A three-butt race on the Traeger

squirtthecat

New member
Back story: MrsSTC's Mom is staying with us for a while, so I've been cooking up a storm in the back yard keeping the fridge stocked.

Scanning the Sunday Paper, I see pork butts are on sale (sort of - $1.39/lb) this week. So I grabbed one Wednesday and put it in the freezer. Got 2 more Friday on the way home, and decided to do a little experiment.

It's widely known that the right side of the Traeger runs hotter than the left. So I put the 9 pound frozen solid butt over there, and the 2 8 pound refrigerated butts on the left. Rubbed with Sorghum Molasses and some Dumpster Rub. Sorry, no prep pictures, it was dark & cold and I had my hands full.

By the way.. Sorghum turns to an industrial adhesive at temperatures below 40° :eek:

Filled the hopper, set the controller to 225° (more like 250° on that right side) and called it a night.

Flash forward 11.5 hours..

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Frozen butt on the right is at 190°. Left rear is 191° and left front is 189°.


We'll give them another 45 minutes or so to reach 195+° and declare the 'winner'.. It's looking to be a photo finish.

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And... It's a tie. :cool:

I went out at 9AM (roughly 12.5 hours in) and all three were at 199-200°.

Into the F, waiting for some TC love..

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Got some nice color.

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And into my Nebraskan Cambro for a few hours.

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Pulled.

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13-14 pounds in the fridge.

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Pulled some out and loaded in the crock pot.

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Some friends of ours came over to keep MIL company while we went to my Corporate Christmas party, so we fixed a little buffet line for them. Not pictured: Salami, cheese, Blazin' Pistachios/Almonds and a small crock pot with Lil' Smokies swimming in some Blues Hog BBQ sauce.

(guess who ate better ;))
 

SmokeAndSpice

New member
I wonder what the result would be if you'd have put one of the unfrozen on the right and a frozen plus unfrozen on the left.
 
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