Who doesn’t love tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth, smoked pulled pork? But traditional cook times for this BBQ staple can have you up in the wee hours of the morning checking your smoker. Thanks to accurate temperature tools and careful monitoring of the temperature of both the smoker and the meat inside it, we were able to cut 7 hours off of traditional smoking times while preserving all of the flavor and most of the moisture and silky texture.
Pork Butt Temp: 195–200°F
(By the way, if you’re interested in a Kansas City-style treat, check out our post on making sliced BBQ pork shoulder.)
History: Why is it Called a Pork Butt?
During our stall, we had some time to do some research. One other thing we wondered about pork butt was: Where does that name come from, anyway?
The cut is, as we’ve said, from the shoulder of the hog, nowhere near its rear end (the anatomical “butt” of the animal is actually the ham). Turns out, the name comes from the name of a barrel.
In the early nineteenth century, New England was a pork-production powerhouse. The shoulder was the least desirable cut and was routinely packed into wooden barrels and shipped out across the country for processing. Barrels came in different sizes (the hogshead, the tierce), but the ones pork shoulders were packed into were of the size officially known as the “butt.” These 126-gallon (477-liter) barrels filled with pork came to be known as “Boston Butts,” a term that was soon applied to the meat inside.
Pork Butt Temperature:
The USDA recommends that pork is cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F (62.8°C) for food safety. But every griller worth their salt knows that cuts rich in collagen, like pork butt, need to be brought to much higher temperatures (195-205°F [91-96°C]) to properly break down the connective tissues. What’s more, dissolving the collagen into gelatin and successfully rendering the fat usually requires lower sustained temperatures during the cook than turkeys or roasts. This is what gives the resulting pulled pork meat its signature moist and silky texture.
The art of smoking meat is all about taking tough cuts of meat such as pork shoulder and brisket and turning them into tender, juicy, flavorful masterpieces by controlling low cooking temperatures over time.
Why Low and Slow?
The anatomy of this cut is what determines its optimal cooking method. The pork butt is a sub-primal cut from the pork shoulder. It is a heavily-worked muscle on the animal. Because of the load-bearing activity of the shoulder muscle, the protein fibers of the butt are very tough, and they are held together with a web of connective tissue. But though the butt starts tough, those who take the time and effort to tenderize it are amply rewarded with a deep, rich flavor and a succulent texture.
Pork shoulder is the lead of culinary alchemists, just waiting, itching to be turned into gold. —The Food Lab, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
“Low and slow” experts typically recommend keeping the internal air temperature of your smoker at about 225°F (107°C) during the cook. But at that temperature, it can take as long as 18 hours to bring the internal temperature of the pork up to its target of 195-205°F (91-96°C).
➤ We wondered, is it possible to achieve similar results with a higher smoker temp?
The Kitchen Project:
We took two pork butts of similar size and weight, prepared them in exactly the same way and cooked them in two similar smokers. But one was cooked at the recommended “low and slow” temperature of 225°F (107°C), while the other was cooked in a smoker brought to 300°F (149°C).
We wondered:
- How much longer will it take for the pork smoked at 225°F (107°C) to reach its target temp than the one smoked at 300°F (149°C)?
- What will be the difference in taste and texture?
Recommended Temperature Tools
For this project—and for successful smoking in general—we needed to measure both the internal temperature of the meat AND the surrounding air temperature of the smoker. We could have used multiple DOT®s or ChefAlarm®s for this purpose, but we settled on the ThermaQ® because of its dual-channel capacity and its ability to set both high and low alarms (more on this in a minute).
We used a High Temp Air Probe with a Grate Clip to monitor the smoker temperatures, and Smoke House Stainless Overbraid Probes to track our internal meat temperatures.
As standard practice, we also used our handy Thermapen® ONE to verify internal temperatures.
Meat Prep: Each pork butt was taken directly out of the fridge, rinsed, and patted dry with paper towels. Our butts were boneless and needed extra help holding together, so we tied each of them with kitchen twine. Tying the pork keeps it in a uniform shape to help it cook evenly. We also rubbed each butt generously with dry rub—we used I Like Pig Butts and I Cannot Lie spice rub from Pork U. Use your favorite pork dry rub. Both pork butts were at about 45°F (7°C) when they were placed into each smoker.
