I recently bought an 8 lbs pork butt for an amazing price and decided to marinate it for 24 hours, then slow cook it to around 200-205 degree (Fahrenheit). I usually use a Green Egg grill or equivalent; however, I was in a location that did not have a way to smoke it on the grill, so I used the oven. Have you ever done this?
Long story short, I cooked it at 250 degrees for over 17 hours for it to reach the desired temperature. Why did it take so long? Well, I'm around 6,000 feet above sea level and experienced a painfully long stall! A stall during slow cooking exists when the internal temperature of the meat fails to increase at a certain temperature, (and sometimes will decrease). Mine went from 175 degrees to 162 degrees at hour 9. WTF! SOB! AYFKM! No, no....stay patient. Fight through the stall!
Many people that are new to slow cooking tend to blame the meat thermometer for being faulty during a stall, which is not the case, (99% of the time). So, what the hell is going on when a pork roasts in an oven set at 250 degrees, then starts decreasing in internal temperature? The answer is, 'Evaporative Cooling'!
What is evaporative cooling? Well, it's the way humans cool off when their bodies get hot doing things like this:
Or crazy shit like this:
So, when your meat is experiencing a frustrating stall, the reason is because it is essentially sweating! My stall lasted for about 2+ hours before the internal temperature started climbing again. At 185 degrees, I brushed it with BBQ sauce and seasonings, then wrapped it in foil. The internal temperature reach 203 degrees, so I turned off the oven, took it out and wrapped it in a towel, then placed it back in the oven (oven was off) for 4 hours. I went back to sleep and dreamed of lunch the next day. The 8 lbs roast made about 20-30 juicy and delicious sandwiches!
The moral of the story: fight through the stall!
