Like to try Picnic

[Craig Cole]

I'd like to try a picnic and was wondering how different they are to smoke as opposed to a Butt. I think I read a long time ago when I was starting out that they are a little more difficult because its a tougher cut??? I think that's what I remember reading.

 

[Brian Lanius]

Cooking a picnic is no more difficult or different at all. Some might argue the finer points, but compared to cooking a brisket flat, which in my experience is pretty easy to turn into shoe leather, a picnic is identical to a butt.

 

[Adolph]

I cook picnics more than I do the butt. Personally, I like the extra skin because I make chicharon tacos out of them. But as for the meat, it's basically the same with a little more fat. They also cook around the same time for me.

 

[tjkoko]

Those two cuts are anatomically related.

Butt: the area surrounding the shoulder blade up to the shoulder (gleno-humeral joint);

Picnic: the shoulder joint itself plus a bit of either the upper arm (humerus bone and biceps/triceps) or the upper thigh (femoral bone and quads/hamstrings. Basically methinks the picnic cut is an uncured and therefore unbrined ham.

I appreciate your remarks, Adolph, regarding cicharrons which are known here in the south as pork cracklin's.

 

[Dino Harris]

Never have tried a picnic, feel like I get more eatable product from a butt, for about the same money.

 

[JRPfeff]

I think there is more flavor in picnic meat. Skin removal is a small pain and yield may be less, but I think it is a worthwhile trade-off.

Adolph & tjkoko - What do you do with the skin? I remove it from the meat before cooking to promote smoke penetration and am left with a rather unappetizing wad of fat & skin.

Jim

 

[tjkoko]

Jim:
To make cracklins or ciccharones, just place the sheet of fat into a frypan and bring up the heat to around medium+. Allow to fry in its own natural oils.

Aaaahh, my mistake, ciccharones include the attached skin. And they're done when the skin bubbles - a phenomenon achieved after cooking in its oil for awhile.

 

[tjkoko]

JR:

My preference to leave the fat cap attached, allowing the meat to self-baste and remain moist. But you what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen.

 

[Stu M.]

I tend to stick with Butts, too much "stuff" in a picnic IMO...

 

[Doug D]

Clarification on butt vs. picnic. Picnics a) are usually cheaper per pound than butts, b) yield less cooked product relative to uncooked weight than butts, and c) are reported by many who usually cook butts as coming out "drier" than butt, probably due to differences in muscle types coupled with somewhat lower intramuscular fat.