Can't find pork butt, only picnic - need advice


 
S

Steve Gogolinski

New member
I just recently got my WSM. I did a rib and picnic bbq for a first try and the ribs came out good (3-2-1) but the picnic was lousy - way too smoky, dry, and it didn't pull apart easily even though I smoked it for almost 2 hours per lb. @ lid temps around 240 degrees. I used the BRITU rub and found it too spicy as well.

I'm wondering if the following things I did made it that way - (1) added more Kingsford during the cook and had to stir up the coals a bit. Maybe the ash got on the food? I did find some on the foil I used on the ribs. (2) Used about 5 hand sized chunks of apple wood and started cooking immediately and even added some chips during the cook. Too much smoke wood? (3) I removed the skin and all the fat cap off the picnic prior to rubbing and bbq'ing.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Steve--

Welcome to the board. Tell us where you are--someone here is likely to be able to point you to butts. Remember, they might not be called 'butt' in your area; maybe just 'shoulder'.

What size was the picnic?

2 hours/lb is a guide. Don't barbecue by time--go by by temp, feel, or both. Use time as a guide only.

Ash tastes like, well, ash, not smoke. Likely the wood quantity was too much for the butt or for your taste. (5 hand-sized plus chips seems like a lot to me.)

Stir gently when stirring.
 
Pork butt and picnic achieve doneness when they reach a desired internal temperature-- higher for pulling, lower for slicing. Going by time alone rarely works out.

Ash or too much wood? Probably the latter. Smoke production is not required beyond the initial phase of the cook, and most people prefer something in the way of about 4 fist-sized chunks of most of the generally milder fruit or nut woods.

As to the BRITU rub, it's very important to heed the instruction in the original recipe/technique to use just a "light overall dusting".
 
Steve, you don't say to what temperature you brought the internal of the picnic. I've never done a picnic but imagine it should go to around 195. Maybe you shouldn't have removed the fat cap and smoked fat down to help keep from drying out.

Sounds like you used a lot of smoke wood. I've ruined meats by using too much. When I did 3 racks of ribs the other day I used just 3 small chunks and it was plenty smoky for me. Sounds like you, like me, don't need so much smoke. I'd cut the wood back to 1 or 2 at most large chunks.
 
Too Smokey? This is very curious. I've had this happen on ribs, but never a butt! The smoke flavor is really only intense on the surface of the meat. Ribs, with little internal meat are at risk. The butt, with its far greater volume of internal to external meat really is not. That smoke flavor on the surface is distributed through the meat when you pull it. That is one of the many lovely things about a butt. I'm not sure what happened to your butt, but my guess is that your internal temp did not get high enough. Note: all puns intended
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Cheers
Lou
 
Thanks so much for the quick replies
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Sorry, I will have to update my location. I live in Southern Central Massachusetts, close to the Rhode Island border.

It is quite possible I did put too much rub on. I first applied the yellow mustard to 'hold' the rub on.

I wish I had my BBQ log here at my office, but it is at home. I think the picnic was about 4 lbs or so. I did an internal temperature using a digital thermometer and it wasn't 195 for sure. Also I cooked the picnic for about two hours before I added the ribs at which point I added water to the pan and the temps dropped to about 180 for roughly an hour which is why I had to add fuel, and stir. Possibly another problem?
 
Something weird about the picnic you wound up with. I've never seen one that small. Should have been well over 6# and closer to 9#. Also don't think you cooked it anywhere near long enough. A 7.5lb butt usually takes about 10 hours to reach 195 internal. Thats cooking between 225-250 only opening the side door once to add water and stir the coals. Keep trying you'll get there.
 
Steve,
I used to get "butts" at a wally world supercenter. There they were called "pork shoulder blade roasts". Try using that name when looking for a butt. Now where I go, when I say butt they know what I'm talking about. And I too have never done a picnic, so I have no advise to offer in that regard.
 
When I do picnics I remove the skin and as much external fat as possible. Cook to at least 190 measured in three different places. Let rest two hours wrapped in aluminum foil and pull. Same method I use for butts. It is the dissolving internal fat and connective tissue that keeps the meat from drying out. And a long enough rest period before pulling.
 
I did my first picni over the weekend...my wife actually like it more than the butt. What she did not like was the prpeeing. A little too personal and pig like for her to be watching me carve off the skin. I found the meat to be darker and a little more greasy? Anyone else? I took it to 195 in three places and let it rest 4 hours...a little too long I think.
 
the cool thing about picnics is that they have a natural "pop up" thermometer. It's called the bone. The picnic is done when you can pop out that bone with no resistance - and it comes out cleanly.

