by Chris__M » 30 Jul 2010, 23:28
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.