A Word or Two on Boneless Boston Butts

TRex · July 2008

First of all, Happy Belated 4th to everyone out there - perusing the forum this morning it looks like many of you and your friends and family ate VERY well yesterday.

My dad and I cooked three 6 lb boneless boston butts for about 25 adults yesterday up at Clarks Hill Lake. I was a bit worried b/c I have never cooked a boneless butt. We got them from Fresh Market here in Augusta - it was very lean, grain-fed pork, bone had been removed and they were tied back very well.

Here's how the cook went: cooked the three butts on a Medium Egg, so I had to stack them pyramid style - coated with yellow mustard, turbinado, and Dizzy Shakin' the Tree, used a mixture of Hickory and Guava for the wood. Cooked them the first 2.5 hrs at 275 dome until internal temps were around 145, after which time I took the dome down to about 250. 8.5 hours later they were all at 190-195 internal - whoa, I wasn't expecting them to be done so soon. Foiled them and put in a cooler for 5 hours. Then pulled some of the most moist, most tender and flavorful pork we've cooked to-date. The flavor was wonderful - everyone was pleased.

So, if you want to cook butts and you want a faster cook with still great results, don't be afraid of these boneless suckers. The leaness of the meat probably also attributed to the shorter cook time. I will definitely do these again.

YB - if you read this - have you tried these boneless butts from Fresh Market? - I highly recommend them.

Best,

Jason

YB · July 2008

Hey Jason good to hear from you.I have never tried a boneless butt from the frest market but I will give them a try.Just finished yard work and going out for lunch.Hope to see you soon.
Larry

Sundown · July 2008

JAson,

I also wonder if the fact they were fresh butts that hadn't been sitting in a puddle of fluid in a cryovac package.

I got a shoulder from a local Portuguese meat market right out of the meat case. It smelled fresh and one of the little old ladies looked at me and smiled when I asked to smell it.

The shoulder cooked a bit quicker than usual and had a much better taste.

Hey! Maybe we're on to something.

Beli · July 2008

Hey Jason good to hear from you and congratulations on the cook with your Dad.
Got a 15 pounder beef top sirloin for tonight, and would like to ask you how to treat this baby.....TKS My friend

The label from Costco says marbled aged & tender.

East Cobb Eggy · July 2008

I saw some boneless butts at Publix, but was reluctant to purchase.

I will remember this for next time.

Greg

TRex · July 2008

Whoa - never cooked a whole top sirloin roast, but I would probably do it like a prime rib - sear then roast direct raised grid around 275 - 300 or so until 125 internal. Does it have a lot of fat?

You could also cut it into 2" thick steaks and you know what to do from there.

Maybe someone else on here has done a whole roast.

Good luck, my friend.

jason

Jeffersonian · July 2008

I did four bone-ins yesterday for a crowd about the size of yours, and they took a lot longer than I had expected because my lump burned down shockingly fast...I'm still learning to use the Adjustable Rig, I think.

I took them off at 195, but only had an hour to foil them. It still did the trick, though I would have liked to have had 3-4 hours...I'm a real convert to the foil-and-rest method.

Never tried a boneless, I'd have thought they'd take a little longer without the bone conducting heat in.

Beli · July 2008

Yes it does have a lot of fat......should I sear it in the stove & then do the normal cook on the egg??

TRex · July 2008

That would work - or in a cast iron pan on the stovetop (but unplug your smoke alarm!!) :woohoo:

Good luck - post your results!

jason

Steeler Fan · July 2008

Gosh, when did you move to these parts? I've lived in the CSRA since they renamed it Thurmond Lake. I,m not on this forum as often as I would like. Thought you wee in Atlanta or Texas.

TRex · July 2008

Oh - haha - I'm in Atlanta, but grew up in Augusta and my parents and lots of family still here - visiting for the 4th.

Happy 5th!

jason

TRex · July 2008

Larry, hope you're enjoying the 4th weekend. See you guys at Eggtoberfest?

jason

Porco Rosso · July 2008

I had a similar experience on the 5th, Trex. I'm a newbie and I couldn't do my third butt cook overnight like in the past because of thunder storms, so I went with 2 boneless 4.5s instead of one 9 pounder and started at 6 am. It was a smooth 8 hour cook with a nice almost 4-hour plateau from 160-173, when I decided to turned the heat up to 275 from 220.

I figured the small boneless butts would dry out faster so I pulled one at 189 and the other at 193, instead of going to 200 like I normally do.

The 193 butt was the best I'd every cooked - moist, flavorful smoky - great bark. Everybody just flipped for it. The 189 butt was harder to pull, had a little too much un-rendered fat, which made the bark not as good.

But after that 193 butt, I think from now on I'll always pull at 195. The butts I cooked to 200 were not nearly as tender.

By the way, Trex, I love the steak method. Use it all the time.

A Word or Two on Boneless Boston Butts

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