My Sister and Brother-in-law were baptized today!!!!! They have been a target of spirited prayer for several years now. It came to fruition!!!!! Since baptism is bigger to me than a wedding, I organized a get together with many of the family and people who have been praying for them.... I started with two pork butts, a ten pounder and a seven pounder. Started at 11:45 last night and set my alarm to go off every two hours. Last load of splits and charcoal went in at 9:00 am before we left for the church. Pulled them off at 12:15 - 12.5 hours. I also smoked some green beans from a can. Used a hard wood briquette and some ash splits. The smoke came from hickory chunks. Tasted real good, but still would like a better smoker to get the temps up enough and hold it there. It was not as tender as I would like, but the crowd still loved it.
Sounds like great Q for a great occasion to me. Make sure you can get the final shoulder product up to 195 degrees before taking it off the grill. I like to use a gas or charcoal grill with better temp control for shoulders these days. 4 hours at 300 to 325 on a gas grill can give you better control than 6 to 7 hours trying to feed charcoal and hold around 250 IMO. 195 on the meat with a 20 minute rest before pulling or chopping is the key though.
Agreed on the 195, but that is a minimum in my opinion, I have had to go as high as 200/205ish before it was probe tender. even at those temps was still very moist
Don't be afraid of the higher temps. I dont use temp probes to see when its done. I twist the bone to see if it will pull out of the butt. Then I rap each butt in 2 layers of heavy foil and let them rest 2 or more hours. The end product is perfect. Easy to pull. moist.
All this talk of pork butts..... I like pork butt and I cannot lie, these hoardin' brothers can't deny!
Great news!!!! I went to a get together earlier this year and I was jealous of the control and lack of charcoal that was needed for that Acorn A new smoker/grill has been on my Christmas list since that get together!! I know what can make the pork perfect, but all still really enjoyed the pork butt anyway.... They didn't have to pull it so they didn't know that it could have been better.
I don't know if I'd call that a crutch. The meat will stay warm and steam and continue to cook and break down the connective tissues that make it hard to pull. I rap all my butts. Even for a huge event. We've been known to cook a few butts about 300 pounds here
If you can talk Scotty into a g2g at the Scotty Overkill compound, I'll throw a little sumpthin on the cooker, like some ribs or a couple pieces of chicken
I'll volunteer a two shoulders for the grill and three seats in a east bound car for this when it going on, but I only got a tent for one.
