smoking bonless pork butt rolled up? or laid out flat?

[beerface]

Hello! I am new to these awesome forums but have been smoking a couple years now. I am trying to smoke a boneless pork butt that has been butterflied and bone removed. I dry brine'd it over night twined and rolled it up.  Today i rubbed it. I have electric Masterbuilt smoker. The peice of meat is abour 3.45 lbs. Planned on smoking for about 4 hours at 220f. The question is do I leave it rolled up to smoke it or lay it out flat and smoke it. And would this change any smoking times? thank you for any help

 

[wild west]

It will finish quicker flat. You might want to up the temp a little. 220* is a little low. 240 or 250. If you are wanting to pull the roast it likely won't reach 205 in 4 hrs if you leave it tied.

 

[beerface]

ok awesome thanks for the help. So If I lay it sort of flat leave it at 220 and for 4 hours should be good? I just want it to turn out amazing

 

[wild west]

How thick is the butt when flat? Each butt is different. Time will depend on thickness,amount of connective tissue in the roast and cooker temp.

 

[beerface]

well I would say its about 3 inches thick, both pieces when laid out flat. I was going by a general rule of 1 hour per pound of meat for pork butt.

 

[ab canuck]

Definitely flat will cook faster, Go by internal temp. It may cook faster or slower depending on the thickness and temp the smoker is set at. 

 If you get another one you could try rolling it like a Pancetta, Stuff something in it, Spicy sausage, a loin in bacon or whatever your mind comes up with. Let us know how it turns out. Q-View...

 

[wild west]

A 3in thick butt should be OK estimating at 1hr per lb. An 8lb butt not butterflied and bone in I would allow 2 hrs per lb at low Temps. If 4 hrs is what you have to work with I would cook it at 240* or 250*and keep an eye on it. Monitor the IT with a remote therm and take it out when it hits 205 IT. If it's nowhere close to that temp at 2 1/2 hrs wrap it in foil with a little apple juice and butter and put it back in the smoker until it hits 205. If it's done early wrap in foil and some old towels and rest it in a cooler until your ready to eat. It's best to rest it for at least an hour anyway.

 

[chef jimmyj]

A 3in thick butt should be OK estimating at 1hr per lb. An 8lb butt not butterflied and bone in I would allow 2 hrs per lb at low Temps. If 4 hrs is what you have to work with I would cook it at 240* or 250*and keep an eye on it. Monitor the IT with a remote therm and take it out when it hits 205 IT. If it's nowhere close to that temp at 2 1/2 hrs wrap it in foil with a little apple juice and butter and put it back in the smoker until it hits 205. If it's done early wrap in foil and some old towels and rest it in a cooler until your ready to eat. It's best to rest it for at least an hour anyway.

Great advice!!!...JJ

 

[beerface]

thank you for all the advice! I smoked it at 220 temp for the first 2 hours, then raised it to 235 for now. I laid it flat so It wouldnt take so long per "wild west" directions, so far its coming along amazing. I love the directions about wrapping it with apple juice and tin foil. I will post the results when im done along with exact size and temps for any one else wondering for a smaller boneless pork butt.

 

[wild west]

Pictures are always welcome

 

[schlotz]

So how did it turn out?  

 

[beerface]

So the results were fantastic! The meat got done late and I had very hungry people waiting to scarf it up, so I didnt get a picture. I made tacos with the meat. Props to everyone with the great info, it helped me a ton! It took 7 hours for my 3.5 lb bonless pork butt to get to 192f. But at 9:30 pm it was good enough and people needed to eat it. The  first 4-5 hours my smoker temp was at 220f. I then bumped it to 235f to kinda of speed it up. Next time I will start this smoke a lot earlier no matter if its a small butt or not. Here is my recipe, its the best butt I have made yet, one worth sharing. And im sure if you start it on time and leave the temp at 220f it would come out even better.

1 boneless pork butt (about 4 lbs)-  this is just the size I used, you can also use a bone in, cooking times will take longer

Kosher Salt- for dry brining 1/2 tsp per lb of meat

rub ingredients:

3 oz firmly packed brown sugar

3 oz white sugar

1/4 cup paperika

1 oz garlic powder

1 tbs ground pepper

1 tbs ground ginger powder

1 tbs onion powder

1 tsp rosemary powder -just grind your own

apple chips for smoking

the night before take pork butt and rinse it off and pat dry,a little water left on is ok. Take kosher salt and salt meat, using 1/2 tsp per lb, not to over salt. Tightly wrap in plastic and refrigerate over night.

About an hour to two hours before smoke take butt out of refrigerator and and generously put rub on covering every where. If your butt is boneless and butterflied take off butchers netting if it came with that and get rub in there too.  preheat smoker to 220.

Boneless/ butterflied butts lay flat in middle of smoker. (My pork butt that was about 3 inches thick and two boneless big pieces took 7.5 hours to reach the sweat temp. 195f)

allow about 7-8 hours of cook time at 220 temp

at 195f its ready to take off and shred, but if you have time wrap like other experienced folks and let it rest for an hour in a cooler.

Cheers! this is just my simple recipe hope some one can enjoy it. The rub and dry brining is really what made it good

 

[schlotz]

Congrats, glad to hear everybody was happy with your efforts. Interesting recipe. Although I've only smoked whole butts all these years, this recipe sounds like it's worth a try.

 

[SmokinAl]

Glad to hear it turned out so well!

Too bad you didn't get any photo's.

Al