Pork butt question

[SoEzzy]

It is an issue of quality more than anything else, in my opinion!

I've done it to speed things up, but you get more bark proportionally compare with a whole butt, and if that's the way you like it go for it, I've also eaten "faux que" given to me, (by friends), cooked in a crock pot with "real liquid smoke", they and their family raved over the family traditionally cook BBQ... (it had too much liquid smoke, more has to be better, right? and was cooked far to long and was swimming in Kraft BBQ sauce), it was more of a Kraft BBQ pork soup!

Personally I will take an 8+ lb butt, and butterfly it or slice it into two along the blade side of the bone but that's as much as I cut them up for pulled pork.

Get yourself a pit that can run on a load of fuel, a UDS, WSM, pellet pooper, gravity feed, and even a number of offsets that can run longer times when you know what you are doing, and have fuel baskets, even to bigger commercial pits burning propane or natural gas with wood being used for flavor, I was out the weekend before last at 25°F and I will admit you want to move as fast as possible, (while avoiding wind chill as best you can), at those temperatures, cooking ribs on a BDS.

There are dozens / hundreds of other techniques that I'll give at least one attempt to, before making a choice to add or not add it to my repertoire... I'd rather grill burger and hot dogs, if I don't have time or inclination to cook pulled pork to the quality I know I can cook it.

See disclaimer below.
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[roxy]

Years ago I used to get butts cut in half. I did not find it cut the cooking time in half but it did shorten the cook by a few hours.

The main reason I was doing this was to get some extra bark.

I do think cooking them whole will result in a better product as the fat and connective tissue has time to break down properly..
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[Tim_Abrahamson]

Cold is never a problem when I BBQ, I set up my BGE on my deck and roll it over to my living room window. Then I go inside and watch the game. Occasionally I will look over my shoulder and check the temps through the window. Only time I get in the cold is set up, adjustment and removal. Last brisket I did is was 15 degrees out.

I had the game on and a beer on a coaster... no worries!

(of course my stick burner does get neglected when temps are below 55)
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[DrunkPlumber]

[Manana]

[1buckie]

Well, here was this:

1buckie Posted: Tue Jan 15
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Manana, I think you could get close enough to the tenderness w/ the smaller pieces.
I think the easy to spot difference being the larger piece you have a larger mass of fattiness to cook down & tenderize the meat....

The country ribs, for instance, I & a lot of people will braize them with liquid part of the cook to help get them tender....



But I also agree with some of the weird ass ranting....

Seems you know how to strike "The BBQ Lost Chord"




There's a lot of times when what The Dr. Plumber says does make sense, cause I'm way stickin' my neck out there &
the possibility of MASSIVE failure is very real......

Luckily, or blessedly, it's usually at least edible & sometimes a raging success, the finding out which it's gonna be is at least half the fun !!!!
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"I will prevail. No pig will ever get the better of me." ~~> Italian Skewer
It's gonna say on my tombstone: Died of thick, heavy sauces ~~~~>K
" The Creepy Guy Down the Street With All The Webers"

[Manana]

[1buckie]

Manana ~~>
"I do become a little disappointed if I stoke a fire for 12 hours and the stuff ends up tasting like crap."

Yeah, I get that.....
I've come out throughly crestfallen enough to understand that.......

Like I said a few months back:
"Your learning curve will not be as steep as some 'cause you ask high quality questions !!!"

Another good question....THANK YOU !!!

PS: it's also a uniquely "Smoke Ring" thing to ask a simple question & get a bigger answer !!!!
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Have Fun Playin' with Yer Food !!!
"Dam Silly Sumbitch"-- Myron Mixon
"I will prevail. No pig will ever get the better of me." ~~> Italian Skewer
It's gonna say on my tombstone: Died of thick, heavy sauces ~~~~>K
" The Creepy Guy Down the Street With All The Webers"

[italian skewer]

Manana. You know something? Give it a try and see what happens. Yes we all have our own opinions, but who knows. Once you eat it it'll probably be the best thing you've ever tried. It's our differences that makes us friends. We don't all have the same taste buds. That's why they got chocolate and vanilla. Give it a whirl and be your own judge. Don't forget pics.
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If we're not supposed to eat animals, how come they're made out of meat?

[GF]

Manana, I'm going with I.S. on this one, give it a shot.
I've never tried it so I can't say, although sometimes a little experiment makes a cook more fun.
Good luck and please post your results if you try it.

FWIW, I've had a few experiments that didn't come out great, they were all fun to try though.

[Manana]

[k.c.hawg]

I'm with CB on this one. I have never considered cutting down a butt and must admit I have thought (WTH?) when I've seen people do it. I can see going with a butterfly or cutting in half to achieve more bark but I get my bark on my butts with long cook times and I don't think I could balance out getting the bark and maintaining that juicy goodness that you see when you bust open a 9 lb butt, cooking chunks that are 1 to 2 lbs. Yes I want bark! But I want it on a sandwich with melt in your mouth juicy pulled pork.

I am of the opinion that this is achieved by cooking large cuts low and slow. I don't think I can replicate this by cooking small chunks.




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[BUGSnBBQ]

Manana - I say give it a shot! If ya don't like it, feed it to the dog

My thoughts are -
Smaller pieces will give you more bark, but I wouldn't think the cooking times would be that much shorter (maybe 20%?). You still have to get past the stall so your meat isn't tough. I dunno, just a thought, as I've only done big butts .

I'm in the camp of low n slow, hanging out, having a few beers, music on, etc.

k.c.hawg - THAT'S what I'm talking bout
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[DrunkPlumber]

Sorry if my post was construed as a "weird ass rant", it certainly was not written with that intention. I meant no disrespect to anyone's particular Q'ing methods. I don't care if you shread it before you cook it. I was merely trying to describe what I enjoyed about cooking. You want to cube it? Then cube it? Wanna' cook it hot and fast? Have at it. I will continue to cook huge clods and chunks of meat for hours, maybe even days, at a time.

PS. Of course I want the food to taste good. I just put that in there because sometimes it does not turn out as well as I would like.

PSS. Make sure you post pictures in case it does work. I may get in a hurry some day.
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