Pork Shoulder Vs. Pork Butt

DirtyDirty00 · Jun 24, 2012

When making PP i usually use butts. However i tried to do a shoulder one time. I used the same method.

The pulled pork came out great, however when it was done i just pulled it up with my hands. when eating it tho, i noticed that there was some gooey skin in it. I picked it out but it was nasty. the butts dont have skin on them.

i realized that the shoulder had actual pig skin on one side of it.

Do you take that off precook or when its done?

JazzyBadger · Jun 24, 2012

Whenever I do a picnic cut I trim the outer fat off, not all of it mind you, but definitely the harder bits. You can render it down, or turn it into cracklin' But yeah, I don't much care for it in my pulled pork end product.

caseydog · Jun 24, 2012

Actually, pork but is part of the pork shoulder -- at least down here. The other part is the picnic. I've never tried using a picnic for pulled pork. Overall, I'm not crazy about that part of the shoulder.

CD

Bludawg · Jun 24, 2012

I remove it pre cook I either give it to the Dog or make Chicharrones

DirtyDirty00 · Jun 24, 2012

caseydog said:
Actually, pork but is part of the pork shoulder -- at least down here. The other part is the picnic. I've never tried using a picnic for pulled pork. Overall, I'm not crazy about that part of the shoulder.

CD

sorry yes i meant the picnic. it has that pig skin on it.

DirtyDirty00 · Jun 24, 2012

Bludawg said:
I remove it pre cook I either give it to the Dog or make Chicharrones

hmmm ya ill do that next time. for my own PP ill stick to butts. but i make it for a snackbar and its just so much cheaper to do picnics than butts.

El Ropo · Jun 24, 2012

When doing picnics I remove all the skin, bark and color on the meat is the reason.

FYI, whoever said picnics taste hammy was probably eating "enhanced" picnics.

jestridge · Jun 24, 2012

I always leave the skin on seem to turn out better.

IamMadMan · Jun 24, 2012

El Ropo said:
When doing picnics I remove all the skin, bark and color on the meat is the reason.

FYI, whoever said picnics taste hammy was probably eating "enhanced" picnics.

^_ True....

I am finding that so much more meat is "ENHANCED" now.. I buy less and less from the grocery stores now.

.

Jeep · Jun 24, 2012

I just did my first picnic this weekend. After trimming over two pounds of skin/fat from it and then pulling the bone out. I figure I have about 6 pounds of meat left before smoking. Add to that that I honestly feel that this was my worst attempt at Pulled Pork to date... I will be sticking with butts for my Pulled Pork moving forward.

I really think that I had the worst beans that I have ever made as well. Man... I really was not happy with my cook this weekend. Good thing there is another one next week.

Callahan-que · Jun 24, 2012

I actually prefer picnics over butts for PP. I never remove the bone before cooking, that's flavor.

El Ropo · Jun 24, 2012

Jeep said:
I just did my first picnic this weekend. After trimming over two pounds of skin/fat from it and then pulling the bone out. I figure I have about 6 pounds of meat left before smoking. Add to that that I honestly feel that this was my worst attempt at Pulled Pork to date... I will be sticking with butts for my Pulled Pork moving forward.

I really think that I had the worst beans that I have ever made as well. Man... I really was not happy with my cook this weekend. Good thing there is another one next week.

Should of left the bone in. Yes, it's a bit more effort to trim skin etc. But if cooked till probe tender, it's farking tasty stuff. Most picnics I've seen posted here are enhanced. Gotta check the label carefully. "always tender" is a no no.

FYI, you can use that skin for some tasty treats. Not like it's a waste.

TIMMAY · Jun 24, 2012

For the longest time all I could find for cheap was picnics. Sometimes it came out dry, not as much fat throughout the cut. New location, I can get butts for cheap too. I need to adjust my process cause I end up with really greasy meat when the butt is probe tender. Choose one? I would rather cook a picnic.

syndicate559 · Jun 24, 2012

I usually do butts, but have done picnic before. Either way, I trim most of the exterior fat and get to the meat so that my rub sticks better. There's no shortage of fat inside the meat, so I'd rather have more rub/bark on the surface. I inject regardless of which roast I'm using too, so I've never had it dry out, but at the end of the day, I like the butt a little better. Probably just because it's what I cook 98% of the time.

Big Biscuit · Jun 24, 2012

El Ropo said:
Should of left the bone in. Yes, it's a bit more effort to trim skin etc. But if cooked till probe tender, it's farking tasty stuff. Most picnics I've seen posted here are enhanced. Gotta check the label carefully. "always tender" is a no no.

FYI, you can use that skin for some tasty treats. Not like it's a waste.

You got that right. I cooked mine with the skin side down and ened up with a tasty cruncy treat after 7hrs on the wsm. :biggrin1: H&F is the way to go.

NU2QN · Jun 24, 2012

My second attempt at PP was with Picnic cut. I cut the skin off, trimmed the remaining fat down, and tried to use the skin as a barrier from the heat. needless to say, the skin shrivled up and was useless but the PP was some of the best I have ever made. I'll use Picnics again but I usually stock up on Bostons at the beginning of the month.

campdude · Jun 24, 2012

I've done both. Butts are usually what's on sale around here more often, so I do them more often. I don't trim when I get a picnic. Makes great crunchy snacking as others have said.

swibirun · Jun 24, 2012

Yeah, I prefer to trim mine. Just did a picnic yesterday:

Just use a sharp boning knife and use a bunch of shallow slices along the skin/fat seam.

swibirun · Jun 24, 2012

PS: Save the skin and use it to make some fried pork skins! (oh....is my red neck showing :wink: )

Cris · Jun 24, 2012

I generally get an entire shoulder from a butcher, and smoke it with the skin on. Doesn't give me as much bark, but the meat comes out delicious.

Pork Shoulder Vs. Pork Butt

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