lucasjackson•4d agoProlific Poster

I finally stopped rushing my pork butts and it made all the difference

For years, I'd get up at 4 AM, throw an 8-pound butt on my offset, and aim to have it done by 4 PM for dinner. I was always fighting the clock, wrapping it too early just to get it to temp, and the bark was never right. The change came last summer during a cookout in Austin. My buddy Mark, who runs a food truck, saw me checking the temp every hour and just laughed. He said, 'Man, you're not cooking a pork butt, you're babysitting an alarm clock.' He told me to start it at midnight the night before and just let it go. I tried it. I put it on at 11 PM, let the smoker sit around 225, and went to bed. Woke up at 7 AM to the best bark I'd ever made, and the thing just fell apart when I poked it around 2 PM. That extra time without me fussing over it was the key. Anyone else switch to an overnight cook for big cuts and never look back?

3 comments

3 Comments

benclark4d ago

It's funny how that works... we get so stuck on a schedule we forget what we're actually doing. I see it all the time with guys trying to fix their own cars. They'll rush a brake job just to get it done for the weekend, miss a step, and have to do it all over again. Good cooking and good work both need their own time. You can't watch the clock.

the_wren4d ago

Seems to be the universal recipe for screwing things up.

susan_bell4d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, watching the clock is a sure way to mess up. I've rushed jobs before and always had to go back and fix my own shortcuts. Giving a task the time it actually needs saves you more time in the end.