Skin on my pork butt?

Powak

I’ve been smokin butts since 2015 and never realized or have been told till today that the white cap on this is skin. Is that right? Never thought twice about it. Always just thought it was the fat cap. It’s on the egg today like that but maybe next time I’ll slice it off if needed.

paqman

Yes, it is skin.  I usually slice it off and cook it to make cracklins.

Powak

paqman said:

Yes, it is skin.  I usually slice it off and cook it to make cracklins.

Mmmm. We’ll dang, guess we’re having pork rind covered butt this weekend.

4TheGrillOfIt

What you have there appears to be the Picinic Shoulder.  It Is located directly under the portion we generally call a “Boston Butt.”  None of the seasoning you applied to skin will penetrate into the meat.  When it’s done cooking you can easily discard that portion.  

lousubcap

@4TheGrillOfIt called it.  Shoulders come with skin on, butts skinless.  Next go round you can easily remove the skin prior to seasoning.  FWIW- 

Powak

4TheGrillOfIt said:

What you have there appears to be the Picinic Shoulder.  It Is located directly under the portion we generally call a “Boston Butt.”  None of the seasoning you applied to skin will penetrate into the meat.  When it’s done cooking you can easily discard that portion.  

Sheeyit! Well that’s good to know. With that still make  good pulled pork?

Langner91

It will be just fine.  You just might have to "season" it after it is pulled.  None of that rub will get eaten.  It will be juicy and moist, all things being equal.

I would cook it skin down.  I would poke some holes in the non-skin side and stuff some garlic cloves into the roast so you get some flavor inside.  But, I tend to do that anyway.

Powak

I was smoking this to bring up to camp to feed four adults and three children. It’s a 7.85 pound piece. Will that be enough? Or should I go find a pork butt Mid- smoke here and cook it along side that?

Langner91

One meal?  That should do it if you have some sides.  Grab some hot-dogs for the kids?

Powak

Langner91 said:

One meal?  That should do it if you have some sides.  Grab some hot-dogs for the kids?

Yes just one meal. I’ll probably grab a couple kielbasas and smoke them up towards the end.

4TheGrillOfIt

A picinic may not feed as many as you think.  A lot of the weight is bone.  Certainly it is less meat than a similarly sized butt.  

Powak

4TheGrillOfIt said:

A picinic may not feed as many as you think.  A lot of the weight is bone.  Certainly it is less meat than a similarly sized butt.  

Yup just went a little while ago and grabbed a 4 pound butt at the store and threw it in beside the picnic. Now we’ll be solid! 

lousubcap

Regarding calculating quantity of pulled pork needed to feed a gathering:
Work with a 50% yield finished weight of pulled pork / lb of raw pork.  Then guesstimate the serving size per person based on crowd composition.  Conservative go with one lb pulled will get you three servings.
EG:  10 adults one serving each means you need ~ 4 lbs pulled which means 8 lbs raw.  FWIW-

Powak

Picnic and butt came out OUTSTANDING! Finished at the same time. Egg stayed at 250 for 11 hours straight with no vent adjustments. @YukonRon ‘s bourbon slushies are GOOD TO GO. Gonna be a good weekend at camp.

johnmitchell

Glad everything worked out and looks like you are in for a great weekend.Enjoy and have fun!!

Foghorn

That's a win on many levels.  Not having to play with fire while consuming bourbon slushies seems quite advisable.  

Powak

Foghorn said:

That's a win on many levels.  Not having to play with fire while consuming bourbon slushies seems quite advisable.  

You got it! It was an excellent weekend for sure. Ordered up a slushy bag kit for next time.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

4TheGrillOfIt said:

What you have there appears to be the Picinic Shoulder.  It Is located directly under the portion we generally call a “Boston Butt.”  None of the seasoning you applied to skin will penetrate into the meat.  When it’s done cooking you can easily discard that portion.  

This is correct except for the “seasoning you applied will not penetrate the meat” part. 

Salt and to a lesser degree sugar are really the only things that will penetrate the meat. Both of those will move through skin as well. All the other things in that rub are way to big to penetrate the meat whether it has skin or not. They all just sit on the outside. When you shred it (in the case of a butt) the other flavors are mixed in. This goes for liquid marinades as well. Salt, sugar, and water can move through cell walls and actually into the meat. Everything else sits on top and gets mixed in when you cut it/shred it/bite it etc.

 it’s all about the salt! 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The pork looks incredible btw. Very well done. 

