Boneless Pork Shoulder - From Costco

SteveWPBFL

Here's the start, loaded in the BGE.

What is this thing, part butt, part picnic?  Eight poundsish?

We put some home spices on it, the best of which after the cook was the cumin seed, that toasted up nice!

SteveWPBFL

Here it is this morning, 12 hours later, at 200F IT just before it was pulled off.

SteveWPBFL

We let it rest until 11:30 a.m. about 4 hrs, IT was 165F.

SteveWPBFL

She broke up pretty good. It snuck up on the wife. She was skeptical, as this was my first real low and slow pork shoulder since we got the BGE. And she was used to the crock pot. But she relented and said it was definitely better.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Awesome job. Looks really good.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

And if she couldn't admit that's better than crock lot pulled pork, somebody would be in the dog house around here!

SteveWPBFL

Additional details. Put the home spices on after coating with EVOO. Used hickory chunks dispersed in the lump for smoke. Cook was at 200 - 250F dome using the standard BGE plate setter indirect.

A complete success. The BGE held 220F dome all night, it didn't budge. We have a new nomex gasket. It used 70-80 percent of the lump in a full fire bowl.

P.S. As a previous self-avowed 'turbo fan' I must admit that it was fun to do the overnight cook, get up and check it a couple of times, and have it ready in the a.m. for lunch and the rest of the day. Turbos fun, too. But this was pretty sexy.

Oh, yeah. And while at Cracker Barrel yesterday we picked up some of that Bone Sucking sauce, it's pretty good on the pulled pork sandwiches.

Did I leave anything out?

Goo Goo Ga Joob!

SteveWPBFL

P.S.S. - It pulled like it was all 'butt'. There was no 'hammy-like' muscles that needed slicing, so guessing it's not got 'picnic'.

Brownie

I think highly of crock pots but you will never ever get that great Egg flavor and texture from a crock pot. Really looks great! On a side note, before I was brave enough to spend for my LBGE I had (still have but is lost in the basement) a barrel smoker that couldn't retain heat in cold weather so in the winter I'd give a small butt a ton of smoke for an hour or two and finish it in a crock pot. I was such a loser.

lousubcap

@ Brownie-but you have seen the light and it is a big leap of $$ to move from the el cheapo's to the BGE-and points for making the best of what you had at the time.  But the BGE is a Stachel Paige piece of equipment-"Don't look back, somethin might be gainin on ya!"

Brownie

LOL...I don't have time to look back since joining this forum. I'm just trying to keep up with the rest of the amazing things I see the other members doing. Some set the bar pretty high!:-bd

BYS1981

Nice, I did 2 boneless butts from Costco Friday/Saturday as well. Looks great! I will post pictures tonight, hopefully.

Brownie

@SteveWPBFL, Looks like you'll have left overs. Here is what I used some of mine for. Pulled pork bbq pizza.
I did thin pizza crust coated with a thin coat of Blues hog sauce. Partially topped with mozzarella, then left over pulled pork. One half had green pepper and onion. It's nice addition to our regular pizza regiment. This was my first go at a bbq pizza and would like to hear what others have tried.

stike

picnic pulls too, at the same finish temps

SteveWPBFL

Round 2. Did another one last night, this one an 8 lb.er and used mustard to stick the home spices rub instead of EVOO.

Threw it in the Egg at 250F dome and 53F IT at 6:30 pm. Went to bed at 10:00 pm still at 250F dome. Checked it at 3:45 a.m. and dome was 200F and IT was 176F. Goosed dome up to 300F and checked it again at 5:00 am and IT was 197F so removed from Egg and wrapped in HDAF and set in cooler. 10-1/2 hours in the Egg.

No pics, sorry, but looks same as first one above. Got to go to work. Wife is going to pull it later this morning and drop off at kid's school for teacher appreciation pot luck lunch.

BYS1981

Those teachers will definitely appreciate that pork!

SteveWPBFL

Just trying to make the difference between a B+ and an A-, ; )

butwhymalemodels

What was the weight on the second shoulder?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Just trying to make the difference between a B+ and an A-, ; )

Smoky pig parts have positive impact on grades to be sure. Well played sir.

SteveWPBFL

Second one weighed about 8 lb.

Costco really does a great job on these. No bone, no skin, no fat!!!

cortguitarman

I'm a teacher and I will tell you that a butt done on the egg will absolutely get your son or daughter an A

Seriously though, thank you for supporting education. It means a ton to have supportive parents.

