I had to cook a 6 lb pork butt for a dinner for about 6 of us. We were to eat Saturday nite at 7:30pm. So Friday nite I rubbed it down with Lynch's Beef & Pork rub. Just got this one. Rewrapped the butt and returned to the fridge. Placed the butt in my 008, fat cap up, at 7:30am Sat morning with 3 oz's of pecan, at 225 degrees. The temp probe in the meat said 37 degrees. I guessed the cook to take 8-9 hrs so I had plenty of time. At 12:30pm, I was walking by the cooker and looked into my new alum pan, under the cooker. There was about 2 spoons of grease drippings. Internal meat temp said 144, so I made sure the bottom hole was clear, and it was. It dripped. Just slowly. At 1:30, I opened the door to put in a pan of baked beans. The butt looked very dark, and juicy, and just like it should. So I shut the door and continued. The butt hit 190 degrees at 4:30 but I only had maybe a half a cup of grease in the pan. So I ran the but up to 194, another 90 minutes worth of cooking. I double foiled, wrapped in towels, put in a cooler, covered with a blanket and let it sit. We ate at 7:30 and I started to pull the pork. First thing I noticed was the meat was real pink... like ham. It fell apart mostly but had to be coaxed with 2 pair of tongs. The bark was a bit crispier than my usual and saltier, Im guessing due to the rub. There was a LOT of internal fat I had to remove. The meat was moist, hammy, but very good. They all loved it.
I think what happened was, there is more salt in the rub I used than I needed for an overnite rub, like we all do. I wonder if the rub didnt cure the meat. Then when I applied heat, the outside seared over and wouldnt let the fats drip out correctly?
Any other ideas?
bob
Original Post