Not all pork is created equal

This week I have been doing 60 pounds of pork for pulled pork. There are a couple of things I knew but this week pointed them out once again.

First, butts and picnics are not the same. Now we all know that but butts were going for $2.29/pound and picnics were going for $0.89/pound so I picked up 5 picnics to go with the 2 butts I already had. The picnics had a lot more waste (skin, fat, gristle and bone) than the butts. While I spent a lot of time pulling the picnics by hand, the butts went fast. The butts only had one blade bone. There was little fat and gristle was almost non-existent. The picnics had one large bone and one smaller bone. There was a lot more gristle and I had to constantly pull out ligaments and other stringy waste. From some 43 pounds of picnic, I got about 19 pounds of meat. From the 17 pounds of butts, I got right at 10 pounds.

Second, even all butts are not equal. I had two butts - one 7.5 pounds and one 9.5 pounds. I cooked them at the same time and my plan was to check on the smaller butt and when it reached 195 I would pull it and then start checking the larger one. After 20 hours, my 7.5 pounder reached 195. I then immediately checked the 9.5 pounder and was very surprised to find it at 206.

The meat from each is very good. I think the butt is a bit more tender but the picnic meat is certainly tasty.