Pork Butt....not sure what I got!

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thebigman65

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Mar 29, 2015
96
74
Hey All,

I placed an order with a local butcher for some items.  Among them I asked to have 2 "Pork Butts" of 6 to 8 lbs.  What I said exactly is " I want 2 pork shoulders....you know boston butt for pulled pork" and they said yes.  When I got there they were all wrapped up and what i got looks like this:


No bones!

Shouldn't it look more like this?  With a bone?


Wondering if I got Picnic instead of the boston butt?  Also, do I have to worry about not having the fat cap during cooking?
 
The picnic or shoulder will have a bone but a butt will be boneless
Butts will usually have the shoulder blade bone left in, what the OP has is a boneless butt. Apparently his butcher thought he was doing thebigman65

a favor.
 
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Looks like a boneless butt to me. Also looks like a REALLY nice piece of pork. It should make delicious pulled pork. It also looks like it would make a really nice cottage ham.
 
The meat looks good granted, but no fat cap?  Is this an issue?
 
not so much for pulled pork. there should be ample amounts of fat inside to keep it juicy enough without a fat cap. get that thing rubbed up and put on the smoker. I have one that looks somewhat like its twin in my freezer right now (along with 4 more of his buddies).
 
Definitely a boneless butt.  Although I prefer them bone in, I use the boneless ones sold at Costco all the time and they look exactly like the first picture.  I don't tie them up like a lot of folks do because you get more bark leaving them untied.  Just apply the rub in all the exposed surfaces then lay it on your smoker so the boneless access cut is on the bottom.  The weight of the butt kind of keeps it there.  It will open a little while smoking but just smoke like normal.    
 
The meat looks good granted, but no fat cap?  Is this an issue?

I actually take the fat cap off pork butts. You don't get a lot surface area for the rub and smokey goodness, so why throw away one whole surface when it is done smoking. Like msuiceman said...plenty of fat marbling throughout.

Awesome looking cut. Post a pic when it's done!
 
I say he did you a favor by trimming it.  I trim mine as well now - fat doesn't absorb smoke well and there is more than enough intramuscular fat in the meat to keep it juicy.  You will get good bark which equals good flavor.  If it didn't have the fatcap removed, you would have to remove it when pulling (unless you want incredibly fatty meat).  The fact that it is boneless isn't a big deal either.  Don't worry and smoke on.
 
Cook it by temp. , and you need no bone !
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Have fun and . . .
 
Thanks so much everyone.....very helpful bunch on this site!  
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one question guys.....I have read some stuff on here about the pork butt not staying at a low IT for too long.  I have smoked a few butts over the years and never heard this being an issue.  Any insight on this?
 
Also a tip with boneless butts - use some kitchen twine to tie it into a uniform chunk. Otherwise the sections they cut to get the bone out makes a few uneven "flaps" that have an uneven thickness and the thinner parts finish up way sooner than the thicker parts. But if you tie it up into a uniform size it all cooks evenly.
 
I light my smoker and set it on its way to 225(ish.)  I then go inside and remove my butt from the fridge or cooler and wash the brine off with warm water.  I dry my butt off and rub in the rub.  Once the smoke hits temp, I stick temp probes in and toss it in the smoker.

Practice good food handling skills (plastic cutting boards, watch for cross contamination, don't drop the meat on the floor, keep your cat off the counter, etc) and you will be fine.
 
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