Bone in or boneless butt?


 
S

Steve W (Weave)

TVWBB Fan
Doing my first butt on my WSM this weekend and noticed that some of you are doing bone in... I took a regular Boston boneless butt home from work and now I'm getting worried it should be a bone in.
Thoughts?
It's about 5 lbs trimmed and I want to rub it and start late tomorrow nite for mid day Sunday.
Help...!
Also, how much charcoal should I start with? Should I minion? Start with a half chimney of lit kingsford?
 
Only reason I see to do bone in is if you are wanting to preserve some of the individual muscles for slicing. For boneless it is good to tie them with twine so they are one big even size hunk. Helps with even cooking
 
That's how pretty much all of mine have been. Be sure to coat it all in lot of rub. I try to position it so it's together, never bothered with string although I've bought it a couple times... the parts that pull away (thinner pieces) are good test pieces, & I've never had a problem with them over-drying in comparision to the rest of the meat whether cooked "high heat" (9-10 hours) or Low/slow (16-22 hours). With my great HH results I may not go back to the ~20 hour cooks....just not needed IMHO.
 
Use the cut that is there as a starting point to butterfly the butt. It should look a bit like an open book when your done. Rub it up and cook. You'll get double the bark and you reduce the total cook time.
 
I always use bone in butts, some of the best meat is what's right next to the bone. Plus, I've read, and I don't know if this is fact or not but it makes sense, the bone heats up it and helps cook the butt from the inside.

I've done a few boneless butts and am convinced the bone in is superior.
 
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