Picnics are very good - they shouldn't cook too much differently than butts. The two cuts are next to each other and share some of the same muscles. Parts of the picnic are a little leaner than the butt, but generally, they cook up the same.

As for the rub, I'm actually a little surprised that so many people use BRITU for things like butts and brisket. BRITU stands for " best RIBS in the universe." It's a VERY salty rub... if you use it, you need to just use a light dusting of it.

I don't use it at all, but especially for butts and rubs, it's so salty that it means you can only use a little. Which prevents you from getting a good, bold flavor from your rub. If you use something with 1/3 the salt, then you can, essentially, use twice as much rub as you would otherwise. So you can really layer on the rest of the flavors (herbs, chiles, etc.) in your rub.

Just a few thoughts...
 
Thanks for all the tips! I am planning on doing a butt if I can find one, if not, I'm doing a picnic this weekend. I have to practice for next weekend - it's my annual 4th of July fireworks cookout.
 
Ask for a bone-in shoulder, butt, Boston butt, shoulder blade roast--whatever; believe me, they're available. Almost every supermarket receives butts by the case but many, especially in the north, cut them up for sale into small boneless or bone-in roasts. One problem: 'Enhanced' pork is all over.

Carnicerias almost always have whole pork shoulders. In central Conn I find good ones at Italian markets that make their own sausage.
 
I was just going to mention what Kevin mentioned. I haven't been able to find a picnic that wasn't enhanced. I bought enhanced ribs once and did they turn out dry and tough. I took the skin off just like you did. I have however made several picnic's all enhanced but never a dry one after cooking.

For smoke everyone has different tastes. I use at least 5 pieces on each cook. I done some ribs back when I still had my ECB and over smoked them using one handful of hickory. I finally brought myself to try hickory again just a couple of months ago after a 2 year boycott. I tried one chunk on some ribs along with other wood and couldn't taste the hickory. So my next cook of ribs I used 2 chunks of hickory and I said one was pleanty. I think chips are are a lot stronger at imparting flavor. I am just assuming you used hickory for the chips since hickory and mesquite are the easiest chips to find in the stores.

Personally I would stick to chunks or pellets. The BBQ Delight pellets replace one chunk of wood for me and has worked out well. The only flavor I like for the smoker is the Jack daniels pellets. I use the other flavors on the grill. I guess the best way of saying is you get more predictablility with the chunks over the chips.
 
Well I still didn't find any butt, so I got a 8 lb. picnic from BJ's and did an overnight on Friday night. It can out awesome! I used a rub from Smoke & Spice, but I left out the cayenne, cut the paprika and chili powder in half, and doubled the turbinado sugar. I only let the rub sit on the picnic for about 1 hour at room temperature. I did the Minion Method with Kingsford and a few pieces of lump coal and 3 hand sized chunks of apple and one palm sized chunk of oak.

I put the meat on the top rack at 10:00 pm @ 245 lid temp. Ten minutes later the temps were still climbing to 260, so I closed the bottom vents to ~ 25% open. At 11:00 the temps were 310, so I added more water to the pan and went to bed. The WSM was underneath my deck and we did have some heavy rain that evening. I awoke at 5:00 a.m. and the temp was 275. At 8:00 I mopped the meat with apple/pineapple juice and I tried to flip it, but it was already so tender the tongs were digging into the meat so I left it. I had to add coals around 9:00 because the temps had dropped to around 210. At 12:00 I removed it, wrapped it in foil and placed into a cooler for 1/2 hour prior to pulling and the results were excellent.

The bark was very good, but still a bit too peppery for me. I wonder if I baste it in BBQ sauce in the last hour if that would make a difference?

I plan on doing 2 butts/picnics for my annual 4th of July cookout. Should I expect the time to be much longer than this due to double the meat? I would like to do a rack of ribs, but I think that was the problem last time with opening up the lid to mop, wrap with foil, etc.
 
two doesn't really take any more time than one. The only difference is the extra time it takes to get the smoker up to the destination temperature... which with only two will only take 10 minutes longer or so than just having one on there, in my experience.

You could baste with BBQ the last 30 minutes. If it is sugary it could temper the pepper. But, if you are going to do that, just reduce the pepper in the rub rather than having to worry about basting a butt. Just my opinion...
 
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