I set out this morning to cook a pig butt. Found out that I was going too a birthday party at such a time that the butt would smoke for six hours and then I would need to pull it.
The shoulder was a seven pound boston butt, bone in, fat trimmed neat, no marinade period, rubbed with "glue" (1/2 cup mustard, 2 tbsp honey) salty rub with marinade injected. I cooked it for 6 hours, flipping every 60-90 minutes, adding chips, mopping and shaking rub on it. Unfortunately (?) the butt never got above 130'F, but it got 6 hours of cooking in. I pulled the meat off, let it cool down a bit, wrapped it in foil, and refrigerated.
- So, how should I finish it off? I used plenty of wood chips and I am pretty confident that the flavor is good on it. It seems the two first-glance options are:
- Start it up smoking again, and put it over more direct heat this time. This would be helpful in really crisping up the bark on the outside, but quite a bit more hassle than…
- Throw it in the oven, maybe wrapped in foil with some orange juice, or coffee and jalapenos, or a little rub of oil. Cook it at ~325'F…
So which technique would yield the best results of just getting it done, but without sacrificing too much in the way of time or flavor? (Aside from using a meat thermometer to ensure it's over 145'F, probably 155-160'F,) How will I be able to tell if it is done or not (if any additional considerations)?
Best Answer
Sadly no mater what you do, you are going to come out with non-optimal results. I would go with the oven method over the grill as you need to get the meat up, but you want to do it with out losing all the juice/fat you have already taken all the trouble to convert to gelatin. The grill is going to raise the outside of the meat much quicker that the inside (mostly, you can use your grill as an oven but in this case I don't think it brings anything to the table that you regular oven doesn't).
The best way, and by best, I mean the one with the tastiest results, is going to be put the butt in a 200 to 250 degree oven and let it come up to temp. This method is going to take the longest but will preserve the meat that come off the grill as close as you could.
Or, you can heat just like a roast and let the outside overcook a bit.
or, depending on how you are serving the finished product, you can slice cold and finish in a skillet to heat though... this would be great if you are doing sandwiches or pulled pork.
If you are feeling adventurous, 130 degrees plus smoke is a little on the rare side but it would still be delicious... not for this one as you let is cool on the counter top and fridged it but on the next one, I might just eat it then.