Trailblazer Grill Notes - "Pre-Laura" Boston Butt Roast Wednesday, 26 August 2020

[Sscottfitz]

Was originally going to start this cook EARLY Wednesday morning, but mother nature decided to force me into a weather delay with a pretty health lightening storm, however it finally passed and was able to get the cook started around mid morning. For two of us, a smaller Pork Butt is probably a better choice, but finding a 4 lb Butt is a crapshoot, so sometimes you just take what you can get and make it work. This was actually only our 3rd Boston Butt Roast on our Trailblazer, last one was a little dramatic with the burner outage and auger overload - this cook was just the opposite, trailblazer held a consistent 225 during the entire cook - too easy!

• General Info:
  • Grill Location: Hot Springs Village, AR.; 34 37 60.0N 92 54 55.4W
  • Weather at time of Grill: Cloudy and unsettled, delayed this morning’s cook due to an early thunder boomer things finally calmed down a bit so we could get this show started. Temp at the start of Grill: ~78F, Humidity ~96%. One of those days were you “wear the air”. Will keep an eye on the radar, may have to make some Grill Gazebo adjustments later in the day. Better news is the storms should be coming up from the south, and the Trailblazer and Gazebo are on the North side of the house, tucked in close.
  • Total Grill Time: ~7.8 hrs , Total Cooler Rest Time: ~2 Hours
  • Total Event Time: (Prep, Grill, Rest) ~10.1 hrs
  • Grill Start to Target Temp 225F: ~7 Min (from ~84F)
  • Pellets Used: Rec Tec Ultimate Blend
  • Smoke Tube Used: No

• Meat & Meat Prep
  • Meat: Hormel Pork Butt Roast (Boston Butt) from Brookshires, 7 lbs
  • Total Meat Prep Time: ~15 min, Molasses & Dijon Mustarrd Binding agent, & Mix of Rec Tec (reqteq) Honey Rib & Competition rubs
  • Started prepping the Butt ~09:45’ish
  • Only the 3rd Pork Butt I’ve ever done, gaining a little more confidence with each effort - still need to perfect my process for applying the binding agent and rubs, lots of hand washing, glove changing, etc. I’m sure there is a better process…..

• Misc Grill Observations - all times are CDT
  • On the grill at 10:03’ish at 225, fat side down, Probe A & Probe B settled in at ~45F respectively (they are typically about 3~4 F difference)
  • Achieved ~165 at ~15:40 CDT, (~5.7 hrs from the start), pulled the butt and wrapped, double foil and placed back into the Trailblazer
  • Finally pulled the Butt at 17:56 CDT, it was at or near 195F, and placed into the cooler for another 2 hrs of rest.
  • Unwrapped Butt ~20:00, and placed into containers for refrigeration along with juices - first thing next morning, entire Boston Butt Roast placed into Crock Pot - we started this process with the last butt we did and we like the texture and taste a little better with the Crock Pot process.

General Comments:

• Originally was going to start this cook around 07:00, but we had a pretty good thunderstorm hanging around, but if we didn’t do it today, Hurricane Lauren is going to provide 3-4 BAD days for doing the cook and it would have forced us to freeze then thaw out the butt.
• We stumbled on the process of placing the butt in the fridge overnight then placing it in a crockpot the next morning to reheat it before pulling it. It gives us a lot of flexibility on schedule and we like both the texture and taste!

 

[Fixitmark]

Looks awesome, thanks for the detailed write up

 

[Buckeye1]

Looks great mat have to try the crock pot method.

 

[Gonefishin]

I don't get how it takes me 16 hours to cook the same size beast at the same temps and methods that others use but only take half the time. I'm going to need to find a Hormel butt or move south.

 

[Sscottfitz]

I don't get how it takes me 16 hours to cook the same size beast at the same temps and methods that others use but only take half the time. I'm going to need to find a Hormel butt or move south.

That's actually why I try to detail my cooks so I can understand what the possible factors are that effect a cook. I'm sure there are multiple variables, I just don't know what they are yet....<grin> This cook on Wed, was by far the easiest and most consistent Butt we've done so far with the Trailblazer.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Just gonna toss out an idea for you to consider regarding the size of the butt for two people. Normally the bone is toward one end of the piece, and depending on the overall size it goes in half to 2/3 the way. What I will sometimes do is cut the portion beyond the bone into "steaks". That will leave a smaller butt for smoking for two. The "steaks" can then be made into other cuts for different recipes. If you've ever seen a cut called "pork country ribs", they are often strips of butt that could be made from those steaks. Or broken down into smaller "cutlets" they can be cooked similarly to a pork chop, you just need to know they need longer cooking to dissolve the connective tissue for tenderness. Last week I marinated some of those cutlets in a Filipino adobo marinade and cooked them up. It wasn't on a pellet cooker, but the process, except for the searing, would be pretty much the same. Smoked to 160, braised in the marinade to 190, then seared.

 

[Sscottfitz]

Just gonna toss out an idea for you to consider regarding the size of the butt for two people. Normally the bone is toward one end of the piece, and depending on the overall size it goes in half to 2/3 the way. What I will sometimes do is cut the portion beyond the bone into "steaks". That will leave a smaller butt for smoking for two. The "steaks" can then be made into other cuts for different recipes. If you've ever seen a cut called "pork country ribs", they are often strips of butt that could be made from those steaks. Or broken down into smaller "cutlets" they can be cooked similarly to a pork chop, you just need to know they need longer cooking to dissolve the connective tissue for tenderness. Last week I marinated some of those cutlets in a Filipino adobo marinade and cooked them up. It wasn't on a pellet cooker, but the process, except for the searing, would be pretty much the same. Smoked to 160, braised in the marinade to 190, then seared.

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Thanks Uncle Bob, those are absolutely GREAT ideas, I'm going to add this option to my "try this next time" list - appreciate the feedback!

 

[Greg Jones]

I often do part of @Uncle Bob ’s trick as well. I grind my own pork, usually from a butt where I cut off and grind the end without the bone and smoke the rest for pulled pork.