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Boneless Pork Butt


 

Dean C.

TVWBB Fan
I picked up four from Costco today and have never cooked the boneless ones. Can anyone tell me if they cook faster or is it pretty much the same as bone-in? I usually cook them to 195 w/out wrapping. Thanks.
 
No noticeable difference IMO. As long as the boneless one is not split and layed out flat.
I usually tie it up to retain shape as the de-boning sometimes has irregular cuts that allows the meat to sometimes split at the cut area.
 
Dan is right. I also tie mine. Costco can sometimes do a hatchet job on their butts.

A thought: Does anyone ever use the netting to hold these together? Hmmmm. On second thought, it would probably destroy the bark when removing the netting...or would it?

Rita
 
Rita - do yours come with netting? Mine don't. I think you are right thought, even with some minimal tying (which I definitely do with costco's butts) I wince every time I take the string off after a cook and bark comes off with it. The netting would probably be hard to get off without ruining much of the bark.

but who knows.

BTW, the costco by me now sells butts at such a high price that I can get them cheaper at the local grocery store - and bone in at that. So I no longer use them for butts (plus, they started to hassle me about buying them in cryo). Also, their briskets by me are now $4.29 / pound. And of course they only sell flats. So... I can also get briskets now cheaper at a high end butcher by me. Too bad... costco used to be a bargain for meats for me. No longer. (though I do still get my spares there).

- Adam
 
I have only bought the boneless Costco butts before this last time. Safeway had them bone in for $.79 so I picked up three at that time. Costco's are just cryovac'd, no netting on them.

I have never tied the boneless ones before. I just kind of place them on the grate upright so they don't open up or fall over, and did this with them when I made the buckboard bacon as well.

I haven't checked the prices at Costco recently. I have bought a full packer brisket there once, can't remember the price, and had to specifically ask for it as they don't put them out. I used to buy the boneless butts at $1.39 a pound, which are preferred for the buckboard, but I really liked the way the bone in this time cooked. It took the same amount of time for me, 14 hours at around 240 consistently. I took it off at 190, foiled and let sit in the cooler for 5 hours. Had a lunch date that day.

Usually prices at Costco fluctuate depending on so many different variables. I'm sure one of them is popularity. But I have noticed that you can usually get things cheaper elsewhere when they go on sale. I check the ads every Wednesday and save them for the week, and haven't noticed a difference in quality from Safeway's to Costco's.

I did notice at Wal Mart one time that their pork is tremendously enhanced. The tenderloin was at a 12% solution which to me is huge. The butts were at 8%. Needless to say, I'd rather pay a little more for unenhanced meat if I can get it.
 
Right, Jane. No netting on Costco butts here either. The thought just popped into my head and I thought I'd ask. I sort of answered my own question.

I see I'm going to start comparing prices again. I bought 4 butts in mid-April at Costco for $1.39/lb - Publix was selling for $1.69.
 
I just picked up a beef tenderloin roast for $7.88 a pound, which is cheaper than Costco and a flank steak for $5.99 a pound which is the same as Costco. This was a Mother's Day special at Fry's which is owned by Kroger here. Safeway is Von's elsewhere, and then there's Sam's which I don't belong to. We don't have Publix or HEB here. But I will try to be more diligent in posting sale items in the future here since this is how I shop and we are all looking for good deals.
 
I went to Costcos Monday to get some butts, and they were out! 50 packs of spares and B/Backs, but zero Butts lol. I asked if they can get them in with the bone in, and they said no. I use metal skewers to try to hold them together. Works ok unless it was a really bad hatchet job, of which I have had from there before. They are a lot cheaper there than the local stores around here.
BJ's has bone in butts, but they are smaller than I like, and for the same price. The little hunks that are butchered from them taking the bone out at Costcos, I put in the pan of beans near the end of the cook, and let it simmer in there for a while with the drippings falling into it.
 
I tried useing all the big chains for butts also. Wal-Mart, Sams, and Meijers. Never could get what I wanted. Went to small mom and pop type meat shop. There they let me order what I need, when I need it, and at decent prices. Average on Butts has been around $1.40 a lb and usually 2 to a pack. I did order one Brisket and he gome one fresh off a butcher he was doing for himself for like $2.50 a lb. I order my requests in now and will be getting prices on ribs next.
 
I just did 2 butts and a Picnic. I put a picnic (8.5#) and a boneless butt (8#) for dinner, and another Butt to take to work tonight. I used the metal skewers again from the nice Costcos hack job of removing the bone. The little sections that do slip away from the rest of the butt went into the beans, and put onto the smoker the last 2 hours to simmer.
The first 2 went on @ 10 last night, then the one for work went on @ 0700 this A.M. (I go in on midnight shift.)
Costcos butts went up $.15/# this week. Up to $1.55 now.
 

 

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