Bone in pork or bone out pork for competition?

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A question over yonder, got me curious. Do you all cook bone in pork butts for competition, if you arent just serving money muscles? I did not want to start a war over yonder, so I want comp guys opinions. I am a judge, and pork is my favorite bbq to eat anytime BUT I dont have a relevant argument that the taste is significant.
 
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Ive done both. IMO cooking hot and fast benefits from removing the bone and creating a smaller/thinner piece of meat so it cooks more evenly. Otherwise its about getting the parts of the pork you want to turn in the correct tenderness. So trim how it benefits your cook style and tenderness of your desired muscles. I will say there is no noticeable flavor differences between bone in/out.
 
Bone in always for me. Makes it easier IMHO to separate the muscles and cook more evenly versus the floppiness of a de-boned butt.
 
Either/or. Some muscles benefit from it, but if you aren't turning them in there is no point to cooking them or the bone.
 
Either. But if it has a bone in it when I buy it, I take it out before I cook it. :thumb:
 
I always thought it was supposed to be bone in, but my second comp ever earlier this year, I pulled the pork out and it was boneless. Thought I had no chance. Ended up getting my first call ever at 6th for pork, and is still tied for my best result in pork. I guess it doesn't matter.
 
I’ve cooked hot and fast both ways many times over the years as I’ve experimented with pork. It really comes down to your cooking style and what muscles you turn in. I didn’t get better scores when I deboned them and trimmed them down to the minimum so as to squeeze 4 butts on a drum rack. I find it easier now to trim less and just cook 3 butts that fit. Still gets done in about 4 hrs.
 
The past 3 years I've done de-boned. I've found they cook faster, I can time them much better trimming them to an exact weight, fit more on the drum, and I like the end product better.
 
Judge here too. On any given day the best bite that a cook puts in the box is what I call my favorite. :mrgreen: Once I scored 3 of 6 chicken entries 9-9-9, and so did 3 others at my table. And one entry got all 9's from all of us. The TC jokingly called it the table that 9's fell on.

I'm not sure I've seen storebought boneless butt with a decent money muscle, and I can say the small plugs of meat that surround the bone are nice to see in a turn-in box and I cook bone-in at home for those reasons. In fact when I buy butts for sausage I remove the MM and it's next door neighbor from the butts before grinding.
 
thirdeye said:
I'm not sure I've seen storebought boneless butt with a decent money muscle, and I can say the small plugs of meat that surround the bone are nice to see in a turn-in box and I cook bone-in at home for those reasons.
Click to expand...

Now, I will have to more carefully dissect the next bone in pork I cook so I can get a better look.
 
So, several of you that take out the bone--do you intentionally try to use that meat from around the bone for your boxes? I am starting to connect a few dots better now. Hopefully, I am not invading top secret ideas or anything. :spy:
 
I just opened my two-pack of butts that had no bones. They were difficult to deal with.
 
I personally prefer the bone in. Would I know the difference if you blind sampled me on some pork that was cooked with the bone and one without? I seriously doubt it. Lol. That’s what makes bbq fun.
 
Done bone in - got calls
Done boneless - got calls

It comes down to how you use what you have. The plugs of meat around the bone can be fantastic if done right. Same with MM. Same with tubes.

I think you can take nearly every muscle in a butt and make a great turn in box from it. Just depends on how you want to achieve your 9s
 
We buy bone-in butts and de-bone them. It has nothing to do with flavor, it's for the cook time.

Why not buy boneless? The assembly line butchering process for creating a boneless butt can be somewhat destructive. I would rather do it myself.
 
We tried bone out once in comp and it came out like crap. Has been bone in since.
 
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