Pork Butt Cooking Uneven

So, if I'm reading this right you're saying that the money mucsle is reading higher than the rest of the butt? You need to quit stressing over temperature variations and cook until the meat is done. When the butt is probe tender it's done. Don't worry about the money muscle, it will be fine.

Then stick a thrmometer in the money muscle and pull it when you reach the it that you want.

As you know a butt is not made up of one muscle so you may have to find "middle ground" so to speak. Kind of like a whole packer brisket.

I'm confused, are you cooking in a smaller smoker that doesn't have enough airflow to evenly cook the meat, or maybe your smoker doesn't heat evenly where maybe you have to rotate the meat for even cooking?


I can cook 1, 2, 6, or 8 pork butts of relatively similar size and they are all done evenly and at the same size.


I never cook to temperature, I only use the meat probe temperature as a guide as when to start checking for tenderness.


There is no single way to cook Pork Butt, find what works best for you.



I follow BluDawg's recommendation "You can not cook your pork butt/pork shoulder to a specific temperature and call it done!!!!" If you have a target temp you are doing it wrong: The goal of cooking a tough cut of meat is to make it tender, not make it hot. Therefore you should monitor how tender it is, not how hot it is.

There are a couple of ways to know when pork is done:

The first being the poke test; When you stick it with a thermometer, skewer, fork or whatever, and it goes in without little to no resistance like warm butter, it is done.

The second being the bone twist/pull test; When you firmly twist/pull on the bone and it wiggles like a loose tooth, then it is done.

The third being the tug test; When you have a boneless pork butt, grab a piece of meat with your thumb and index finger and you are able to pull a piece of meat off with minor resistance, it is done.

Pork butt is a very forgiving cut of meat due of the fat content and the amount of connective tissue it contains. If your pork is tough to pull then it wasn't completely done. If the pork simply falls apart when pulling, it is slightly overdone. Even when slightly under-cooked or slightly over-cooked the pulled pork will be great, however it will never match the taste and texture of perfectly done pork as indicated above.

Every piece of meat is different, and therefore each will cook differently in some manner. I have had many pork butts done as low as 185 degrees, while others do not indicate being done until they reach 200 degrees or more.

Because of this variance in temperatures, I usually start checking for being done when my internal probe says 180 degrees, after that I don't pay any attention to what the internal temperature is, except for personal reference. The bone is a much better predictor than temperature, simply put When the bone wiggles like a loose tooth it's done.

Again, your smoker might be different, so do what works best for you.

A butt is made up of more than one muscle and they do not all cook at the same rate/time.

As said different muscles cook at different speeds. The smoker is fine. Point the MM away from the fire, try spraying it with water if you want to slow it down.

Yeah the outside few inches will certainly be a higher temp then the middle of a pork butt before its done. Unless you are cooking at a super low temp or sous vide'ing

Over the years, I have noticed that the money muscle may be done before the rest of the other muscles on the pork butt, Perhaps that is why competition cooks fought so hard to have the rule change that allowed them to remove the money muscle from the pork butt and cook it only. Before that, they manipulated the money muscle to be seperated from the butt, but still attached to the rest of the butt while still be connected to the rest of the pork shoulder. As others have stated, there are other muscles in the pork shoulder and their fat and cartilage content are all different. This is why different areas of the butt will give different internal temperatures when they are checked at the same time. The money muscle has little cartilage, and there is less fat to render as well. This could contribute to the higher reading than the rest of the muscles. Don't sweat the small stuff, it is done when it done.

IamMadMan did give some good input.

Unless you are trying to slice the money muscle I wouldn’t overthink it. A very good cook once told me to cook butt until the bone pulls out easily.

Juggy D Beerman said:

Over the years, I have noticed that the money muscle may be done before the rest of the other muscles on the pork butt, Perhaps that is why competition cooks fought so hard to have the rule change that allowed them to remove the money muscle from the pork butt and cook it only. Before that, they manipulated the money muscle to be seperated from the butt, but still attached to the rest of the butt while still be connected to the rest of the pork shoulder. As others have stated, there are other muscles in the pork shoulder and their fat and cartilage content are all different. This is why different areas of the butt will give different internal temperatures when they are checked at the same time. The money muscle has little cartilage, and there is less fat to render as well. This could contribute to the higher reading than the rest of the muscles. Don't sweat the small stuff, it is done when it done.

IamMadMan did give some good input.

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Don't beleive cooking only MM's is allowed,
2024 KCBS Master series rules.

PORK: Pork is defined as Boston Butt, Boston Roast,
Picnic, Collar (aka Cellar) and/or Whole Shoulder.

Ed

If you're overcooking the money muscle, I would suggest that you trim it off and cook it separate from the rest of the butt. That way, you pull each when they are done. Personally, I've not run into your situation, but all I do to see if the meat is done is pull on the bone. When it comes out smoothly, it's done. :grin:

Is the money muscle facing the firebox? Could be you are getting so much airflow it's bombarding that side. You might try a blocking log.

CaptainQ said:

CQ, you are missing the point. If I pull it when the MM is probe tender, the other is not. Just trying to see if there is anyway to get it all probe tender at the same time without over or undercooking any part of it.

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MM almost always probes tender well before the area around the bone for me. If you want it to finish at the same time, or make it so you can easily remove the MM before the rest, you might need to use a competition style trim.

Sometimes I'll rotate 180* during the cook if it looks like the leading edge facing the heat is taking on more color than I'd like.

I understand you are cooking where you like to and are accustomed to cooking but have you done a biscuit test or experimented with different locations in this pit. You may have found one bad spot in your pit. Ya wouldn't think so but chit happens. Also try turning the butt around in the pit.