What sort of butt is this?


 
M

Mark Atkins

New member
I'm in the UK so getting US BBQ style cuts of meat can be tricky.

In Cost Co I spotted this pork shoulder, but as I'm a noob I didn't know what sort of cut it was.

Can anybody tell me what cut this is and if it's good for smoking?

 
I'm probably wrong, but it looks like a pork shoulder thats had the skin removed. Kind of looks like it might be de-boned too? Anyway it comes, skin on - skin off, bone in - boneless, it's a great piece of meat to smoke. Just follow the pork butt instructions.

May I ask what that costs per pound there in the UK? Just wonderin' ...
icon_rolleyes.gif
 
What's it say on the package?

Looks like a ham (rear leg) or maybe a picnic (foreleg). Doesn't look like butt to me. What weight and length?
 
I zoomed in on the pic .... can't tell ...

It might be a small trimmed boneless butt, fat cap removed and rolled up being held together by the netting.
 
I hadn't really thought boneless till you guys mentioned it. Could be. The flesh color is suggestive of picnic or butt--moreso than ham.
 
Thanks for the replies, it's labelled up as a 'boneless pork shoulder' over here it costs £2.99 per KG and each of them is about 2 KG.

Just converted that to US measurements. So that's a total weight of about 5 lbs, at a cost of (about) $3 per lb.

Is it possible to tell if it's a butt or picnic? Cooking time/technique wise should I just cook it assuming it's a butt?

Is it bad news the fat cap has been removed?
 
I'd say not really bad news that the fat cap has been removed...the more surface area you have the more "bark" your gonna get. Most folks remove the fat cap before smoking anyways. $3 a lb might be the bad news. I got my last butts for $1.39/lb, but you might be paying for the butcher trimming the cut. The ones I got were 7 lbs each but I cut a lot of fat off of them so might work about about the same.

Oh, and I think cooking time/technique is pretty much the same for the butt and the picnic. Butt and Picnic are parts of the "Sholder" so go with the butt prep and you should be fine!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Joey K:
I'd say not really bad news that the fat cap has been removed...the more surface area you have the more "bark" your gonna get. Most folks remove the fat cap before smoking anyways. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
BLASPHMY!
I feel I must post about this because I read about so people doing this too many times.
icon_frown.gif
If you know this sorry, but for those who don't I'm posting because the best part of the butt is lost in doing this, cutting off the false fat cap. If you buy untrimmed butts please don't cut the false fat cap off. See there are 2 fat caps on a butt the one you see is a false cap and the true fat cap. There's a very thin piece of meat that lies under the false cap and on top of the true fat cap. Now let me tell you that when your butt is done cooking and after the rest and you got to pull it here is where you will be rewarded for your efforts. I consider this the cooks reward and I hardly ever share it.
icon_biggrin.gif
Gently push the false fat cap aside with your thumb to expose that very thin layer of meat that is sitting on top of the true fat cap and quickly eat it while no one is looking. Trust me you will be eating Pork Butt Nirvana.
icon_wink.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Atkins:
Thanks for the replies, it's labelled up as a 'boneless pork shoulder' over here it costs £2.99 per KG and each of them is about 2 KG.

Just converted that to US measurements. So that's a total weight of about 5 lbs, at a cost of (about) $3 per lb.

Is it possible to tell if it's a butt or picnic? Cooking time/technique wise should I just cook it assuming it's a butt?

Is it bad news the fat cap has been removed? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd guess from the shape its shoulder butt ... funny though, one place I get pork from here calls picnics 'Pork Shoulder Picnics Hock On/Removed'.

Meat charts might be a good way to communicate what you want. I did a little searching and though I didn't find UK pork charts I came up with this UK site. From that chart tell the butcher to stop after completing step 6.

So over here meat shops will get in a whole bone-in pork shoulder butt with the fat cap on in cryovac packaging. If it's the same there you could try asking around and you may find one to give you deal on cryo packs. All they have to do is slap a price on it and it's out the door. They don't have to cut and package and so on.

When I started smoking butts I was scalping them clean of all external fat ('scalping' I called it). But my tastes have changed and now I'm happy to leave the fat cap on and I like to cook them fat cap down.

If you get a chance try one with the fat cap intact and see what you think. Even better, put a big foil pan of beans like Kerri's Hog Apple beans underneath the butts and let all that rendered pork fat goodness just drip right on in there.....
icon_biggrin.gif
 
That is not a butt. It is a picnic, the section of the shoulder just below the butt (at least that's how they cut them here). You can tell because of the way it tapers down. It could be a gamon as Kevin suggested...but I would doubt that because it probably would have been labeled as such and the weight wouldn't correspond with that of a fresh ham (gamon).

It's a good cut and is awesome for q'ing...I've never been able to tell a difference between the two (butt and picnic). As others have said, just follow the directions for a butt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top