When To Wrap Pork Butt?

In this article, let us discuss when to wrap pork butt. Almost all BBQ enthusiasts would have eaten pork butt or at least wanted to eat one because it is so delicious when we smoke them. The pork butts are also called Boston butts. The thing that sets pork butts’ taste apart from other meat is the succulence and tenderness of the meat. 

Not all meat and BBQ foods would taste stunning when you smoke them. Pork butts, on the other hand, are delicious-tasting meat when they are properly smoked. Let us know more about pork butts and how to wrap them properly. 

Right Time And Way To Wrap Pork Butt

Pork butt is one of the few types of meat that is hard to mess up. Most of the meats taste awful if you apply one spice, more or less. However, smoking pork butt and messing with its taste and flavor is almost impossible unless you wrap them at the wrong time and in the wrong way. 

Wrapping pork is a new idea introduced by pitmasters recently. The wrapping of the smoked pork butt is called the Texas Crutch. When the pork butt is wrapped properly, it has a significant positive effect. Let us see the right way to wrap the pork butt. 

Long-smoking pork butt will increase the internal temperature of the meat to 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Increasing the temperature quickly to 225 degrees Fahrenheit is one proven way to mess up a pork butt. However, if you slow cook them under smoked until their internal temperature reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit, you will have the best-tasting pork butt you have ever tasted in your life. 

However, you shouldn’t wrap them in foil or anything as soon as it is taken from the smoker. It needs to rest in a clean room until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the right time to wrap the pork butt. 

Take a clean and neat foil with no holes in it and place the pork butt on top of it. Now, wrap the pork with the foil firmly and tightly, leaving no space for air to enter. Also, be gentle while wrapping the pork butt with the foil because it can cause the foil to tear up if you aren’t gentle with it. We are half done if you have completed this step successfully. 

However, you should also have to reheat the wrapped pork butt under the smoke. Make sure you slow-cook the wrapped pork butt on the smoke. Place the wrapped pork butt on top of the smoke in the same place where you have kept it already while smoking for the first time. 

Then, smoke it until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees Fahrenheit. It might take a few more hours since the pork butt is covered by foil. The foil won’t resist the heat; however, it takes a little time for the heat to reach the inside of the meat. 

You can take it from the smoker and make it rest at room temperature. If you use it shortly after 30 minutes of cooling at room temperature, the wrapped pork can be unwrapped or sliced for serving. 

Or, you can store the smoked pork butt in a freezer for later use. However, it is not recommended method to store smoked pork butt in a freezer. Eating them as soon as you have cooked them will be better. 

What Are The Benefits Of Wrapping Pork Butt?

Some experts consider that wrapping pork butt carries significant advantages over smoking or leaving them unwrapped. Also, some experts think it is just an unnecessary step that consumes your time and effort. It is a little gray area where we can’t know for sure yet. However, we will see the supposed benefits of wrapping a pork butt. 

The first benefit you get from wrapping your pork butt is keeping the meat fat-rich. Mostly, cooking for long hours will cause the fat to melt and spill on the grill grates. When you wrap the pork butt at the right time, you can save the fat from separating from the meat and spilling out. This will keep the pork butt juicy on the inside while crispy on the outside. 

Leaving them unwrapped and smoking them for a prolonged time will cause the fat to melt away and make the meat dry, which is not what we want when we start to cook pork butt. 

The next one is that wrapping the pork butt will help to maintain the flavor. We can also say that it registers the flavor in the meat by not letting it escape while it is covered with foil. 

However, some argue it is not the case. If we leave the meat unwrapped, it will be exposed to more flavored smoke, enhancing its flavor. According to them, leaving the pork butt wrapped will seal it from the external flavor. 

We all know that the foil we use is a very good conductor of heat. Smoking the wrapped pork butt will help to even the texture of the meat. The foil will distribute the heat throughout the meat at the same time, which will result in an evenly crispy texture. 

Do You Know?

Do you know that the pork butt is not actually taken from its rear? Yes, it is true. The meat is taken from the shoulder of the pig. However, it is called pork butt, but why?

Pork butt can be dated back to colonial times when shoulder meat was not a favorite. The New England Butchers called it “butts” because they thought it tasted poor. 

These meats are then shipped to other places in the world. Since it has come from New England, people have called it Boston butts. Later, the place’s name is replaced with the meat’s name, hence called pork butts.