boneless butts falling apart before cooking?


 
E

Evan

TVWBB Fan
All,
couple questions for you, hope you can help and sorry if this is a repeat...
got a 20lb double cryo pack of butts from my butcher a while back... openened em up today to rub before cooking tonight and found that they appear to be boneless and are not held as tightly together as the bone-in ones i am used to..... is this normal for boneless butts? is the weight normal? the 10lb each seemed like alot compared to the 7-8lb bone in ones ive done before...
im going to try a "high heat" cook (300 or so) to hopefully have these done in 10-14 hrs... sound reasonable?
thanks for the help
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Evan:
All,
couple questions for you, hope you can help and sorry if this is a repeat...
got a 20lb double cryo pack of butts from my butcher a while back... openened em up today to rub before cooking tonight and found that they appear to be boneless and are not held as tightly together as the bone-in ones i am used to..... is this normal for boneless butts? is the weight normal? the 10lb each seemed like alot compared to the 7-8lb bone in ones ive done before...
im going to try a "high heat" cook (300 or so) to hopefully have these done in 10-14 hrs... sound reasonable?
thanks for the help </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes that is normal for boneless butts and that's why I do not care for them. Most of them look like someone put a hand grenade in them and blew them up. Tie them as best you can with butchers twine.
 
Yes, twine will do wonders. I cant complain about the butcher, butchering the butt when deboning. I bought a 2 pack also 20 lbs, but they were bone in for buckboard bacon. I had to debone them myself and even being careful and trying to avoid the "hand grenade" look, well lets just say they needed plenty of string.
icon_rolleyes.gif


Brandon
 
You can tie them up with twine to get them back in shape (just be sure to put the rub on after the twine so you don’t scrape the rub off trying to tie them), but personally, as a lover of bark, I stopped tying up my Costco boneless butts long ago- now I just trim or tuck the thinner bits so they don’t burn, and they cook a lot quicker, and have more nice, crunchy bark. If you’re pulling the hand grenaded butcher job won’t matter- slicing might be another issue, though. Tied or butterflied-its personal preference.
 
I smoked pork shoulder last week with the bone in. It took 18 hours but it was time well spent. After all that time, the bone just slipped right out and the meat stayed together.
 
so sounds like if i want them to cook quicker i shouldnt twine them?... will they dry out too much?
thanks
Evan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">so sounds like if i want them to cook quicker i shouldnt twine them?... will they dry out too much?
thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I find it depends on thickness and how "messy" the cut was, but generally speaking, if I tuck back the thinner pieces, it turns out great- kinda hard to ruin a butt- but by the same token, I like bark, so those litte dried out burnt ends are the best part to me.
 
I did my first ever boneless butts recently in a high heat cook.

Took around 7 hours cooking between 310-350 without water.

I tied them up, but I don't know if I would do that again.....tucking in the loose stuff might be the answer.

My guests didn't notice any difference between low and slow and high heat, but I did, and especially with the bark.

I am cooking 4 butts on saturday night,, and they will be done slow.
 
for smoke day i bought one of those not knowing what i was getting. the name was a bit differant than normal. anyway my wife tied it up loosely so it made kinda a flat mound. turned out just fine with a bit more bark area. so go ahead and tie it up but not to tightly and enjoy !
 
bone-in should be tangibly cheaper... i hope. i've never checked, but else you're paying for the bone weight. on the otherhand you're paying for the labor to remove the bone, which you may or may not care for depending on what the butt will be used for... cooked whole vs. chopped up/ ground.
 
I tend to buy what looks best. I prefer bone in but if the price is right I will get it boneless and most of the time it is tied if not you can always ask I go to the grocery enough that they will ask me what I am cooking this weekend. I picked up some pork picnics today just because they looked good and want a little change and a challange. I think I will put a little mojo on the them with little slits and garlic. My Cuban buddy who is a chef gave the recipie that his mom uses. The roast it in the oven I am going to smoke 2 on the smoker.
 
Boneless for me because that is what Costco sells. I like them as well if not more then bone in. To each their own.

Cook on!
 
It has been my experience, tying boneless shoulders tightly, that I get some more rub flavor infusion throughout. I am able to pack a lot more rub inside the "cavaties" for lack of a better word before tying the roast.
 
I bought 2 boneless ones at Cash and Carry and bbqd them yesterday. The 2 in cryovac were 17lbs, but one of them was at least 10-11 lbs as it was much bigger. I tied them up best I could, and they came out great!
 
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