One Butt or Two?

nutshellml · December 2017

Planning Xmas dinner. Going to make a Cuban Style Bone-in Butt. I have about 20-22 people coming. There will be other entrees, but everyone loves pulled pork and don't mind having left overs. Cooking on the XL BGE. That said:

A or B

A - One 16 lb. Pork Butt
B - Two 8 lb. Pork Butts
C - I'm way off.. LOL

hoosier_egger · December 2017

B

bgebrent · December 2017

you can get a 16# butt? I'd do 2x8 # butts to have a greater bark to meat ratio.

GoooDawgs · December 2017

B. 2 eight pounders and have leftovers.

lousubcap · December 2017

The conservative thumb rule I use is assume 50% weight loss for the cook and then asses the total menu for the gathering. If sides, then less meat but if you want to get to the "no-worries" number I would assume 1/2 lb/person finished (that's a good amount of pork) and with 20 people that means 10 lbs finished so 20 lbs raw. That said that is guaranteeing left-overs. I would go with two butts close to the 8-10 lbs each and enjoy the cook. FWIW-

Spaightlabs · December 2017

No downside to having leftovers. Big downside to not having enough to feed your guests.

DoubleEgger · December 2017

I’ll take D - (3) 8lb butts. Food saver the leftovers

nutshellml · December 2017

bgebrent said:

you can get a 16# butt? I'd do 2x8 # butts to have a greater bark to meat ratio.

I’ve seen a 14 at a local spot.

But Ill get 2x8.

nutshellml · December 2017

B it is. Thanks!!! (Maybe D

theyolksonyou · December 2017

If you're asking for permission to over do it, you've come to the right place.

DMW · December 2017

If you have an XL, the answer is 8.

dmourati · December 2017

D, 3x8.

HurricaneT · December 2017

DMW said:

If you have an XL, the answer is 8.

^^^

blasting · December 2017

A 16lb butt? That sounds like 2 butts packed together, but I could be wrong. I never bother with just one butt anymore. Same work for 2, and the leftovers foodsaver nicely for future needs.

I try and find a two pack that gets close to 20lbs total.

jtcBoynton · December 2017

I've never seen a 16 pounder. Biggest I have seen is 10 pounds. Go for multiple 8 pounders (maybe even three of them).

dmourati · December 2017

My last butt was ~9 pounds. The previous three from the butcher were 11, 10, 12 pounds respectively. I don't weigh them post trimming but I suspect about a pound of fat comes off when I remove the fat cap. Like others, I also expect about 50% yield by weight from the cook and removing the blade bone and other undesirables.

BikerBob · December 2017

Eight pounders are half the cook time as well.

dstearn · December 2017

B as you would end up with a whole shoulder for 16 lbs. I recently cooked an 8.5LB but for 11 and we had a little left for leftovers as one our guests went for seconds and thirds. You may want to consider two 8.5 Lb butts.

SmokeyPitt · December 2017

FWIW Costco and Sams usually carry 2 butts packed together in one cryovac package. It is very common that people think it is one big hunk of meat but it is usually 2 boston butts around equal size.

This is two boston butts squeezed into one package

Image result for costco 2 boston butts

As dstearn mentioned, you can get a whole shoulder that will get up in the 16+ range. The whole shoulder consists of the Boston Butt and the Picnic.

Image result for pork butt pork shoulder

Image result for pork butt pork shoulder

As you can see the Picnic runs down the front leg, so it will look something like this:
Image result for whole pork shoulder

One Butt or Two?

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