Pork Cooking a butt

[nbattaglia1]

Is it really necessary to wrap a butt in foil during the cooking process? If I cooked a 3 lb. butt at 225 until it reached 203, what do you think the results would be?

 

[bfletcher]

No, wrapping is not necessary; it is one of several methods. I run mine naked more often than I wrap them.

 

[nbattaglia1]

No, wrapping is not necessary; it is one of several methods. I run mine naked more often than I wrap them.

Thanks!

 

[splinervision]

If you wrap in foil you don't get the smoke flavor, and if you're not going to get the smoke flavor, then just slap it in a crock pot and cook it that way.

 

[nbattaglia1]

Exactly. I like the smoke flavor, so I didn't wrap. It took longer than I would have liked, but it was my first time using it. Now I know......low and VERY slow.

 

[dsmero]

I tend to wrap in foil around the 165 mark but going to try what others have mentioned here not to wrap. Doing a 10lb pork picnic this weekend so will start it for a few hours at 200-225 in super smoke and increase to 250-275 to ride it all the way to 203.

Experimenting is one of my favorite things of BBQing.

 

[Bruce N]

Not necessary, but I have always done it with fantastic results. If you are worried about losing smoke flavor, you should not be, but if you are, instead of foil, use butcher's paper. Double wrap it. It will still let some of the smoke flavor penetrate. Just a couple of pics of my pulled pork from a couple of weeks ago, you can see the smoke ring in the meat, and I foiled it at 165, and cooked till 205.

 

[splinervision]

Pork butts take as long as they want. I've had one get finished in 8 hours before, and I've had them take 18 hours before with a full smoker. Last one I did was about 10.5lbs and took 14 hours @ 225. As long as you smoke it until at least 160-165 you can foil it as I'm told the meat won't absorb any more smoke. But, I've never bothered. Pork butts are one cut of meat that has so much fat that it's really tough to dry them out. In the winter I'll smoke until 165-170 then pull them and finish in the oven uncovered or tented with foil. So it's all good.

I've learned never to "plan" a BBQ with pulled pork too closely. Best advice I can give is start early, and plan to FTC the meat until you are ready.

 

[Bruce N]

Allow 1.5 hours per pound is the general rule. Also expect a " stall" here and there. I have had them that lasted more than an hour.

 

[Warden]

I wrap mine at 165 internal on 225 super smoke after achieving a good bark then increase the temp then pull at around 200-205

 

[Gary]

You could use butcher paper unwaxed.