Probe Placement: The ThermaQ probe for the meat was placed with the tip in the center of each butt. Any piece of meat is only as tender as its toughest part, so we needed to make sure the thermal center of each cut was reaching our desired temperature.
The Cook: With the ThermaQ probes in place, each butt was placed fat side down so the fat could act as a barrier between the heat source and the protein, and help the meat retain its moisture. We checked the air temperature of the smokers and internal meat temperatures hourly to track the progress. We didn’t spritz the surface of the pork with any liquids—we just let it be.
Monitoring the Smokers: We set high and low alarms on each of the ThermaQs—a high alarm of 250°F (121°C) and a low alarm of 200°F (93°C) for the smoker set to 225°F (107°C), and a high alarm of 320°F (160°C) and a low alarm of 280°F (138°F) for the smoker set to 300°F (149°C). Maintaining a steady internal temperature in your smoker over the extended period of a slow cook can be a challenge and require some fire craft. On more than one occasion our high and low alarms helped us know we needed to tend the smoker fires to keep our cook temperature consistent throughout.
The Stall: Even with our careful attention to our smoker temps, we still experienced what “low and slow” experts call “the stall.” When smoking meats like beef brisket or pork butt over extended periods, the internal temperature of the meat can seem to plateau or stall at around 160°F (71°C)—it can even drop slightly.
Aaron Franklin explains the stall well in his book Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto:
The stall happens as a result of something called “evaporative cooling.” It’s the same mechanism that allows sweat to cool down the body. Sweat works like this: when moisture sits on the surface of the skin, it’s evaporated by heat energy given off by the body. So when the water changes from liquid to gas form, it absorbs a significant amount of heat energy…creating a cooling effect…. Inside a cooker, the piece of meat is sort of sweating too. It’s losing moisture to the air in the form of evaporation. Interestingly, air turbulence and humidity has a greater impact on evaporation than actual temperature—and since there’s a huge amount of air movement in a smoker, the evaporation is quite significant.
–Aaron Franklin
You must practice the virtue of patience when you hit “the stall.” All of the tough connective tissues in the pork need this extended time to fully break down into gelatinous goodness. Take it on faith, once enough moisture has evaporated, the internal temperature will start rising again! In the meantime, the inside of the meat is becoming increasingly more tender, and the exterior is developing its thick, sweet, crusty, chewy, jerky-like rind, or “bark”. So many good things going on inside and out!
Verifying the Temperature: Eventually, the internal temperatures of both butts started to rise again. And not long after the subsequent rise, they reached their target of 195°F (91°C), as verified with a Thermapen ONE.
As we’ve already indicated, the pork smoked in the higher temperature smoker got there much, much faster. Both butts were placed in their smokers at 8:55AM. The higher temperature pork reached 195°F (91°C) at 6:20PM—9 hours and 25 minutes total cooking time. Our lower temperature pork didn’t reach 195°F (91°C) until 1:10AM—a whopping 16 hours and 15 minutes! Six hours and 50 minutes longer.
Resting: Just like any other cut of meat, resting is an important step with pork butts. The protein fibers are allowed to relax out of the higher heat environment and reabsorb moisture. We wrapped our pork in butcher paper and held it in an aluminum foil pan for about 30 minutes. The butcher paper is more porous than foil and allows the surface of the pork butts to breathe. Wrapping the butts in foil after cooking can cause the bark to get soggy.
Shredding: After resting, both butts were ready to fall apart on their own. After snipping the twine holding the meat together, we started shredding.
Taste Test: So could we taste a difference? The short answer is, yes. The roast at the higher temperature actually had more browning on its exterior, which had excellent flavor. The pork cooked at the lower temperature still developed good bark and browning. But the real difference was in the texture. The lower temperature cook allowed the connective tissues to come up to temperature for breaking down much more gradually and was held in that temperature range for a longer period of time. The result was protein fibers that were melt-in-your-mouth tender, silky, and juicy. There was a noticeable difference with the protein strands in the pork from the higher temperature cook. Because the protein was denatured faster, the meat felt a bit more stringy. It had a firmer texture against your teeth and didn’t seem quite as moist. But despite this, the roast cooked at a higher temperature had phenomenal flavor from the rub and bark.
