Pork Shoulder/Boston Butt in Leeds?

[MattJaySmoker]

Does anyone know where to get a pork shoulder from in Leeds?

I've already had one from a butcher but I don't think it was trimemd and prepared properly and it was a bit of a disaster.

Just joined CostCo as I see the Americans go there so was hoping CostCo UK is as good. They were sold out of shoulder last night when I looked, but I got 2 racks of ribs though

Can anyone recommend a good butcher/supermarket for shoulder (and also Brisket?) here in Leeds? I was thinking of trying the indoor Kirkgate markets at the weekend in the city.

Any help appreciated or please point me in the direction of some users who may be local

Cheers

[YetiDave]

You can usually find some decent shoulder cuts in Asda or Sainsburys (Asda is cheaper) they may not be massive, but you could always get a few and chuck them on to cook Market butchers are your friend though, keep shopping around

As for brisket? Pass. Make friends with a butcher and get them to order one in for you, I've never seen whole, unprepped brisket for sale

[MattJaySmoker]

Cheers Dave. will keep my eyes open. To be honest as I'm new to smoking i should start off with cheaper supermarket cuts as i can't guarantee my cooks will come out decent enough to begin with.

CostCo had brisket last night but they were pretty big and at least £22 and above for it sealed. I thought brisket was a fairly cheap cut of meat.

[YetiDave]

It should be a cheap cut, but along with shin beef, oxtail and ox cheeks it has enjoyed a bit of a (price) revival

[keith157]

It is relatively cheap, but bear in mind you want large pieces so the price mounts up.

[aris]

Have to love those recipes which call for 'cheap cuts of beef'. They don't exist any more!

[YetiDave]

Thankfully pork is still nice and cheap

[MattJaySmoker]

Yep I guess so!

Are there any Leeds folk on here? I've seen a few post by some but was a few years back so may not be active anymore. Keen to get people's advice on shops to go to rather than my own trial and error/wasting money

There's a couple local butchers near me will give them a try and slowly increase my distance if e meat is crap or they don't know what I'm on about

[YetiDave]

Just for reference purposes I buy pork shoulder (bone in) at about £3.50/kg, pork belly at the same and brisket at about £6/kg. Before I knew what kind of prices I should be looking for I got a single piece of pork belly from a local butcher, probably around 1.2kg, for £10. Make sure you don't end up spending way too much! Some places are FAR too expensivve

[MattJaySmoker]

Ok thanks. Just been CostCo again and they are getting more pork shoulder in tomorrow however it's boneless. I'm willing to give it a try as the butcher said it's roughly £8 a joint (not sure on the weight). As I'm new I don't want to blow too much money until I've done a few more cooks and tested out different fuels..

Just stumbled across tonnes of debates online and here about lumpwood vs briquettes - oh what a minefield!!

I've used the briquettes all summer for normal bbq-ing and also on the smoke last weekend.

Going to give lumpwood a try if i can get some before Saturday. For some reason people say don't use the minion method with lumpwood, any idea why? How else would you start it, jsut scatter a few lit ones randomly across the coal pit?