Four 10 lb pork butts for gathering this weekend -- cook 1/2 now??

[dealgagrill]

I am smoking pork butts for my daughter's HS graduation party this Saturday at 3pm. I probably only need 2 butts total, but at $1.79 per pound I figured "what the heck" and purchased four.

My plan is to smoke 2 butts overnight Thursday, pull/shred them and place them in the fridge. I would rather pull the meat at the party on Saturday, but the earliest I can start smoking is 9-10 pm, so the first two butts will act as "insurance."

My smoking temp will be 250, and I typically wrap at 165 and remove the butt(s) when the temp hits 200 and/or is probe tender.

My questions are :

1. Should I allow more than 14-15 hours to smoke 10 lb butts at 250.

2. If the answer to number 1 is "yes," would I be better off with a temp of 275?

3. Am I just being extremely anal by having two "back up" butts, or should I throw caution to the wind and smoke all 4 butts on Friday night?

Thanks!

 

[MilhouseBBQ]

I'm a rookie, with no insight to offer, but very interested in the outcome, as I am planning almost the exact same thing for my kid in a month. How many people are you figuring those 4 will feed? I'm doing pulled pork sliders with a variety of sauces as my main dish, with beans slaws salads etc. as sides and I got grandma on sweet cornbread muffins too. Might even do a pile of chicken quarters too.

Would you check back afterward and post the results?

 

[ruger35]

What type of smoker and capacity do you have? If you can fit all 4 at once then go hot and fast, up to 325 and just throw some liquid in with them once you wrap. I got a little carried away and went up to 350 but cooked two 10lb butts in 5 hours.

 

[pharp]

If you only have room for two, cook two until wrap then put in the oven. Then start the other two. Once the first two are done into the cooler while you wait for the second two! Unless you just want to cook them twice. I personally don't like messing with cooling and reheating.

Good luck and congrats to the daughter.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

Trying to pull pork from the fridge will not be a good experience...Shred it when it's warm for best results...

 

[Smoking Piney]

If you only need two butts, just cook two. No need to go above and beyond.

My take - Two butts on overnight at 275. Should be ready to pull from the smoke after 8 to 9 hours.

Take them off the smoker, foil-towel-cooler them until you're ready to pull apart. Let them rest a couple of hours and pull them apart / serve.

 

[sudsandswine]

I almost always cook in advance now and reheat the day of the event. This is partially because I often cook on a stick burner and that doesnt always jive with when the serving time occurs. It also lets me cook freely with no concern about a deadline, so I have no need to rush things. I vacuum seal and reheat in sous vide...pork is ideal for this but it works well for brisket too.

That being said, I dont know what youre cooking on but it sounds like whatever it is, youre fine going overnight with it. If you only need 2 for the party you only need 2 for the party, but if you have the space and the fuel is a sunk cost, I see no problem doing 4. Especially if you can portion and vacuum seal for the freezer and future use.

 

[Joshw]

Trying to pull pork from the fridge will not be a good experience...Shred it when it's warm for best results...

I almost always cook in advance now and reheat the day of the event. This is partially because I often cook on a stick burner and that doesnt always jive with when the serving time occurs. It also lets me cook freely with no concern about a deadline, so I have no need to rush things. I vacuum seal and reheat in sous vide...pork is ideal for this but it works well for brisket too.

That being said, I dont know what youre cooking on but it sounds like whatever it is, youre fine going overnight with it. If you only need 2 for the party you only need 2 for the party, but if you have the space and the fuel is a sunk cost, I see no problem doing 4. Especially if you can portion and vacuum seal for the freezer and future use.

I second what these two said, and no way would I cook twice if I didn't have to. Why waste the time and money on fuel?

 

[dealgagrill]

I'm a rookie, with no insight to offer, but very interested in the outcome, as I am planning almost the exact same thing for my kid in a month. How many people are you figuring those 4 will feed? I'm doing pulled pork sliders with a variety of sauces as my main dish, with beans slaws salads etc. as sides and I got grandma on sweet cornbread muffins too. Might even do a pile of chicken quarters too.

Would you check back afterward and post the results?

I'm feeding 30-40 people. Another couple is bringing chicken wings, so the pork will not be the only meat. The sweet cornbread muffins sound great!!

