Crazy stall time swings

[js0813]

Hey all. Just wondering if anyone else out there sees wild swings in stall & overall cook times with whole picnics? My smoker is always crazy consistent, and I keep my temps in range pretty well (monitor IT and chamber temps separately) by for some reason friggin picnics always go from 1hr/lb to 2.75hrs/lb. Brined or not, with or without rub, it always seems to swing to crazy extremes.

Just wondering if maybe it’s the cut of meat and others are seeing this since no other cut seems to do that for me, be it pork or beef. Figured I’d ask since I threw one on the smoker about an hour ago.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Shoulders, lower front leg, is a physically complex cut. They contain lean and fatty muscle, a giant bone, are half covered in skin and go from wide to narrow at the hock end. Add that some packers enhance, inject, the meat and anything can happen. I stick with butts for these reasons...JJ

 

[js0813]

Makes sense to me...I think that’s advice I’ll follow. Butts always seem to go smooth for me anyways.

Tks

-Jon

 

[Bearcarver]

Yup---Like JJ said, that's why I like to use Boston Butts for my Pulled Pork.

My only problem is a Boston Butt is one of the hard things to find around here at a decent price.
If I can find one it's almost always $2.49 or more per pound!!!

Bear

 

[SonnyE]

I use to be a leg man, but later in life I realized I'm a butt man....

I like what Chef Jimmy said, by the pound, I wonder how many consumers dollars drip and go up in steam? :confused::mad:

 

[SonnyE]

Yup---Like JJ said, that's why I like to use Boston Butts for my Pulled Pork.

My only problem is a Boston Butt is one of the hard things to find around here at a decent price.
If I can find one it's almost always $2.49 or more per pound!!!

Bear

Bear, you are too far South of Massachusetts.... :confused:

Out here, you get a blank stare from the Butchers. They don't know where Boston is, and get all dreamie eyed about last nights girl when you mention the butt part... :rolleyes:

 

[js0813]

Yup---Like JJ said, that's why I like to use Boston Butts for my Pulled Pork.

My only problem is a Boston Butt is one of the hard things to find around here at a decent price.
If I can find one it's almost always $2.49 or more per pound!!!

Bear

Man, that’s the truth. I find them on sale for $1.99 a pound and I grab a few for the deep freezer! I’ve been wanting to get a whole or half hog one day...maybe I can talk Spousal 6 into it one day.

 

[noboundaries]

$1.99 to $2.49/lb. All in all, that's still pretty cheap protein. I've got maybe six butts in the freezer that I paid 98 cents a pound just in the last few weeks. Normal, non-sale price where I shop is usually $1.68 to $1.88/lb.

I'm not a fan of the skin-on picnics. I like big butts, in the 10 lb range.

 

[js0813]

I wish I could find some in the 10lb range. They’re always cut down a good bit around here.

 

[SonnyE]

I like big butts, in the 10 lb range.

Well, I can't go there anymore...