Our Recommendation: The true “low and slow” smoking process would definitely be more suitable for barbecue competitions and those with more discerning palates; but for a backyard barbecue, we found the faster process fit the bill. Most people likely won’t detect the subtle differences in texture and the time savings were significant. If you’re smoking your pork butt for a family reunion or other similar event, it may well be worth it to save yourself some time and crank up the heat in your smoker.
Keys to Success: Once again here are our keys to tender and tasty pulled pork:
- Rinse and pat dry your pork butt
- Apply your favorite dry rub
- Prepare your smoker to your chosen smoking temp: 225°F (107°C) for the traditional “low and slow” method or 300°F (149°C) for the expedited technique
- Place the tip of an alarm thermometer probe (like ThermaQ with the Smoke House Stainless Overboard Probe) in the center of the meat (you can easily find the cold center of the meat with an instant-read thermometer like Thermapen ONE)
- Place an Air Probe on a Grate Clip to monitor the air temperature of your smoker right down where the meat will be cooking
- Set the internal target temp for the meat to 195°F (91°C).
- Set high and low alarms on your ThermaQ (if you have one) to about 25°F (14°C) above and below your smoker temp
- Monitor both the internal meat temp and your smoker temps to make sure you keep a consistent cooking temperature
- Allow plenty of time for the connective tissues to break down—be patient during the stall!
- Pull your pork when it reaches its target and wrap it in paper to let it rest
- Shred and serve (no BBQ sauce needed!)
Products Used:
Resources:
The Food Lab, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
Franklin Barbecue, Aaron Franklin
Ike says
Would the same process work on Brisket, ie, 300° in lieu of 250°/225°. I’m doing one this weekend and would be interested in experimenting if you think it will work!!
Thanx
Kim Allison says
Ike,
Absolutely. Smoking a brisket is a very similar process to the pork butt. Give it a try!
-Kim
Charlie says
Would love to see this test done again but 225 vs 275. Many well known BBQ experts cook at 275 but 300 just seems just a bit too high as evidence shows here.
Laurie Holmes says
I’ve been smoking for about 20 years now. On a homemade smoker that’ll fit about 12-14 butts or 6-8 slabs of spare ribs at one time. It has the fire box at one end with about a 8″ to 10″ opening into the smoke barrel and the 4ft smokestack at the other end. Anyway enough of that business. When I’m smoking butts I’ll put’em on say 8am with the temp right at or around 300°. Around noon I’ll wrap them each in foil, rearrange them when I put’em back on to cook for at least 4 more hours. I’ve never used a thermometer to check internal temp, and don’t intend on starting. I’ve never had a butt that wasn’t done, tender and delicious. I’ve gotten and atill get great compliments on the taste, texture, tenderness and moisture of my butts. I do have to keep a close watch on the fire and Temps of the smoker, to keep it regulated at right around 300° give or take a couple of degrees. I Love smoking for not only my family but for any and everyone who needs me too. I highly recommend the temp of 300° for at least 6-8 hour, (depending in the outside temp), to which my smoker is vulnerable to. The colder it is the longer it’ll take, the hotter it is the shorter time it’ll take. Also the wind has a factor with my smoker. The faster the wind is blowing the lower my damper has to be opened. The slower the wind is blowing, the more my damper has to be opened. Thank you for letting me share my experience with you.
Rick Bailey says
The pork butt experiment was interesting. I have found that smoking at a cabinet temp of 205 resulted in even better results than at 225 to 230. The beast will be ready to pull at a lower meat temp. Possibly around 170. Also the cook time will be about the same if taken out at the lower meat temp. I use the fork test rather than internal meat temp. Simply insert a fork and gently twist. If it is done it will not have much resistance.
Kim Allison says
Rick,
Yes! The lower you go, and the more time the connective tissue has to render, the more tender and silky the protein will be. When you get down to those low temps around 170-200, you start getting into the realm of the reasoning behind the method of sous vide cooking. If you haven’t read up on that subject, you might be interested in it! Check out this sous vide blog post.
