Pork butt price & wood type


 
Andy Beers

Andy Beers

TVWBB Diamond Member
Hi everyone just a quick question. I normally use apple or cherry wood to smoke my PP but I am doing one saturday and all I have is Hickory, has anyone ever used this for PP and how did it taste.On another note I live in N.B Canada and went to my local super store and A 8# pork butt was $37 about $4.60per pound to me that is crazy so I went to my local butcher and got one for $1.89 per pound still enough but when you have to smoke you have to smoke. Beer and PP saturday NOTHIN BETTER Thanks All
 
Where I live in Florida, the supermarkets typically carry butts for $2-3 per pound, depending on where you go. I find them on sale between $1.50-$1.75, usually.

Hickory is great for pulled pork. It's a somewhat stronger wood, but that works in your favor -- when you pull the pork and mix it around, there is then enough smoke flavor to get around to the meat that was on the interior of the butt.
 
Here in Tennessee, "BBQ" is pretty much synonymous with "HICKORY SMOKED BBQ" or "PORK SHOULDER", and some folks won't put anything else in their firebox.

To my taste, hickory is PREFERRED for a deeper smoke flavor...mainly because fruitwood chunks just don't smoke very long in terms of a 14-16 hour butt cook compared to nutwoods like hickory and oak. Besides, we're not burning all wood on the wsm. If smoking butts and briskets I'll probably use 50/50 hickory and oak, but if smoking only butts it'll be mostly hickory around my charcoal ring.
 
Yep. Same in Chicago. When i think of the BBQ it's always Hickory. That's all the dives and hole in the wall joints use.
Glad to see ya back Dave
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Tim
 
Every Butt I've done for the last year has been a mix of hickory and cherry. About 2:1 Cherry to hickory. I've also done several butts with just hickory. Every one of them was the BOMB! Heh.

I love hickory, to me it is the flavor of BBQ.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by timothy:
Yep. Same in Chicago. When i think of the BBQ it's always Hickory. That's all the dives and hole in the wall joints use.
Glad to see ya back Dave
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Tim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Tim. Under the weather this week so postin' way too much!
 
I mostly use hickory. To me that's country BBQ. Love the smell.
Last time I bought butts they were $0.99 per pound. I bought 60 pounds and stocked up the freezer.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
Here in Tennessee, "BBQ" is pretty much synonymous with "HICKORY SMOKED BBQ" or "PORK SHOULDER", and some folks won't put anything else in their firebox.

To my taste, hickory is PREFERRED for a deeper smoke flavor...mainly because fruitwood chunks just don't smoke very long in terms of a 14-16 hour butt cook compared to nutwoods like hickory and oak. Besides, we're not burning all wood on the wsm. If smoking butts and briskets I'll probably use 50/50 hickory and oak, but if smoking only butts it'll be mostly hickory around my charcoal ring. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Since I am also in TN, I give a big +1 to Dave's comments. Hickory and PP 'que are often seen together on signs at local BBQ places.

$1.89/lb. is not a bad price compared to what you found. I usually find it for $1.39/lb. at a local grocery, and that's pretty good for here. You will enjoy hickory wood on your PP.
 
Pork prices were up considerably in 2011, but have been somewhat lower so far in 2012.
Lowest price locally on fresh trimmed has been $1.39
I usually use oak because I can get unlimited amounts for free!
 
My last PP was with 2 Hickory and 1 oak chunks. Wanted to try something different. I was very pleased with the results. Will be doing it again.
 
I love Hickory for PB. Our Publix supermarket had bone in Boston Butt on sale for $1.89/lb. so your price seems normal to me.
 
I just did a 10lb shoulder over the weekend, my first overnight cook. Used the 18 WSM with three chunks of peach wood. I gotta say, the smoke was a little less pronounced than hickory, but very nice.
 
$1.69 right now. This cook I have a cherry and apple mix. I use fruit most of the time because I keep wood burning in my smoker the entire time. It is hard to over-smoke with fruit wood. Cooking a big ol butt right now and chicken later on today.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dale Perry:
I use fruit most of the time because I keep wood burning in my smoker the entire time. It is hard to over-smoke with fruit wood. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dale, I'm with ya on smoking. I find I get the deep smoke flavor on butts that I'm after by keeping smoke going for most of the cook. How do ya do that with fruitwood alone, though?

Call it "over-smoked" or "bad smoke"...I've managed to do it with green peach and/or by adding wood a lot during a cook.
 
I start out heavy on the smoke but keep a little wood in my smoker the whole time. i will not put the meat inside the cooker until it is really puffing away. i want mellow but alot of smoke taste. On longer cooks I dont care as much toward the last couple of hours about smoke as much as I do about temps. I love hickory, I just tend to over do it but with fruit wood, my chances of failure are smaller.

With comp cooking it is illegal to pull the meat and put back into the smoker, but at home I will do this every once in a while. I like it more smokey than most of my family. The Spicewine is puffing away right now and the smell is wonderful. Not a hint of bullion anywhere!
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Paid $1.49/lb. for Farmland bone-in two weeks ago. Retail chain. Butcher took out of cryovac (BIG cryovac) and trimmed it up nicely for me.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dale Perry:
I start out heavy on the smoke but keep a little wood in my smoker the whole time. i will not put the meat inside the cooker until it is really puffing away. i want mellow but alot of smoke taste. On longer cooks I dont care as much toward the last couple of hours about smoke as much as I do about temps. I love hickory, I just tend to over do it but with fruit wood, my chances of failure are smaller.

With comp cooking it is illegal to pull the meat and put back into the smoker, but at home I will do this every once in a while. I like it more smokey than most of my family. The Spicewine is puffing away right now and the smell is wonderful. Not a hint of bullion anywhere!
icon_smile.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So I presume you're adding? What do you think about moisture content?

Last two smokes I've gotten great flavor with the equivalent of about 6 fist-sized chunks of hickory and oak around the perimeter of the ring in two layers. I like smoke from the get-go as well, but also want to wake up to it the next morning. Just haven't been able to do that with fruitwood without adding, but now I don't miss my stickburner for butts and briskets anymore. No issues with oversmoking, but I'm specifically using shagbark hickory. (According to Chris Lilly, there are some species of hickory that give hickory a bad rap.) Anyhow, I love pecan for it's long smoke time as well, so I use it for chicken and ribs for the mellow flavor.
 
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