Almost 21 hour smoked Boston Butt

[RG]

Not your ordinary Tuesday Night Supper. Nope, not here. Last night (Monday) at 7:45 I put this nice 9.45 pound pork butt on the #3 and set it low, 225° for an overnight sleepover. I woke up this morning to some amazing smells as I left for work, I bumped it down to 210° so it would hang out a little longer. Hang out it did! It took almost 21 hours for this sucker to reach 196° internal temp. The pics don't do it justice, it was moist as can be. Served up with some homemade pickles on some cheapo depot white bread buns with some chips. Good Eats!

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[DivotMaker]

Whoa!  That's some fine-lookin' pork, right there!  Don't know how anyone - with any smoker - could do better than that!!  Nice job!

[RG]

Whoa!  That's some fine-lookin' pork, right there!  Don't know how anyone - with any smoker - could do better than that!!  Nice job!

Dude, your brine was what stole the show. I use it on Non Smithfield butts, this one was from Kroger. I had it in the freezer since September. It was hiding! I actually have another one in there too, they thought they were being slick. Hiding in pairs like that! I don't eat pork nearly as much as people think I do, I smoke a fair amount, eat a little and either freeze the leftovers for future dishes or give it away to friends and family (what I prefer, you never know when you'll need a favor and I like to bribe them in advance!).

[DivotMaker]

That means a lot, coming from you, Jason!  Glad you like the brine...I was lucky it turned out to be so popular!  When you just throw ingredients together, and hope for the best, sometimes you get lucky!

[jcboxlot]

That looks good, reminds me to fire up another!   Food Lion has them for $1.30 this week.

I've been pulling at 190 deg, would that have saved you an 1 hour  1/2?   

I've done it both ways and they seem fine at 190

[RG]

That looks good, reminds me to fire up another!   Food Lion has them for $1.30 this week.

I've been pulling at 190 deg, would that have saved you an 1 hour  1/2?   

I've done it both ways and they seem fine at 190

I am a creature of habit, I've always pulled them off at 197°, this one was close enough at 196° so I grabbed it! I could've finished it earlier by bumping up the heat but I wanted it to ride a little longer so I didn't have to put it in the cooler and wait to eat. I know it would've been fine but I was in no hurry. Once I took it off the SI I just double wrapped it in foil and set it on the kitchen counter for about an hour. Still piping hot and juicy!

[drains]

Great looking eats you got there! What type or brand of camera do you use? Your pictures rival those usually found in magazines. My phone and Ipad just aren't cutting it.

[RG]

Great looking eats you got there! What type or brand of camera do you use? Your pictures rival those usually found in magazines. My phone and Ipad just aren't cutting it.

Funny you should mention that. Oddly enough, I didn't get into taking "good" pictures until I became obsessed with cooking and posting the results. The need for a good picture was born from necessity I suppose. On another forum I used to frequent we had these contests each month, basically for bragging rights. They called them "Throwdowns" ( I've actually brought this idea up here before ) and it was basically where the winner of the previous month's TD would assign the challenge at hand, kind of like an episode of "Chopped". So for example "Surf & Turf" would be the topic, or "Beef" would be it, etc.....You had to cook your interpretation of what the challenge was and then post the pictures. 1 pic on the grill, 1 plated and 1 cook's choice.

So anyway, I won the first one I entered with using either my phone, or a Casio point and shoot camera. The pictures were not that great but I thought that if I could take better pics, I'd have a better chance of winning! Time taught me otherwise though. I would have KILLER pics and still lose. People voted for what they would like to eat or what was original and creative more so than the picture quality. Here are the pics I won with BTW, at the time only 2 were allowed :

Trip down memory lane 4 years ago



Even though I won, I posted THIS picture afterwards and people said I should've used it and I would've gotten more votes, lol


This was a Southwest Chipotle Five Cheese Pulled Pork Philly. I made the bread, the cheese sauce, the Southwest Aioli, homemade onion straws. It was tasty, lol.

Now, back to the camera. It's old by now but still works fine, It's a Nikon D3100. I mostly use the 18-55mm lens on it but on occasion I use my 50mm which is GREAT for food pics. Take a look and see at this pic I took of burnt ends (I won't post it, too big but I will link to it, it needs to be seen in all of it's glory, lol)
Burnt Ends

I also have a 300mm for taking far away pics as well as a nice TTF External Flash. If I still had the passion I used to, I could really make some stellar pics. Technology is constantly getting better but I still get good results with this now ancient Nikon DSLR.


Talk about a long answer to a short question!!! LOL

[RG]

Another thing about a good camera (sorry, I had to throw this in too, lol) is that it MAKES you a better picture taker. You start changing the way you plate, you learn to compose your subject matter better, find better lighting. All things I didn't worry about before. A good camera shows EVERYTHING, including the pretty and the ugly, so it makes you be more detail oriented. I've gotten lax lately. I used to clean up my picture area. Now I just shoot pictures with foil in the background, dirty dishes, the dogs, somebody's leg, the sink strainer, sasquatch......like Phil Collins said "I don't care any moe".

I think he meant more, not this guy :

[drains]

Thanks, I do enjoy your posts as they are detailed, much more than mine, and because the pics make my mouth water. I almost didn't post my last pics as they were so dark. The food tasted really good though so that's what counts. Keep the posts coming, I can tell you enjoy the process as well as the results. I salute you sir!

[RG]

Thanks, I do enjoy your posts as they are detailed, much more than mine, and because the pics make my mouth water. I almost didn't post my last pics as they were so dark. The food tasted really good though so that's what counts. Keep the posts coming, I can tell you enjoy the process as well as the results. I salute you sir!

Thanks for the compliments! As for picture sharing, please continue! I always love to see what my fellow smokers cook. It gives me inspiration!

[NDKoze]

Pictures are awesome! Keep them coming in all the threads.

[DivotMaker]

Jason, I love your pics!  Amateur photog here, but usually don't take the time when a smoke is done, so I just resort to the phone camera! (Shame on me).  Nothing better than your properly-framed pics, with good depth of field (great trick of food magazines).  Absolutely wonderful!

[RG]

Jason, I love your pics!  Amateur photog here, but usually don't take the time when a smoke is done, so I just resort to the phone camera! (Shame on me).  Nothing better than your properly-framed pics, with good depth of field (great trick of food magazines).  Absolutely wonderful!

Alright guys, y'all are making me blush here, lol. I am a terrible compliment taker. I really appreciate it though. It's just another part of this hobby that we all enjoy!