Botch

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:
All the other things in that rub are way to big to penetrate the meat whether it has skin or not. They all just sit on the outside. When you shred it (in the case of a butt) the other flavors are mixed in. This goes for liquid marinades as well. Salt, sugar, and water can move through cell walls and actually into the meat. Everything else sits on top and gets mixed in when you cut it/shred it/bite it etc.

Thank you.  Although I mostly only dry-brine these days, even when I was wet-brining I quit, long ago, including other things like bay leaves, peppercorns, herbs, etc (jury's still out on lemons/limes/citrus).  If I couldn't taste those things in the brining liquid (and I couldn't), how could I taste them in the meat?!?  
 
Somewhat related: the special flavors that so many components bring to a meal can often only be released in certain manners.  They include:
- water-soluble,
- alcohol-soluble,
- fat-soluble, and
- heat-soluble!  
That last one was a recent discovery, for me.  For years I never understood what bay leaves brought to the party, and quit using them for a time.  I even set up three shot glasses into which I crumbled bay leaves into water, vodka, and peanut oil; still couldn't taste what "bay" is supposed to taste like.  
Either read or watched a hint, make a tea with boiling water of some bay leaves.  AHA, so that's what brings bay to the party!  
 
Sippin' on the stock with the bay,
Watchin' the barges get stuck in the canal...  
(okay, I'm not a songwriter...)  

lkapigian

Botch said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:
All the other things in that rub are way to big to penetrate the meat whether it has skin or not. They all just sit on the outside. When you shred it (in the case of a butt) the other flavors are mixed in. This goes for liquid marinades as well. Salt, sugar, and water can move through cell walls and actually into the meat. Everything else sits on top and gets mixed in when you cut it/shred it/bite it etc.

Thank you.  Although I mostly only dry-brine these days, even when I was wet-brining I quit, long ago, including other things like bay leaves, peppercorns, herbs, etc (jury's still out on lemons/limes/citrus).  If I couldn't taste those things in the brining liquid (and I couldn't), how could I taste them in the meat?!?  
 
Somewhat related: the special flavors that so many components bring to a meal can often only be released in certain manners.  They include:
- water-soluble,
- alcohol-soluble,
- fat-soluble, and
- heat-soluble!  
That last one was a recent discovery, for me.  For years I never understood what bay leaves brought to the party, and quit using them for a time.  I even set up three shot glasses into which I crumbled bay leaves into water, vodka, and peanut oil; still couldn't taste what "bay" is supposed to taste like.  
Either read or watched a hint, make a tea with boiling water of some bay leaves.  AHA, so that's what brings bay to the party!  
 
Sippin' on the stock with the bay,
Watchin' the barges get stuck in the canal...  
(okay, I'm not a songwriter...)  

Bay leaves are a hidden secret, you don't know what they bring until you don't use them 

fishlessman

lkapigian said:

Botch said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:
All the other things in that rub are way to big to penetrate the meat whether it has skin or not. They all just sit on the outside. When you shred it (in the case of a butt) the other flavors are mixed in. This goes for liquid marinades as well. Salt, sugar, and water can move through cell walls and actually into the meat. Everything else sits on top and gets mixed in when you cut it/shred it/bite it etc.

Thank you.  Although I mostly only dry-brine these days, even when I was wet-brining I quit, long ago, including other things like bay leaves, peppercorns, herbs, etc (jury's still out on lemons/limes/citrus).  If I couldn't taste those things in the brining liquid (and I couldn't), how could I taste them in the meat?!?  
 
Somewhat related: the special flavors that so many components bring to a meal can often only be released in certain manners.  They include:
- water-soluble,
- alcohol-soluble,
- fat-soluble, and
- heat-soluble!  
That last one was a recent discovery, for me.  For years I never understood what bay leaves brought to the party, and quit using them for a time.  I even set up three shot glasses into which I crumbled bay leaves into water, vodka, and peanut oil; still couldn't taste what "bay" is supposed to taste like.  
Either read or watched a hint, make a tea with boiling water of some bay leaves.  AHA, so that's what brings bay to the party!  
 
Sippin' on the stock with the bay,
Watchin' the barges get stuck in the canal...  
(okay, I'm not a songwriter...)  

Bay leaves are a hidden secret, you don't know what they bring until you don't use them 

never really knew what bay flavor was till i bought a plant and grew it. so much better fresh off the tree, really brings out the flavor profile