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Pork Butt DefinedLocation of pork butt on the hogDespite the name, pork butt does not come from the rear end of the hog--it is cut from the shoulder.
The pork shoulder weighs 12-18 pounds and consists of two portions: the butt, which is the upper portion of the shoulder, and the picnic, which is the lower portion.
The whole pork butt is a rectangular roast weighing 6-10 pounds and containing a portion of the shoulder blade bone. It is sold bone-in or boneless; if boneless, a whole roast may be cut into half portions.
The whole picnic weighs 6-9 pounds. It contains a portion of the foreleg and is usually sold with some skin attached. The picnic is sometimes cut into an upper arm portion (the meatier portion, usually sold skinless) and the lower foreleg portion (containing more bone, skin, and connective tissue).
Whole pork butt Whole pork picnic
Photo 1. Whole pork butt Photo 2. Whole pork picnic
Other Names For Pork Butt
Pork butt is also know by the following names, or some combination thereof:
Boston shoulder roast
Boston roast
Boston butt
Shoulder butt
Shoulder blade roast
Why Pork Butt Is Preferred For BarbecueDonate to TVWB
You can make great-tasting barbecue with either pork butt or picnic. Both portions contain a lot of fat and connective tissue, which results in moist, succulent meat after many hours of "low and slow" cooking. However, most people use pork butt because it is more commonly available in stores (especially at wholesale warehouse stores) and because it has somewhat less waste than the picnic. Both portions, however, are quite inexpensive.
Choosing A Pork ButtThere are several considerations when selecting pork butt for barbecuing:
Pork Quality GradesAlthough all pork is inspected for wholesomeness by the USDA, it is not usually graded for quality. The USDA says this is because pork is "produced from young animals that have been bred and fed to produce more uniformly tender meat."
When pork is graded for quality (which is voluntary and paid for by the pork producer), it is only graded into two levels: "Acceptable" and "Utility." The USDA says that supermarkets only sell "Acceptable" pork; "Utility" pork is mainly reserved for processed foods.
So unlike beef, where you have to decide between quality grades of USDA Prime, USDA Choice, and USDA Select, each of different quality and price, you don't have to worry about quality grades when shopping for pork butt.
Supermarket pork butt
Wholesale warehouse store pork butt - lean side
Wholesale warehouse store pork butt - fat side
Whole, Untrimmed Pork Butt In CryovacAt the supermarket, whole or partial pork butts are sold individually, usually boneless and with much of the exterior fat removed.
Picture 1 shows a typical pork butt from a supermarket. The package contains one boneless roast weighing 3.99 pounds, probably a half portion of a whole butt. It is labeled, "Pork Shoulder - Blade Boston Butt Roast Boneless" and is priced at $2.79 per pound, or $1.99 per pound with the store's club card.
At the wholesale warehouse store, whole pork butts are usually sold in Cryovac packaging, two to a package, with the exterior fat intact. In the past, warehouse stores typically carried bone-in butts, but boneless butts are becoming more common.
Pictures 2 and 3 show a typical package of pork butts from a warehouse store. It contains two boneless roasts weighing a total of 19.23 pounds. Each roast weighs over 9 pounds. It is labeled, "Boneless Pork Shoulder" and is priced at $1.35 per pound. After trimming a total of 4.5 pounds of fat, these roasts cost the equivalent of $1.75 per pound.
Since pork is a commodity, prices will fluctuate greatly over time. When prices are down, bone-in pork butt can be purchased at warehouse stores for at little as 89¢ per pound.
Most people will choose pork butts from warehouse stores because they cost less per pound and can be trimmed as desired because they are sold whole with the external fat intact. Also, as long as you're firing up your cooker, you might as well cook two pork butts, so the two-to-the-package you get at the warehouse store fills the bill.
Looking at Pictures 2 and 3, you can understand why first-timers might think they're getting a single, humongous pork butt! In the Cryovac packaging, it's hard to tell where one roast ends and the other begins. This presents a problem if you want to buy roasts of equal size...often you'll open the package to find a 6-pound roast and an 8-pound roast, but you can't tell this by looking at the package. This isn't a big deal, but it does mean that the smaller roast will cook faster and must be removed from the cooker sooner than the larger one.
WeightMost people choose whole, untrimmed pork butts weighing 6-8 pounds each. The pork butt articles featured in the Cooking Topics section of this website assume roasts in this weight range. However, roasts that are outside this range cook just fine, so don't worry too much about weight when buying pork butt.
Meat CharacteristicsChoose pork butt with a smooth, firm, white fat cap and a good amount of fat marbling within the meat itself. The meat should be red-pink in color with a coarse grain.
These characteristics can be difficult to assess when meat is sold in Cryovac. In fact, due to the lack of oxygen in the package, the meat may appear slightly purple, but after several minutes of exposure to the air, it will regain its normal red-pink color. You can see this difference in color in the photos above showing supermarket pork butt wrapped in plastic film and warehouse store pork butt in Cryovac packaging.
