The whole pork shoulder is made up of two cuts of meat. The upper
half of the shoulder is known as the pork butt (Boston Butt) and
the lower half of the shoulder is known as the picnic. It is
interesting to try and figure out why the upper portion of the
whole shoulder is called a "butt" since we all seem to know where
a butt is located. Oh well, we don't really care why it is called
a "butt" but it just does not make a lot of sense so we won't
figure it out.
The whole pork shoulder will weigh in the 12 to 16 pound range.
You rarely will see this whole shoulder sold in the stores but
you will see the two pieces cuts of meat that make up the whole
shoulder for sale and we are going to talk about those.
The upper half of the whole shoulder, the "butt" seems to be the
most talked about of the two cuts. They weigh 4 to 9 pounds and
contain more fat than does the picnic cut of the shoulder, about
20% more fat in the "butt" than in the picnic cut. The picnic cut
is the lower half of the whole shoulder, contains less fat and
usually requires a little longer cooking time. I am going to
discuss cooking a pork "butt" but you can use the same method on
the pork picnic with great success.
Most KCBS competitions call for the cooking of pork shoulder but
in reality you can cook either the "butt" or the picnic. The
"butt" seems to the piece of choice for most of the competition
cooks since it contains more fat and will therefore have a better
taste (remember fat is flavor in most all meats) and it will stay
moist over the long cooking time of the pork "butt". The picnic
contains less fat and is therefore a little bit different to
cook, but either one of them produces some great eating. I should
say that the only competition that I am aware of that requires
cooking an entire pork shoulder is Memphis in May but I may be
wrong on that since there are so many KCBS competitions.
For pork "butts" you can find either boned in or boneless "butts"
to cook and that is just a matter of your own liking. I like to
cook the bone-in pork butt versus the boneless variety since I
like to flavor of the bone-in version the best.
Pork shoulder can be served sliced or pulled. Most of the time
you will see it called pulled pork because most restaurants,
competition cooks, and backyard cooks like to pull the pork
shoulder once it has cooked. It is a hard piece of meat to slice
since the grain in the meat runs in 5 or 6 different directions
and contains a lot of fat, so most of us just pull it and enjoy.
OK here is how I prepare pork shoulder and I usually cook the
"butt" and I prefer the boned in variety. Being from Texas I have
only been cooking pork butt for about the last 10 years or so. In
fact when I got my largest smoker, the first thing I cooked on it
was about 8 pork butts. I am still learning all there is to know
about cooking pork butts but I do know all of us here in Texas
are just now beginning to find out what a great eating piece of
meat a pork butt is. It is kind of interesting to think about but
it seems like the great folks out on the east coast and a lot of
the eastern southern states have been cooking these forever and
they are just finding out more and more about brisket and the
folks in Texas have been cooking brisket for over 100 years and
are just now really starting to learn how to cook a pork butt. It
is great to see how the BBQ world is changing and the cooking
areas are learning some of the specialty meats from other areas.
Pork Butt - Maybe the Most Forgiving Piece of Meat to Smoke
Yes the pork butt, may be the most forgiving piece of meat you
can cook on your BBQ smoker. It contains so much fat running thru
the piece of meat that it just does not dry out very easily
during the long cooking process.
Cooking times for your pork butt will run 1¼ hours per pound up
to 2 hours per pound. You should always cook pork butt using
indirect heat at temperatures from 210 degrees to 250 degrees. If
you want to slice your pork butt I then an internal meat
temperature of 170 to 185 degrees is what you are looking for. If
you are going to "pull" the butt, and that just means chopping
and pulling pieces of the meat off the finished cooked meat, then
you are looking for an internal meat temperature of 195 to 210
degrees. If you are cutting the pork butt then you will need to
remove the bone and then slice. The bone will not come out clean
but pulling on it unless you cook to a higher internal meat
temperature so just use a good deboning knife and work around the
one and you will be able to cut it out fairly easily. With the
higher internal temperatures of pulled pork the bone will just
pull out of the meat with a little turn and yank.
For pulling the pork you can use two forks and just pull the meat
off the "butt" and then cut into pieces or just use your gloved
hands and simply pull some chucks off the butt and then cut them
into some nice pieces.
OK here is the simple way to make some great pulled pork.
What you need:
1 - pork butt (I like them about 6 to 7 pounds)
1 1/4 - cups of your favorite pork rub
½ cup of worcestershire sauce
½ of a coke
¼ to ½ cup of brown sugar (if you want to add)
½ cup of yellow mustard
½ cup of apple or peach juice (if you wish to add this)
Take your pork butt out of the packaging and if you wish to wash
it off using cold water that is fine. I usually do not rinse mine
off but it is up to you. If you rinse it off then just take a
paper towel and pat it dry. (If you are going to pull the pork
butt when it is finished, you can make 8 to 10 deep cuts about 2
inches long all over the pork butt to get your rub mixture deep
down in the meat but this is not necessary just an idea). Take ½
cup of worcestershire sauce and ½ cup of yellow mustard and in a
separate dish combine the two and blend them together. You can
just use the worcestershire sauce if you wish but the yellow
mustard is nice to add to the mixture. Rub this all over the pork
butt. Now take 1 cup of rub and apply that over the
entire pork butt over the worcestershire or the
worcestershire/mustard mix that is on the butt. A fairly heavy
coating is best for this meat since it is so thick. Place it on
the smoker or pit and let it cook for about 7 hours. I like to
wrap this piece of meat so at the 7 hour range I will wrap it in
a double wrapping of foil, pour over it about ½ of a coke, then
sprinkle over that ¼ to ½ cup of brown sugar and seal it up and
place it back on the smoker until you get to your desired
internal meat temperature. I usually cook mine to 200 to 205
degrees internal meat temp. Remove the butt from the pit and let
it rest for 30 minutes.
Unwrap the pork butt, remove the bone, and then cut or pull the
meat. Place it in a large pan. Take ½ cup of apple or peach juice
(and you can use other juices) and pour over the pulled pork in
the pan. Add to that ¼ cup of rub and mix all of this
together. You can add a bbq sauce to this mix if you wish. Serve
on a bun or just on a plate with a nice helping of cold slaw.
Some like to pile on the pulled pork and then top it with the
slaw on a bun. This is a great eating piece of meat and very
economical.
article by Bill Cannon
texasbbqrub.com
Got one on the pit right now Ronnie......@dmaddox001.
ReplyDelete