Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

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Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby brnhornt » Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:59 am

Hi all,

Have a quick question...I've always smoked bone in pork butts. I have a church festival coming up and I've been asked to bring by home built offset stick burner and cook 11 butts each day (cook over night) of the two day festival. My question is if anyone has done a large smoke and whether or not going boneless would save any significant amount of time. If it's negligible...I'd just stick with the bone in for flavor and not having to deal with tying each butt up....but if it saves over an hour...then it might be worth the added prep time.

Thanks!
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Papa Tom » Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:52 am

I can't tell you since I always cooked to IT of 200-205°F
It would makes sense that it would take a little less time since you are not cooking the bone too but how much I don't know.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby brnhornt » Mon Jul 30, 2018 10:31 am

Yeah...that's my thought too...but I've also read that some thinks the bone actually helps since it's partially exposed to the hot cooking air, it conducts heat quicker to the inside and almost cooks inside out. I'm hoping there's someone out there who's done a couple of cooks and could say for sure A or B :)
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby OldUsedParts » Mon Jul 30, 2018 11:23 am

Not a Butt Pro BUT, I always pick the bone-ins because I ?personally? just think the meat tastes better than the boneless :dont: Good Luck and let us know what you end up doing and how it worked for you. :tup: :salut:
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Smoking Piney » Tue Jul 31, 2018 6:05 pm

My untested opinion is that it won't make much difference in time. You still have to render the fat.

I always cook bone-in. The wiggle test is a good indicator of when it's done along with probing.

If you do go boneless, let us know how it worked out.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Txdragon » Sat Aug 04, 2018 5:09 am

Fun topic here! The science of cooking. Cooking meat with the bone in can vary depending on the cut. The bone makes a difference. Compact bone and porous bone conduct heat at different rates. A scapula (as found in pork butt) is 50/50, and has excellent thermal conductivity. Without getting too deep in an otherwise crazy dive into thermodynamics, the ol' Boston butt is best cooked bone in.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Copasspupil » Sat Aug 04, 2018 6:59 pm

Txdragon I never thought of it that way. I should since so much of this is actually science or a learned art of science. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby brnhornt » Sun Aug 05, 2018 12:53 pm

I tend to agree with the thought of bone in....but...I've decided to roll a test smoke in a month or so...just so I can nail down the amount of time I'm looking at from start to finish so that I can plan accordingly. I've done 6 butts at once...but never 11 :) So I'll just buy 8 bone in and then two boneless...it'll be a race. I'll post my results when I get the smoke done.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby david brace » Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:38 am

I've always done bone-in and run the temp to 205. I think that the bone renders flavor, although you pay for it's weight.

Recently I've been doing a lot of picnic cuts, and have been pleased with the results. Some people like the taste better than before, but all opinions are subject to whims...also if they're hungry or not. :lol:

With my change to picnics, I try to get the piece of meat with the smallest bone exposed, just to NOT pay for any more bone than I have to. This is also a crapshoot, but its the latest experiment.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Txdragon » Thu Aug 09, 2018 12:28 am

david brace wrote:I've always done bone-in and run the temp to 205. I think that the bone renders flavor, although you pay for it's weight.

Recently I've been doing a lot of picnic cuts, and have been pleased with the results. Some people like the taste better than before, but all opinions are subject to whims...also if they're hungry or not. :lol:

With my change to picnics, I try to get the piece of meat with the smallest bone exposed, just to NOT pay for any more bone than I have to. This is also a crapshoot, but its the latest experiment.

The picnic shoulder has a different musculature and more connective tissue, therefore, different flavor! Tends to be richer than the butt end.
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby brnhornt » Mon Aug 27, 2018 1:30 pm

Reporting back in....did a large smoke on Saturday. 10 bone in, and 2 bone less:

Mustard and rub added:
20180825_050520_resized.jpg


On the smoker at about 0530:
20180825_053602_resized.jpg


During a spritz:
20180825_141032_resized.jpg


Wrapped for the remainder of the stall:
20180825_200142_resized.jpg


Never got a picture of the final product. I was up at 0430 to start this smoke and my wife and I finished pulling the meat around 00:00....I just simply forgot to take another picture.

Long story short. Not much difference at all. Both boneless butts did end up at 195 sooner than the others...but they were also a little smaller....so I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb and say that yes...they cooked a little faster...but not enough to make it of any value to me.

Overall I was really happy with the flavor of the smoke...but I need to tweak my rub recipe a bit...maybe add more salt...because these were a little bit under seasoned. All in all...I am full tilt going forward with the church festival. :)
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Re: Pork Butt Cooking Time - Bone In or Boneless

Postby Smoking Piney » Sat Sep 01, 2018 7:21 pm

Good assessment.

The guests can always add their own salt. :D
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