The good news is that warehouse stores usually sell high-quality meat having the characteristics described above. If you get the meat home and find otherwise, return it to the store for a refund.
Bone-In or BonelessYou'll make great barbecue regardless of whether you use bone-in or boneless pork butts. Bone-in seems to be getting harder to find at some warehouse stores, so your only choice might be boneless, but that's OK.
A pork butt consists of a number of individual muscles that converge at the shoulder. These muscles are held together and attached to the bone by connective tissue. As a result, a bone-in pork butt is a very solid chunk of meat. When the bone is removed, a pork butt takes on a more "relaxed" shape and is not as solid as it was before. For this reason, boneless pork butts are sometimes tied with kitchen twine or netted by the butcher to give them a more compact shape and to make handling easier on and off the cooker.
People usually have two reasons for preferring bone-in pork butts. One is that it's fun to remove the bone from a properly cooked roast, since it usually pulls out clean with no meat attached--in a sense, the bone is like a built-in doneness indicator. The other reason is that some people believe the meat near the bone tastes better. There may be some truth to this, since there is more fat and connective tissue near the bone that adds moisture and flavor to the meat during cooking. However, the effect is negligible once all the meat is pulled, seasoned, and mixed together for serving.
One thing that the bone does not do so well is transmit heat to the interior of the roast. According to Robert L. Wolke, author of What Einstein Told His Cook, bones do not conduct heat as well as the meat itself because they are porous and relatively dry. So don't cook bone-in pork butts hoping that the bone helps cook the meat more evenly or quickly.
Fine print on label of enhanced pork
Avoid Enhanced Meat!!Lots of supermarket pork butts are injected with a solution of water, salt, sodium phosphate, and other ingredients to make the meat more moist. This is called enhanced meat and most barbecuers avoid it because they don't like paying for water instead of meat, and because the meat can taste hammy or too salty.
Enhanced meat can be identified by reading the fine print on the product label. Look for a phrase indicating the percentage of solution added to the meat and the solution ingredients.
Click on this photo to see a larger image of the fine print on the supermarket pork butt shown earlier in this article. It reads, "Tenderness and moistness enhanced by a solution of up to 12% water, salt and sodium phosphates." Assuming this 3.99 pound roast contains 12% solution and is selling for $1.99 per pound, you're paying 95¢ for 7.7 ounces of solution.
Marketing phrases like "always tender", "moist and juicy", "moist and tender", "tender and juicy", "guaranteed tender", and "extra tender" are tip-offs that the meat has probably been enhanced.
Non-enhanced meat may say "all-natural" or "no added ingredients" on the label, or may say nothing at all. Most whole pork butts in Cryovac are not enhanced; if they are, the "solution added" text must be printed on the package.
But what if you buy meat from a butcher where the meat is not pre-packaged? Has that pork butt been enhanced or not? To find out, you'll have to ask the butcher. He or she should be able to show you a case box or the original Cryovac packaging which will carry the "solution added" text if the meat has been enhanced.
If you have no choice but to use enhanced meat, you may wish to reduce the amount of salt in your rub, since the meat has been injected with a fair amount of salt.
You can learn more about this subject by reading the Enhanced Meat article.
Prepping A Pork ButtThe most basic way to prep a pork butt for barbecuing is to simply remove it from the Cryovac packaging, pat it dry with paper towels, and apply a heavy sprinkling of rub to all sides. Some people will cook untrimmed pork butts with the fat-side facing up, believing that the fat "bastes" the meat during cooking.
I subscribe to the preparation method I learned at the Paul Kirk Pitmaster Class in 1997, which is to remove the fat cap and any large areas or pockets of external fat that can be easily trimmed away, then apply the rub. The logic behind this method is that:
Smoke and rub won't penetrate the external fat.
It takes more time and fuel to cook a pork butt with all the fat intact.
Unlike a brisket flat, which is quite lean and benefits from the protection that a layer of fat offers, a pork butt contains a tremendous amount of intramuscular fat, so the roast essentially "self-bastes" from the inside out.
After many hours of cooking, much of the external fat renders away, and you're not going to eat the fat that's left--you're going to cut it away and discard it.
Removing the external fat allows for the formation of more dark, flavorful outside meat that people enjoy so much.
You'll need a large, sharp knife to trim a pork butt. Don't try this with a paring knife, a utility knife, or any knife that is dull. You may wish to invest in a butcher's knife, but a large, very sharp chef's knife will do.
Pork butts before trimming
Remove Pork Butts From The CryovacRemove the pork butts from the Cryovac packaging and pat dry with paper towels.
Sometimes you will see recipes that call for rinsing pork butts under running water and/or white vinegar before cooking. Do you think barbecue restaurants rinse the thousands of pork butts they cook each year? No, and you don't need to, either.
