in. For the MM we only take the butts to 185 so it doesn't fall apart. Then the 2nd comp took them to 185 again and the MM fell apart. So made us realize there will be a "Plan B" for our turn in box :p. We just used chunks that time around. If we cook 3-4 butts I put a temp probe in just 1 of the butts as a gauge for all the butts, but use another digital thermometer on the others when they start to get around 170 and check every hour or so because they are all done at different times. Good luck in your first competition. They are fun as hell.
 
Cook said:
Get that notion out of your head. Sometimes you have to accept it was you, the cook, who screwed the pooch. It wasn't the fault of some magical force out there. You simply over cooked one of the butts.

You said earlier that you took both butts off at the same time because they both weighed the same. That was your mistake. Learn from it.

Pork has a tendency to not cook equally. Just because one piece of pork is done does not mean an "identical" piece will be done at the same time. That is the most important lesson you can carry from this "experiment".

Two butts were identically injected. One was good and one was dry...yet you are trying to blame the dryness on the injection? What about the other "everyone's favorite" butt that was treated the same? Did you forget about that one? The injection obviously didn't screw it up and it turned out just fine.

Learn to cook individual butts...even if you have multiples on the pit at the same time. Treat them all individually.
Click to expand...

He also stated that the one that was overcooked had quite a bit more marinade injected than the one that turned out fine, so they weren't identical. I think having vegetable oil in the marinade is the key here. I've seen Alton Brown say multiple times that oil helps speed up the process of getting heat in to meat, so it stands to reason that a higher volume of vegetable oil in the butt could have indeed shortened its cooking time.
 
bover said:
He also stated that the one that was overcooked had quite a bit more marinade injected than the one that turned out fine, so they weren't identical. I think having vegetable oil in the marinade is the key here. I've seen Alton Brown say multiple times that oil helps speed up the process of getting heat in to meat, so it stands to reason that a higher volume of vegetable oil in the butt could have indeed shortened its cooking time.
Click to expand...

Yes that is true. The one that was "everyone's favorite" had 3 syringes worth of injection (for flavor only not moisture). The one that was so overcooked had 10 (we decided what the heck, give it a shot and loaded that one up!)

And I definitely wasn't denying the fact that I should have more closely monitored each butt's internal temp, just looking for people who may have encountered this as well. fnbish thanks for noticing.

Thanks everyone for the info.
 
I have recently started injecting pork butts... with SPECTACULAR results! I always cook to temp, not to time. I do not use oil however, that seems redundant to me, I can't for the life of me imagine how that would benefit in any way. There's plenty of fat already to keep it moist enough...
I can imagine however that it would speed up the cooking time, and also displace some of the fat in the butt...
I use butchers bbq injection for pork butts... and love it!
 
Cook said:
Read boy, read!
Click to expand...

Not exactly sure what point you are trying to make...I think it was you who misunderstood what I originally said, as others have pointed out.

Thanks for the input though, I will be monitoring each butt's temp individually now.

And removing the oil factor from the recipe. I believe that is the consensus!
 
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