question about smoking a pork picnic for pulled pork

chrisc133 · May 2015

Do you do anything different for the picnic vs the butt? Kroger will have the pork picnics for $.88 / lb...can't beat that price. Looks like this will be my Memorial Day cook.

SGH · May 2015

Cooking a picnic is pretty straightforward and presents minimal fuss. The biggest thing that folks usually differ on is the skin. Skin on or off. I myself like them either way thus I usually do not bother removing the skin. With that said you can cook it just like you cook a butt. Your same cooking temp and technique will work just fine. However be aware that more often than not, a picnic will usually pull at about 5 degrees lower internal temp than a butt when all things are equal. One last note. Due to their lack of marbling versus a butt, picnic is still one of the few cuts that I prefer to finish wrapped or panned. This is not a must but it makes life easy and produces a outstanding final product. If cooked to pull temp without a wrap, they can at times be a little dry depending on the quality of cut. As such, I go ahead and wrap them. Just a reminder if you are shooting for pulled pork, they will usually pull between 190-195. A little lower than their subprimal sibling.

chrisc133 · May 2015

SGH said:

Cooking a picnic is pretty straightforward and presents minimal fuss. The biggest thing that folks usually differ on is the skin. Skin on or off. I myself like them either way thus I usually do not bother removing the skin. With that said you can cook it just like you cook a butt. Your same cooking temp and technique will work just fine. However be aware that more often than not, a picnic will usually pull at about 5 degrees lower internal temp than a butt when all things are equal. One last note. Due to their lack of marbling versus a butt, picnic is still one of the few cuts that I prefer to finish wrapped or panned. This is not a must but it makes life easy and produces a outstanding final product. If cooked to pull temp without a wrap, they can at times be a little dry depending on the quality of cut. As such, I go ahead and wrap them. Just a reminder if you are shooting for pulled pork, they will usually pull between 190-195. A little lower than their subprimal sibling.

Thanks for the reply @SGH. Do you recommend injecting to help protect from drying out?

Eggaroo · May 2015

Well said @SGH !

ChillyWillis · May 2015

I did my first picnic cook last week, and (as usual) what @SGH says is right on the money. I removed the skin and trimmed down the fat cap, but I don't think I'd bother to next time if I was doing another one. Also l, I didn't wrap however I would definitely wrap for the next cook. The meat was just on the edge of being a bit dry. Everyone else devoured the meat and raved about it, but I think the texture would have been a bit closer to what I usually turn out with a butt if I'd wrapped. We are our own worst critics. The picnic pulled like butter at 195. Good luck.

SGH · May 2015

chrisc133 said:
Thanks for the reply @SGH. Do you recommend injecting to help protect from drying out?

You can inject if you so chose. It will not hurt a thing. However I find that by wrapping I get a very moist product without injecting. So it's your choice my friend. As of late I just wrap because it's easier and works just fine.

question about smoking a pork picnic for pulled pork

Comments

Categories