Money Muscle

[Smokin' Bad Habit]

can any body give me a lil advice on removing the money muscle from a pork butt, im allways making a mess of it, there has to be an easier way,

[CBQ]

Trim the fat away from it before you cook it, and then slice it off with an electric knife after it's cooked. How is it messy? If it's falling apart, it's overcooked.

[Sledneck]

make sure you got a REALLY sharp knife

[Jacked UP BBQ]

Don't use it. IMO it is not the best meat on the butt.

[ZILLA]

Hey Jacked, what is the best part in your opinion?

[HandsomeSwede]

Sounds like your money muscle may be overdone if you are having that much trouble. Resting it may help. If the butt is foiled, open the foil up to ensure you are not steaming it and remove the foil completely a good 20-30 min before cutting to allow everything to firm up.

[The Pickled Pig]

Patience and a really sharp knife. Do not apply any extra weight to the knife when slicing, use only the weight of the knife. Use only pull strokes with the knife.

[Greg60525]

What Paul said, and I also put my thumb and finger on either side of the knife, against the butt to buttress (sorry) the meat just in case the meat wants to tear-out a little. Be very careful!

I try to leave all of the pieces standing right where you cut them and then take a wide blade (I use my brisket slicing knife) and slide it under all of the slices at one time. I then position the knife and slide all of the pieces off at one time into the box, keeping the slices tight to each other.

Good luck

[Smokin' Bad Habit]

i think i may be leaving it in the foil to long , im gonna try to cut that time in half and see what happens this weekend in burlington, thanks for all the advice ! ill let you guys know how it works out!

[Jacked UP BBQ]

Foil should be by temp 165-finish.

[Mister Bob]

The temperature will be different in different parts of the butt while it cooks. If you're cooking at around 250 degrees, you probably want the temperature in the money muscle to be about 195 when it comes out of the cooker. Taking the temperature in some other part of the butt might result in overcooking the money muscle and make it very difficult to work with. After the butt comes off the cooker, open the foil for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on weather and ambient temperature) so the cooking stops. Then re-wrap loosely and put it in the Cambro (or cooler) until you're ready to slice it. Slice the money muscle off the butt a little behind the fat line using an extremely sharp knife and VERY little pressure on the back stroke only (none on the forward stroke). Use the same knife technique for slicing the muscle. Handle it carefully and everything should turn out fine.

[Smokin' Bad Habit]

once again thanks folks, ill let you guys know how we did with the butts this weekend in burlinghton Kansas

[BevBrother1]

Another trick I learned was if you're cooking two butts in your smoker, position them with the money muscles touching eachother. It gives them a bit of protection from drying out pre-foil.

[KC_Bobby]

Another trick I learned was if you're cooking two butts in your smoker, position them with the money muscles touching eachother. It gives them a bit of protection from drying out pre-foil.

Won't that affect the smoke ring and smoke taste?