I had a two pack of pork butts in the freezer and decided to cook them both over the weekend. I set up the RED grill with center heat and placed a grid inside the trough with hickory chunks on it for smoke. I got a late start so after about 4 hours I decided I was done and needed sleep. I took one of the butts and placed it in the crock pot. I took the other and wrapped it in foil.
I set the crock pot to low and left it on all night. It was 12PM at this point. Turned this off at 7AM.
I placed the other butt in a counter top over with a timer on it and set it for 375 for two hours. I woke back up at 1PM and turned it down to 350.
This is not a big surprise on the crock pot but the flavor was more salt than spices while the oven finished retained the seasoning flavors and the bark much better.
What surprised me most was when I went to shred it. The oven roasted one I was able to just shred in my hands very quickly and easily.
The crock pot must not have gotten hot enough because it was tougher even though the bone popped right out. The smoke flavor and the spices were in the large amount of liquid found in the pot and not the meat..
Bottom line was that finishing in wrapped foil produced a much better end result. Texture and taste were much better. Pieces of bark were mixed in which added nice flavor bits...
In the picture the foil finished is on the left side of the pot. I tried to separate it right down the middle.
I normally would not finish the meat in a crock pot or the oven. I do foil wrap from time to time after 4-6 hours of smoke. And typically leave it on the grill or smoker to finish. Was just too tired this time. So it was a good time to experiment..
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