You may notice a slight odor when opening the Cryovac packaging. This odor is normal and should dissipate after a few minutes. If the odor is a strong, putrid smell that lingers even after rinsing the meat under cold running water, this is a sign that the meat is spoiled, and it should be returned to the store for a refund.
You may also notice some liquid in the bottom of the Cryovac packaging. This liquid is called "purge" in the meat industry. It is normal for meat to release a modest amount of liquid as it sits in the packaging. However, a large amount of liquid is an indication of excessive storage time, improper storage temperature, or previously frozen meat.
This picture shows two untrimmed, boneless pork butts that have been removed from the Cryovac packaging and patted dry with paper towels. These roasts weigh over 9 pounds each and are shown with the fat-side facing down.
Fat cap on pork buttFat cap after removal - exterior view
Fat cap after removal - interior view
Remove The Fat Cap And False Cap
Picture 1 shows a side view of one of these 9-pound untrimmed pork butts, with the fat cap on top of the roast. It's 1/4" to 1/2" thick in most areas, but up to 3/4" thick in a few spots. The thickness of the fat cap will vary from roast to roast, depending on the individual hog and how it was trimmed at the processing plant.
There are no style points when it comes to removing the fat cap, so trim it off in whatever way you feel most comfortable. However, here's a method that works well for me.
Place the roast on a cutting board with the fat-side facing up. Turn the roast so that the narrow ends are on the left and right. Assuming you're right-handed, start at the right end of the roast and cut between the fat cap and the meat, trying to remove as much fat and as little lean meat as possible. After cutting about 1" down the length of the roast, grasp the fat cap with your left hand and lift up slightly so you can see what you're cutting. Continue cutting between the fat and the lean down the entire length of the roast until the cap is removed.
Picture 2 shows the outside of the fat cap after it has been removed. I like to remove it in a single piece, but you don't have to do it this way.
Picture 3 shows the inside of the fat cap. Note that small amounts of lean meat were removed in the process, which is OK...you just want to minimize that.
After removing the fat cap, you may see areas that appear to be lean meat, but upon closer inspection reveal a thin layer of meat covering another thick layer of fat. This is called a "false cap" and should be trimmed down to the lean meat below.
Pork butts after trimming Remove Other Areas Of External FatWith the fat cap and false cap removed, turn your attention to other large areas of external fat. Trim patches of surface fat down to the lean meat. If you find pockets of fat where several muscles converge, just trim out whatever fat seems reasonable.
There comes a point of diminishing returns when trimming fat from a pork butt. There's no way and no reason to remove it all, so just remove the majority of fat that makes sense to you. It's hard to remove too much fat from a pork butt, unless you trim so deeply between individual muscles that the roast starts to fall apart! Remember, the internal fat and connective tissue holds the roast together and provides great flavor and moisture during cooking, so don't go trimming deep inside the roast.
This picture shows the two pork butts after removing the fat caps, false caps, and most external fat.
The roast on the left weighed 9 pounds, 10-1/2 ounces before trimming, and had 1 pound, 13-1/2 ounces of fat removed.
The roast on the right weighed 9 pounds, 11-1/4 ounces before trimming, and had 2 pounds, 10-1/4 ounces of fat removed.
Remove Unsightly Bits And PiecesWhen trimming a large cut of meat like a pork butt, you may stumble across things like big veins, bloody spots, or even an occasional lymph node (sort of a cream-colored or light-brown circular mass extending an inch or more down into the meat, usually removed at the processing plant but sometimes missed). Just trim away these things if you find them. Remember, this hunk of meat used to be part of an animal, and these things are normal.
Tying A Boneless RoastIf your boneless pork butt seems kind of floppy and you want it to have a more compact shape, tie it in several locations with kitchen twine.
Place the roast with the narrow end facing you. Cut a length of kitchen twine, loop it around the roast, bringing the two ends to the top of the roast. Pull snug and tie with whatever kind of knot you like, then repeat in several locations. A surgeon's knot works well and is easy to tie.
Seasoning The Pork ButtAfter trimming a pork butt, apply a generous amount of dry rub to the meat and cook immediately, or apply the rub, wrap the meat in Saran Wrap, and refrigerate overnight. The rub does not penetrate the meat during refrigeration, at least not deeply, but it does form a moist layer of seasoning that adheres well during cooking. You can also apply a bit more rub before putting the meat in the cooker.
Another method, described in the Pork Butt - Slathered With Mustard & Rub article, is to apply a thin coat of mustard to the pork butt, followed by a generous sprinkling of rub, then either cook immediately or wrap and refrigerate overnight. The mustard helps the rub stick to the meat, and oddly enough, the meat does not taste like mustard after cooking.
The Pork Butt - Slathered With Mustard & Rub and Pork Butt - The Renowned Mr. Brown articles contain popular rub recipes for pork butt. You'll also find more dry rub recipes and information on injecting flavorful liquids into pork butt on The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board.