Thanks!
-Kim
Bill Quade says
I am a big fan of your products and have purchased many thermapens,thermoworks alarms, and many probes. I have been in the retail/ wholesale grocery industry for 47 years. I also compete in many bbq competitions.
Many bbq teams cook with smokers that are on a rotisserie as do many home cooks that have a rotisserie on a gas grill or a weber kettle.
Unfortunately you don’t have a wireless thermometer that will work in a rotisserie. In my opinion, you are missing a huge market!
I am looking forward to the day when you will come out with something that will give the home cook or competitive smoker the internal temp of the meat they are smoking/ cooking while using a rotisserie!
Kim Allison says
Bill,
So glad you’re a fan of our products! You’re correct, there really is a need for a wireless thermometer. We have a great product development team that works on tackling ideas like these. Stay on our email list to see new products as they’re released.
Thanks!
-Kim
Adam Luikens says
Great experiment with the Butts and great write up! One thing you don’t mention in your setup is was any water pan or drip pan used above the platesetter of the Egg? Thanks and love the Therms!
Ease of Use Fan says
I wonder how this would turn out if you reduced the smoker temp to 225F in the hot smoker when the pork temp had risen just a few degrees AFTER the stall (i.e., as soon as you can be sure you’re past the stall)? This would give this pork a little more time in the tenderizer zone as the pork finished cooking at a now-slower pace.
You don’t give the times from start of cooking to end of stall for each smoker, but I would guess that the pork in the hotter smoker got to the end of the stall a lot sooner than the pork in the cooler smoker.
Kim Allison says
Great question. The method of a dual temperature cook is worth another experiment!
And yes, the high temp pork butt moved through the stall much faster. The pork at the lower temperature moved at a pace of only 1 degree per hour for a few hours during the stall.
-Kim
Joseph Jeske says
I did a two-temp cook on my New Years pork butt. I had a 12 lb bone-in, salted overnight, then rubbed down with Meathead’s Memphis Dust, from amazingribs.com.
22″ Weber kettle with SnS, 1 quart water, going at 225. When the meat temp hit 145, I cranked it up to 275 F.
To blow through the stall. It spiked a couple times to 280-290 F. At internal meat temp of 170, I brought it back down to 225 for the remainder of the cook. Pulled at 201F internal temp.
The results: done in 10.5 hours. Excellent bark, and I hardly needed the bear paws to shred it. Devoured with high praise from all of my guests. In my estimation, it was not quite as good as a complete low and slow, but still very good. Most of the meat was very moist and silky, with some drier spots. In my case, getting a late start, and having dinner guests, it was worth the compromise. If time permits, I will still go for the complete low and slow.
Rick French says
I have tried cooking butts both ways, “low and slow”, and “turbo”. we still prefer the low and slow method for taste and texture.
chris hansen says
What was the weight of the butts when you started the cook?
J MArzucco says
This was an excellent article– love the experimental “science” articles. The explanation of the plateau made so much sense. I Think I’ll split the difference and keep on cookin.
As an aside you used the term “..Fire craft”. That is the reason I bought a pellet grill and I’m so happy I’m short on fire craft!!!
Fred says
I agree. I purchased a pellet smoker a few years ago, and have been very happy with it! I have digital readouts for smoker temp, and meat temp. I am still learning so, I am happy to not have to perfect my “firecraft”. Cook temp varies +- 7-10 degrees, making it easier to get it right!
Travis says
You may find that the bone in butts cook faster, likely due to the bone bringing heat into he center of the butt. New blog subject???
Danny utley says
You can cook it at 800 degrees but it want be the same as low and slow. The moral to the story– low and slow always delivers the best product. Buy a BGE and for precision temperature control, a Stoker. Set it up and come back 16 hours. Buy the BB with the blade bone which helps the internal temp come up, and when bone is loose and comes out easily, it’s done.
Ken V. says
Finally, an explanation of “the stall” that makes sense. Thanks…
Steve Fields says
I’ve smoked several pork butts & read many recipes, but I’ve Never read one that instructed the butt to be cooked ‘fat side down’. Every one that I’ve read, except yours, says to place the butt ‘fat side up’, so the fat melts through the butt. Did you really cook it fat side down or was that a typo ??
