Boston Butts-Bone in or out

Oldshad

Did a cook of two butts yesterday.  Bought them at Costco. They were boneless.  I always done bone in before.  Never even crossed my mind.  Anybody have views as to their cooking the same, better or worse.  

FlyOverCountry

Always go bone in.

Sea2Ski

Bone in is nothing more than a “is it done” gauge for me.  I also like the way it holds it more in a square/rectangular shape without needing to tie it (when doing more than one). 

lousubcap

@Oldshad - Welcome aboard and enjoy journey.  Above all, have fun.

And since you cooked 'em, what was your impression of the outcome relative to bone-in? 

fishlessman

i see no difference so just cook the boneless ones, butcher takes most of the fat off. cook them cut side down so that the stay together or you can splay them open and they cook faster.

jeponline

I like bone in, so that I can feel accomplished when I pull the bone out clean at the end of a 12 hour cook.

Oldshad

To lousubcap:  Since I wasn't smart enough to tie them I ended up with small sections falling off.  And since I don't check during the cook the smaller hunks got cooked way to much.  Almost like a hunk of charcoal.  I'll go bone in from now on.  Thanks to all who replied.

lkapigian

I prefer bone in, but boneless is great as well, more surface area for rub and bark, or Meat Glue It Wrap it Tight and make a Pork Shoulder Roll should you decide to slice VS Pull

nynikon

I haven't found much of a difference, as long as you tie the boneless ones with string before the cook. Tie it and your good.

YukonRon

Bone in. Brine it.

vegas slim

if you have a business costco they sell bone in 

EagleIII

My preference is bone IN, BUT....if you end up with bone out ever again, just hog-tie it and it will all stay together.  Plus, then the string you tied it up with makes it easy peasy to lift the butt off the grill.

99% of the time though, I go with the bone in...

YukonRon

I use a pizza peel to remove the pork roast from the grill.

EagleIII

@YukonRon....dude that is a GREAT idea on the Pizza Peel...I had never thought of that.  I usually use two Meat Rakes.

mahenryak

I buy whatever Costco butchers have out on display.  Sometimes it's bone-in but mostly it tends to be boneless.  Coincidentally, today I am cooking two boneless butts from Costco.  They are not tied and I use rubber gloves to both wrap (when I do so, like today) and also to remove.  Here's a photo just before I wrapped them a little while ago.  Nothing special.

trip150

Blind taste test of Costco boneless and standard bone in pork butt, after pulling with the same prep and seasoning on both, yielded vast majority of my friends preferring bone-IN pork butt.  FWIW.  

Fred19Flintstone

It is Pride Month.  Bone in the butt.

lousubcap

@Fred19Flintstone - Glad you are mobile and recovering well but my question...(and it is Friday)

Why do Briskets, Bourbon, Chicken Wings and Bacon only get a National Day?? 

lerxst6

Bone in. My dog loves them.

Fred19Flintstone

lousubcap said:

@Fred19Flintstone - Glad you are mobile and recovering well but my question...(and it is Friday)

Why do Briskets, Bourbon, Chicken Wings and Bacon only get a National Day?? 

That is a question that’s been plaguing lovers of briskets, bourbon, chicken wangs and bacon for years!  Perhaps the Pride folks have a better lobby?