Pulled pork - What cut of meat to use?


 
C

Craig Corrigan

New member
Relative novice to smoker cooking, but I recently purchased a new 22" WSM and love it! Learned a bunch cooking with my old ECB.

My question is what cut of pork would I use to try and replicate the "pulled pork" that I would buy at my local BBQ joint?

Boston Butt, Pork Shoulder or some other? Is 205 degrees the magic internal meat temp?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Originally posted by Craig Corrigan:
Relative novice to smoker cooking, but I recently purchased a new 22" WSM and love it! Learned a bunch cooking with my old ECB.

My question is what cut of pork would I use to try and replicate the "pulled pork" that I would buy at my local BBQ joint?

Boston Butt, Pork Shoulder or some other? Is 205 degrees the magic internal meat temp?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I prefer the butt cut, but you can use the shoulder as well for pulled pork. Both work well to make pulled pork. I like to use butt because I find it comes out more moist. Cook till you can wiggle the bone easily and it pulls clean from the meat. Usually this happens in the 190º-200º range. Figure about 1.5 - 2 hrs per lb of meat being cooked at 235º-250º grate temp.
 
Thanks Bryan.

Like the avatar, a bit scary though.
icon_smile.gif
 
hey bryan, i thought that the butt and the shoulder were the same, just different names. am i missing something?
 
Butt is part of the shoulder; the upper part. 'Picnic' is the lower part of the shoulder including the upper part of a foreleg.
 
Is 205 degrees the magic internal meat temp?
Click to expand...

get yourself a bone-in butt, and use the bone like a pop-up turkey indicator. You'll know its done when the bone is sticking out and can be easily removed.
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:
Butt is part of the shoulder; the upper part. 'Picnic' is the lower part of the shoulder including the upper part of a foreleg.
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Do the muscles change much as they move down the leg? Said another way, is the picnic much different than a butt?
 
Picnic is a bit different from the butt, but not greatly. I have found picnic slightly tougher and drier, but maybe I'm not cooking it to its potential.

Each cut has its proponents.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I don't believe I have seen "bone in" pork butts readily available at my local Publix or Kroger. Is it usually there or is this a special cut that I should ask for?
 
Originally posted by Craig Corrigan:
Thanks for the replies!

I don't believe I have seen "bone in" pork butts readily available at my local Publix or Kroger. Is it usually there or is this a special cut that I should ask for?
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Craig - at Publix they are labeled Boston Butts (sometimes they say bone-in as well). Usually they don't keep large enough sizes on the shelf, so you'll have to ask the butcher to cut you a 6-8lb, or whatever size you are looking for.
 
Craig,

Welcome to the site. I had the same problem in the beginning since our local super markets don't typically carry "butts". Chris put together this list of other names.

Boston shoulder roast
Boston roast
Boston butt
Shoulder butt
Shoulder blade roast

Also to expand on this list I have found the if its labeled as "shoulder" with out "picnic" then its probably a butt.
 
Originally posted by Craig Corrigan:
Thanks Mitch.

Is the "bone in" better for the pulled pork? With a six pound cut, what would be the approximate cooking time?

Thanks,
Craig
Click to expand...

I've only cooked bone-in's. One nice feature about butts is they are a VERY forgiving piece of meat. Butts can vary in terms of cook time, even if they are the same weight.

I usually cook mine at about ~265-275 dome temp, so based on my experience I'd give about ~12-15 hrs till she reaches the magic ~200 internal temp. Like I said, they can vary, so hard to give exact time. I don't know what it is, but mine always seem to take forrrreeeevvvverrrr, lol. The beauty with cooking butts is that if you are on a scheduled time, you can always hold if you finish too early in a cooler, or if you are running late, crank up the temp for the last hr or two hurry it up.

When cooking butts, I've done some fat cap up, fat cap down, and can't find a difference in taste. I never turn, baste, or open the lid on mine until about 10 hrs in so I can check temp to get a gauge on how long she's going to take.

When cooking butts, that's when I began to understand 'probe tender', when you insert the thermometer into the meat and it feels like you are inserting it into warm butter - then you know she's ready!
 
I've only cooked bone-in's. One nice feature about butts is they are a VERY forgiving piece of meat. Butts can vary in terms of cook time, even if they are the same weight.

I usually cook mine at about ~265-275 dome temp, so based on my experience I'd give about ~12-15 hrs till she reaches the magic ~200 internal temp. Like I said, they can vary, so hard to give exact time. I don't know what it is, but mine always seem to take forrrreeeevvvverrrr, lol. The beauty with cooking butts is that if you are on a scheduled time, you can always hold if you finish too early in a cooler, or if you are running late, crank up the temp for the last hr or two hurry it up.

When cooking butts, I've done some fat cap up, fat cap down, and can't find a difference in taste. I never turn, baste, or open the lid on mine until about 10 hrs in so I can check temp to get a gauge on how long she's going to take.

When cooking butts, that's when I began to understand 'probe tender', when you insert the thermometer into the meat and it feels like you are inserting it into warm butter - then you know she's ready!
Click to expand...

Very helpful advice. Thanks!
 
I usually cook 7-9 pounders with and average time of 9 hours. I foil them about 2/3 of the way through. Foiling helps accelerate the cooking, and most importantly (IMO), retains the drippings so that they can be reserved. Of course foiling will alter your bark texture, so there are drawbacks to foiling.

A butt will release a bunch of liquid, which when chilled can be separated. With the fat removed, you'll be left with porky jelly, that when mixed back in after pulling, will result in moist flavorful pulled pork.
 
All turn out better than at the local bbq joint
picnic, shoulder or Butt. Bone in bone out they all taste good..If I see a good deal on boneless I grab it. I may prefer the bone in because it provides a little more flavor like cooking a whole fish. I may not be able to tell the difference between the 2 bone in or boneless But I get the bone in when available. Slight difference between the picnic and the butt but not much I enjoy both. Try them both and you decide that's what's fun about bbq. Either way it should be better than than what you get at a local joint.
 
Originally posted by Craig Corrigan:
Thanks Mitch.

Is the "bone in" better for the pulled pork? With a six pound cut, what would be the approximate cooking time?

Thanks,
Craig
Click to expand...
Put it this way, I've gotten boneless butts that were mangeled so bad I tied them several times to hold them together. I prefer bone in.

I've done a lot of picnics over the last year .. I can get them at $.99/lb ... half of the price of butts on a good sale and a quarter of regular retail. I prefer butts but at those prices I'll take picnics every time.
 
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