Ok, back to the butt. I love the Costco butts.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Second one weighed about 8 lb.

Costco really does a great job on these. No bone, no skin, no fat!!!

no bone + no skin+ no fat = no bueno for me. Not that I won't do a boneless butt, it's just that all of those 3 things add flavor. There is plenty of inter-muscular fat in a butt, and I've never heard of one having skin (even though I wish they did). That being said,  when you are looking for max flavor, those are the 1st 3 ingredients you look for in a cut of meat.

cssmd27

How does the Costco butt compare to Sam's? I wasn't happy with my ribs from Sam's which are the same brand as the butts.

butwhymalemodels

Thanks, Steve. Hey, Cen-Tex what in a bone adds flavor? The marrow?

SteveWPBFL

Yield to Cen-Tex on the three flavor factors, however, there's trade factors there, too.

The Scouts roasted a pig a few months ago and it was great, no question. Pig was literally sawed right down the middle, reverse spatchcock, layed on it's back skin side down in a large long metal charcoal cooker trailer. (We did clue the guy in about lump, though. He was using briquettes.)

The boneless, skinless, fat-trimmed version I'm talking about is really convenient, though. Out of the package, rub it, smoke it. Nothing to trim or throw away. There's still a thin layer of fat on it and it has enough internal fat such that it doesn't dry out in long low and slow cook. The big thing is that you get bark all over that flavors the pull real well.

The skin? Don't have much experience there. The ones we get from Publix (cooked in a crock pot before BGE) have plenty skin on the them and we always trimmed it off, so would like to hear about that on the Egg. But the thinking here is the skin and extra fat would reduce the amount of bark so there's your trade off.

We all know a bone adds flavor to soup so of course it probably would in a smoke.

But that two-fer package. 16 lbs for less than thirty bucks, has BGE written all over it. You can fit, what, maybe four of them in a Large and feed the multitudes!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Yield to Cen-Tex on the three flavor factors, however, there's trade factors there, too.

The Scouts roasted a pig a few months ago and it was great, no question. Pig was literally sawed right down the middle, reverse spatchcock, layed on it's back skin side down in a large long metal charcoal cooker trailer. (We did clue the guy in about lump, though. He was using briquettes.)

The boneless, skinless, fat-trimmed version I'm talking about is really convenient, though. Out of the package, rub it, smoke it. Nothing to trim or throw away. There's still a thin layer of fat on it and it has enough internal fat such that it doesn't dry out in long low and slow cook. The big thing is that you get bark all over that flavors the pull real well.

The skin? Don't have much experience there. The ones we get from Publix (cooked in a crock pot before BGE) have plenty skin on the them and we always trimmed it off, so would like to hear about that on the Egg. But the thinking here is the skin and extra fat would reduce the amount of bark so there's your trade off.

We all know a bone adds flavor to soup so of course it probably would in a smoke.

But that two-fer package. 16 lbs for less than thirty bucks, has BGE written all over it. You can fit, what, maybe four of them in a Large and feed the multitudes!

All good points and I've done the boneless too and enjoyed every bite. I just prefer to buy bone in when I can. The marrow could add flavor (as you say, roasted bones add flavor to soups, stocks etc and it should add another layer of flavor. next time you do a simple grilled chicken breast, do one boneless and one bone in and see the difference. There are also all kinds of connective tissues around the bone that add texture and flavor as well.

Never seen a butt with actual skin but if you use the chicken an an example, skin on chicken is WAY more flavorful than skinless. Much of this comes from the layer of fat under the skin but the skin also adds flavor. 

And fat, well fat is where all the flavor is stored so I'm all in on fat on pork butts

SteveWPBFL

Just pulled no.3 off the Egg, wrapped in HDAF, and put into a cooler for Memorial Day BBQ pulled pork around noon or so and then the rest of the day.

This one was the twin from the Costco pack that included the second one above only this one was rubbed with Dizzy Pig. Should be good. 8 lb.er again. Put it on yesterday evening at 5:45 pm and removed from the Egg this morning at 4:15 am. What's that, 10-1/2 hours, same as no.2. Dome temp was around 250F the whole time. Hickory chunks. Internal temp got to 200F, was shooting for 195F, c'est la vie, it'll be fine.

I'll try to post a pic of it pulled and get a comment on the Dizzy that everybody loves.

Hope you're enjoying your Egg this Memorial Day weekend like we are! This is one helluva country to live in and God Bless those that gave their lives for it, too.