Mike Diamond says
Excellent article.
I did not know about “the stall” or using paper to wrap at rest before shredding.
Thanks very much,
Mike
Steve says
I will try this; your article is a very good read.
Kim Allison says
Steve,
Thank you for the excellent question, and no, it wasn’t a typo. We placed the meat on grate surface fat side down. There are two schools of thought with this: fat side up and fat side down. The thought with fat side up is that the rendered fat will absorb as it travels down from the top. With fat side down the thought it that the fat will insulate the meat from the direct heat, and avoid drip loss from the rendered fat during the cook. Both methods are for similar reasons-to maximize juiciness in the meat. Give fat side down a try and see what you think!
-Kim
pat says
I belive the issue is how you are cooking the meat. if completely indirect ie gas grill then fat side up makes sense. if cooking on wood charcoal then fat side down. just my opinion!
Kim Allison says
Travis,
Definitely a new blog possibility! That’s one aspect of these projects that’s so great–we always end up with more questions to explore.
-Kim
Kim Allison says
Chris,
Each was about 8 to 8-1/2 lbs.
-Kim
Kim Allison says
Rick,
Absolutely. You really can tell a difference in the texture–it’s worth the extra planning!
-Kim
Kim Allison says
Adam,
Yes, a water pan was used in the smoker. Thank you for picking up on details we miss!
-Kim
Joseph Jeske says
I did a two-temp cook on my New Years pork butt. I had a 12 lb bone-in, salted overnight, then rubbed down with Meathead’s Memphis Dust, from amazingribs.com.
22″ Weber kettle with SnS, 1 quart water, going at 225. When the meat temp hit 145, I cranked it up to 275 F.
To blow through the stall. It spiked a couple times to 280-290 F. At internal meat temp of 170, I brought it back down to 225 for the remainder of the cook. Pulled at 201F internal temp.
The results: done in 10.5 hours. Excellent bark, and I hardly needed the bear paws to shred it. Devoured with high praise from all of my guests. In my estimation, it was not quite as good as a complete low and slow, but still very good. Most of the meat was very moist and silky, with some drier spots. In my case, getting a late start, and having dinner guests, it was worth the compromise. If time permits, I will still go for the complete low and slow.
Kim says
Joseph,
Thank you for the detailed information–it’s so interesting to hear how a cook like this goes for others. No wrapping through the stall, just increased temperature? And we felt the same way, that the faster cook was good, but the lower temperature cook had a more tender, silky texture. Stay subscribed to emails, we have some fun projects coming up this year. Happy cooking!
-Kim
John says
Maybe I missed it but what were the weights of the Butts?
Kim says
John,
They were each about 8 pounds. Thanks!
-Kim
J.T. Patton says
The most important step to ensuring the meat stays moist, is to WRAP WITH FOIL and LET REST for an hour!
If you jump the gun, and shred it while still hot, you will let all that moisture evaporate =(
Another great moistness tip, is to periodically spritz with a sprayer filled with Apple juice. A beautiful ‘bark’ can be attained by spraying/hitting with rub/let the heat and smoke melt it in…repeat as necessary
Mike says
I’ve been cooking a 4.25 lb Boston butt for over 20 hours now at 225°, and the temp does NOT want to get past 186°. It’s been fluctuating between 185 and 186 for over 2 hours now. Ever heard of anything like this? I already experienced “the stall” between 145ish and 160 or so, so a 2nd stall?? And over 20 hours for this small of one??
Martin says
Mike,
I was out of office yesterday, so I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment. I’ve never heard of a butt taking that long, no matter the size! I can’t think of what might be going on, unles sit was very nearly (or literally) frozen in the center. But, if this (somehow?!?) ever happens again, you can pull it anyhow. Collagen melt is a function of temperature AND time, so even though it didn’t get up to, say, 203°F, after an hour or two at 185°F it should be quite tender and delicious.
John says
The 20 hrs could be from altitude. Might not ever to the higher temps due to lower evaporation.