Pork Butt

[ozza]

Hi All

Brand new member here, been cooking burgers and sausages for a few years, but recently started experimenting with larger bits of meat, including beer-can chickens and pork joints. Working on a 22.5" Weber Kettle at the moment.

From talking to my local butcher, a reasonable British translation of a what I have seen described on US BBQ forums as Boston Butt is a "bone-in blade shoulder of pork". As it happens I was having this conversation today, enquiring if (a) they could do these for me and (b) how much notice they needed. Their answer was (a) most certainly (the butchery is owned by the local pork farm) and (b) approximately 5 working days, to be safe.

However, as my experiments are being consumed only by me at the moment, I don't wish to cook 6 lbs of meat or more. As a result, I have been trying out my techniques with Cooperative boned shoulders of pork, with reasonable results - the joints are a reasonable size - 1-1.5kg - not too small to be decent practice in the techniques, while not too big for me not to be able to finish as cold cuts in a few days.

The last one I tried wouldn't pull, but still sliced nicely and tasted sweet with a nice hint of hickory. I am pretty certain I cooked it too quickly and just a little too much, and have just picked up a probe thermometer to help my next effort.

I am hoping to have the technique perfected to try on a real Butt when I next have people round for a BBQ at the end of August.

kewl post!!!

my understanding is that it will pull, regardless at 190f so if youve got a second therm (if you only have one, it might be worth getting a second, one for the meat one for the lid temp), id leave it in the meat when cooking. Obviously the longer you leave it cooking the better the moisture and the taste, dont forget to rest (in foil) for a good 30mins plus where it will continue to cook to a degree and the meat will relax helping the moisture

[Chris__M]

my understanding is that it will pull, regardless at 190f so if youve got a second therm (if you only have one, it might be worth getting a second, one for the meat one for the lid temp), id leave it in the meat when cooking. Obviously the longer you leave it cooking the better the moisture and the taste, dont forget to rest (in foil) for a good 30mins plus where it will continue to cook to a degree and the meat will relax helping the moisture

My Weber is one of the older One-Touch (O/T Gold) without a built-in thermometer. As it happens, I was searching on eBay for a suitable thermometer to hang through the vent hole, when I also came across a poorly listed wireless probe thermometer (Brookstone Grill Alert), and picked it up for five and a half quid. I had no idea if it was any good, but thought it worth the punt for the money.

It arrived yesterday, with a well-thumbed instruction book, and all the rest still in their original plastic, never been used. The vent therm hasn't arrived yet, but when it does, I should then have both covered.

Believe it or not, I started experimenting with larger cuts of meat on the BBQ, simply because my kitchen was being refitted. However, I have now got the bug!

[Steve]

It won't always pull at 190F I'm afraid.

The reason it pulls is that all the collagen and connective tissue breaks down during cooking, this happens at about 165F so in theory if you held it at the temperature where the collagen is braking down for long enough you'd get a perfect result. This isn't possible so what we do is cook it to a higher temperature so that it stays in the correct range for long enough.

To cut a long story short, if you cook hotter you usually end up taking your butt to a higher temperature to get the correct results. I cook around 260 - 275 for my butts and usually they're just about perfect when they hit 205. If I lifted them at 190 they would be underdone.

[philnewts]

What do you guys make of this?

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsbur ... _22Kg.html

Is it the correct cut?

[All Weather Griller]

Not too sure to be honest Phil, it could be one of two bone, the top of the leg bone or the blade bone. I will have a mooch around the Sainsburys near me later and see what it is.

On another note, but still chain store related, the guy at our local Morrisons has said that he can cut what cuts I want and has on occassion given me some pretty nice baby backs.

[nickdel]

Hey Steve. Brilliant diagram of the butchery. That is really useful. Any chance of you scanning in the next page so we can see he next two diagrams.
I went to my local butcher who was most unhelpful - just dismissing it as "never heard of it" - even when I said it was sometimes called a Boston Butt and that it was from the shoulder. He just wasn't interested. Anyway, his loss (I'll not use this butcher again) as I drove to the next village and another butcher and presto!! this guy was more than willing to listen and try and understand - in fact he shot off to his office and searched the web and this wonderful site and came up with the goods. Unfortunately, he had cut all his pork this week and the only piece of meat he could offer me was a rolled shoulder which I'm going to unrole and try that. But he did say ring before Tuesday and he would prepare one for me for the following weekend. Result
So, again Steve, if you could scan that next page I could take them both down to the butcher and show him

Thanks for all your comments, guys. I feel fully enlightened

Nick

[ozza]

Dropped into a butchers in a local town (not my usual butcher), as I remember them doing a "prepare a pig course", got speaking to him he said he knew of the american cuts and can do some for me and does a course on a Sunday showing you how to butcher a pig etc.

sounds interesting, gonna try it out

[All Weather Griller]

That does sound interesting where abouts are you Ozza?

[ozza]

That does sound interesting where abouts are you Ozza?

Sudbury in Suffolk

[All Weather Griller]

Mmm that's a bit of a treck from here. Shame though!