 

[Clasko2]

My initial thought is just to cook them all. I’m the type who never wants to run out of anything. Also, the one thing I’ve learned about butts is that they almost can’t rest too long. I’ve held butts wrapped in foil then with towels in a cooler for 8 hours and they’ve still been too hot to handle when going to pull them. As a matter of fact, I try to do a minimum rest now of 4ish hours if I have the time. I guess I’m saying if they cook a bit faster than anticipated, don’t worry about wrapping them and getting them into a cooler, they’ll be perfectly fine and turn out great!!!

 

[kevinstaggs]

My math:
2 butts x 10lb/butt x .6yield x 16 oz/lb = 192 oz actual meat

192 oz / 35 servings = 5.5 oz / serving

That’s a little lite IMHO. I’d cook 3. That will give 35 8.2oz servings. Maybe a little too much but better safe than sorry.

Don’t worry. Start early enough to finish 3-4 hrs before serving time. If all goes as planned a nice long rest make a great product. If you need a little extra time you have it.

Have fun.


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[dealgagrill]

What type of smoker and capacity do you have? If you can fit all 4 at once then go hot and fast, up to 325 and just throw some liquid in with them once you wrap. I got a little carried away and went up to 350 but cooked two 10lb butts in 5 hours.

I have two grills/smokers -- Green Mountain Daniel Boone pellet smoker and Weber Summit Charcoal. I usually smoke around 250, but I may increase the heat to 275 on this cook to ensure they're done in time. Space for 4 butts will not be an issue.

 

[Lake Dogs]

We have this scenario type of thing in competitions. I get some sleep ahead of time, then wake a little after midnight and get going. You could do the opposite, start at 9-10, run the smoker at 275-300, you should be done around 3-4am, wrap 'em up and in a cooler (aka. warmer) and they'll be finger burning hot when you pull them at 2pm. I wouldn't do 2 cooks...

 

[jermoQ]

I have two grills/smokers -- Green Mountain Daniel Boone pellet smoker and Weber Summit Charcoal. I usually smoke around 250, but I may increase the heat to 275 on this cook to ensure they're done in time. Space for 4 butts will not be an issue.

I think at 250 or 275, you will have plenty of time and smoke to make a great product. If you have the space to save 2 extra 10lb pork butts, that is fine, but I wouldnt worry about 2 backups. That is a LOT of extra meat. Start them at 9, give yourself time to rest them for an hour and you will be alright.

 

[bam]

If You Only Need 2 Butts. Cook 3. Crank Up The Heat I Cook Everything 300+ Git Er Done.

 

[mchar69]

I'm feeding 30-40 people.

Cook all four. It will not go to waste.

 

[Sean "Puffy" Coals]

If you only have room for two, cook two until wrap then put in the oven. Then start the other two. Once the first two are done into the cooler while you wait for the second two! Unless you just want to cook them twice. I personally don't like messing with cooling and reheating.

Good luck and congrats to the daughter.

This is what I would suggest. Do it like this all the time except I put all the pulled meat into pans and reheat when it's time to eat.

That way I can spend the actual day celebrating and enjoying myself instead of being chained to the smoker or spending the whole time shredding meat while everyone else is having fun.

 

[dealgagrill]

I decided to cook all 4 butts starting last night at 10 pm, 2 in the GMG Daniel Boone and 2 in the Weber Summit Charcoal. I set the temp on the GMG at 260, but a separate temp probe indicated it was running around 280 - 285 ( strange because it typically runs 10 degrees cooler than the set temp). I lowered the temp at 6am to 225 to slow things down.

I used the minion method to start the pit in the WSC, and it did a great job of holding the temp 240 - 250 throughout the night. It's now 12:45 (roughly 15 hours after igniting the charcoal), and its still going strong without adding any additional fuel.

The first butt was done a little after 7am. I let it rest for 3 hours, pulled it, and placed on ice in the fridge in plastic bags. These will be the back ups (though my father gladly accepted one bag). The IT of the butt was still 178 after resting.

The next butt was completed at 9am, and the next two at 10 AM. They're all wrapped with additional foil and towels and sitting in a cooler to be pulled around 2:30pm.

 

[jasonjax]

For future reference: If you have a vacuum sealer, you can shred and vac-seal a ton of meat ahead of time, freeze it and then reheat it all in boiling water in the sealed bag for nearly as good as fresh pulled pork IMO.