First time butt on Rec Teq

nygiant

Active member
Messages
37
So I have cooked plenty of pork butts on my weber smoky mountain. Have always turned out great. Now that I have gotten a recteq, I am still new to it. I have done ribs, chicken thighs, wings and they’ve all turned out good. Want to do the pork butt and have a question.

I still want to get a good smoky flavor. We all know the pellet smokers deliver a lot lighter smoke flavor. Can I use the extreme smoke setting for the first two hours or so, or do I need to go out and buy a propane torch and smoke tube and do it that way?
 
I would try the extreme smoke first. People's tastes are definitely subjective, but it's always nice to test the tools you have versus jumping to Plan B (and spending more money) right away. At least that's been my approach so far.

That said, I have a smoke tube in my kit and periodically use it in my experiments. I never felt the need to use it on pork though.
 
I would try the extreme smoke first. People's tastes are definitely subjective, but it's always nice to test the tools you have versus jumping to Plan B (and spending more money) right away. At least that's been my approach so far.

That said, I have a smoke tube in my kit and periodically use it in my experiments. I never felt the need to use it on pork though.
Sounds like good advice. Does 2 hours at extreme sound about right? What is extreme anyways, 180?
 
180º is correct. When I do multiple butts, I will extreme it for 3 hours or so then crank it up to 225º-250º.
Have fun and enjoy
 
180º is correct. When I do multiple butts, I will extreme it for 3 hours or so then crank it up to 225º-250º.
Have fun and enjoy
OK good deal. That sounds like a plan. Two or three hours and then crank it up to the temperature you said that’s what I was thinking. I would definitely like to see the smoke flavor before I go buy a smoke tube and propane torch. Might be good to have but would like to see how the setting does first.
 
On a sidenote, with food safety in mind which I am definitely paranoid about, can you use the extreme smoke function on chicken? Wings or even thighs or boneless skinless chicken breast? All of those are pretty quick cooks that I do around 350° anyway to get crispy skin (minus tff skinless breast). Cooked prior to posting this, they were good but lacked a smoke taste. Is it possible to do those at a lower temperature for say 30 minutes to an hour or is that dangerous and just need to put the smoke tube in and cook at the 350° temperature?
 
Is it possible to do those at a lower temperature for say 30 minutes to an hour or is that dangerous and just need to put the smoke tube in and cook at the 350° temperature?
There will likely be more complete answers, but I do exactly that. An hour or so at low temp/higher smoke, then crank up some to cook through the "danger zone" of 40 - 145 as quickly as possible. I've never had an issue so far.
 
With chicken I use a smoke tube and extreme smoke for an hour then crank it up but keep the smoke tube burning.
 
There will likely be more complete answers, but I do exactly that. An hour or so at low temp/higher smoke, then crank up some to cook through the "danger zone" of 40 - 145 as quickly as possible. I've never had an issue so far.
Sounds like a plan. I am going to try this next time.
 
Chunks or chips? I haven’t paid attention since I put the thing together, but how much clearance is there between the top of the deflector and the bottom of the drip pan?
I don’t know the exact clearance between the two but there is a Rec tec video on it. I take a nice size chunk and split it a few times. If your gonna be cooking low get your temp up to 300 for about 15 minutes so it gets hot enough for the wood to start smoldering, then drop it to your desired temp. If cooking hot then your good to just start cooking. I did some chicken with a nice size chunk of cherry and came out fantastic. You can even put charcoal on it if you like that taste. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
I don’t know the exact clearance between the two but there is a Rec tec video on it. I take a nice size chunk and split it a few times. If your gonna be cooking low get your temp up to 300 for about 15 minutes so it gets hot enough for the wood to start smoldering, then drop it to your desired temp. If cooking hot then your good to just start cooking. I did some chicken with a nice size chunk of cherry and came out fantastic. You can even put charcoal on it if you like that taste. Hope this helps.
Wow, that’s a really awesome idea. Thank you for posting that. I think I will give it a try. Even a few pieces of Royal Oak lump sounds good. Didn’t even cross my mind until you said it.
 
Wow, that’s a really awesome idea. Thank you for posting that. I think I will give it a try. Even a few pieces of Royal Oak lump sounds good. Didn’t even cross my mind until you said it.
Your welcome. I didn’t know about it till I saw the video and then spoke with Jody about it but after trying it, it really ups the smoke flavor no doubt. That oak will bring some nice flavor. 👍🏻
 
As others stated, it is personal preference on the smoke flavor. I've done my butts and brisket on the low setting all night and still didn't get the smoke flavor I wanted and that was using the 100% mesquite from LJ. If I really want to get the smoke flavor I like I will do them for up to 8 hours on my stick smoker and then move it over to the recteq.
 
As others stated, it is personal preference on the smoke flavor. I've done my butts and brisket on the low setting all night and still didn't get the smoke flavor I wanted and that was using the 100% mesquite from LJ. If I really want to get the smoke flavor I like I will do them for up to 8 hours on my stick smoker and then move it over to the recteq.
Damn that’s absolutely crazy. So that extreme smoke setting for 8+ hours and you still don’t get a heavy smoke flavor? That’s kind of crappy to be honest. And I thought that would work. I know the smoke flavor taste is different amongst everybody. Yes the only way to find out is to try it and if it isn’t good enough get a smoke tube. If still not good enough I guess weber smoky mountain and then transfer back to my recteq.
 
I get plenty of smoke and a beautiful smoke ring on my 590, this is at consistent temp of 235F for a butt.
I know the general rule of thumb is one hour to 1 1/2 hours per pound. But cooking at that temperature, is it around the same time or are you up in a two hour range per pound?
 
You can't put a time on a smoke as all meat cooks different, it's done when it's done is how I see it. For planning purposes you can kinda go by the time but I have had cooks go much shorter to way longer. The temp of the meat will tell you when it is done. If it finishes early, wrap it in a towel and let it rest, if it goes past the time, drink more beer.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Latest posts

Back
Top