Costco 2 pack boneless butts

[jjdbike]

Hello Pit Masters,
I joined Costco to save money on meat to BBQ.
I have a Costco Business Outlet near me. I was pleased with their prime brisket. I recently purchased a two pack or boneless commodity pork butt thinking how bad could pork butt be.

I unpacked it. I was disappointed at the lack of marbling. It was lighter in color than premium brands with I assume are a different breed or a hybrid of durroc, Berkshire, etc. I should not have been surprised about how it was all cut up but I was. I am worried that it will have more of a tendency to lose moisture. My first challenge was injecting it with pieces flopping around. Now as I prepare to apply rub, I don’t want rub and mustard tucked in cuts and crevices that won’t get smoke. Plus, my cooker delivers heat and smoke from the bottom, therefore I cook fat down. With the fat down, these butts flop open. Now I’ve got to run out and look for butcher twine to hold it together. I can not completely disregard it yet as I’ve not achieved final results. I’ll check back later with a report. But at this point, I’m highly skeptical about the savings being worth the down sides.

Have folks here been pleased & had good results with Costco bonuses commodity two pack pork butt?

Best regards,
JD

[Jerod Broussard]

You can partition and be fine. Just cook in multiple chunks. I do less whole these days. In fact, can't remember the last time I did whole. Huskee is to blame. Extra bark is always nice.

[Huskee]

Small butts is the way to go!!

[Starsky]

I like big butts, and I cannot lie!

[Alan Brice]

Never had any issues w/Costco pork, ribs or shoulders. The rack of pork are amazing, they do not stick around long. They do not have the quantity of Prime briskie they once provided.
Purched many a Salmon, boneless, skinless when they started at $7.99 lb. Now I believe in the $13 range. I find myself passing more often than not on the Salmon these days.
I have made back my membership costs just on gas savings. Our location's pumps open very early behind the AutoMall. Quick in, quick out first AM.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

I agree there are ways to deal. Cut em up, cook in chunks, they go faster. Also do a little higher temp (275) and wrap in foil after they have good bark. I've had good results and they are still quite juicy. I do prefer whole bone-in butts just because they hold together better, though, but it is at the cost of longer cook times. The foil wrap sacrifies a little bit on the quality of the bark, but the juiciness is out of this world and mixing it back in when shredding leaves it all amazing.

[JeffJ]

What Jerod said. I always cut a but into pieces ranging from 2-5 pounds. More bark.

[Huskee]

With pork butt the meat doesn't care, only the human does. Pork butt doesn't need marbling, it's there. Don't fret it, hack 'em up, they will cook just fine.

[captainlee]

I don't like them from Costco because the first and only time I bought them they were totally butchered. Loose ends, pieces and larger chunks almost cut through. It was a process to tie them back together again to make them look like butts again. I just pick one up when on sale at our City Market Kroger. Sometimes they have 2 for 1 deals or a great sale price. I have always been satisfied with the quality.

[jlazar]

I usually truss my with string before injecting and adding rub. They hold together nicely that way and no trouble to handle while cooking.

[jjdbike]

I don't like them from Costco because the first and only time I bought them they were totally butchered. Loose ends, pieces and larger chunks almost cut through. It was a process to tie them back together again to make them look like butts again. I just pick one up when on sale at our City Market Kroger. Sometimes they have 2 for 1 deals or a great sale price. I have always been satisfied with the quality.

Thanks Capt,
My thoughts as well. For me, considering how much time, energy and fuel (wood) is required, I feel it’s worth the extra $ for a more premium butt, e.g., Durroc.
JD

[klflowers]

I couldn't help myself

[VIDEO]

[Davek8282]

Knew what song it was before clicking on the video. Appropriate for this thread.

[PGH_RAM]

I've never had a problem with boneless butts from Costco. It's definitely not heritage breed pork, however the price is good and I've never had an issue with how they were cut. I cook them fat-side-up on my kettle and have gotten consistently good results.

[MauleGuy]

Hello Pit Masters,
I joined Costco to save money on meat to BBQ.
I have a Costco Business Outlet near me. I was pleased with their prime brisket. I recently purchased a two pack or boneless commodity pork butt thinking how bad could pork butt be.

I unpacked it. I was disappointed at the lack of marbling. It was lighter in color than premium brands with I assume are a different breed or a hybrid of durroc, Berkshire, etc. I should not have been surprised about how it was all cut up but I was. I am worried that it will have more of a tendency to lose moisture. My first challenge was injecting it with pieces flopping around. Now as I prepare to apply rub, I don’t want rub and mustard tucked in cuts and crevices that won’t get smoke. Plus, my cooker delivers heat and smoke from the bottom, therefore I cook fat down. With the fat down, these butts flop open. Now I’ve got to run out and look for butcher twine to hold it together. I can not completely disregard it yet as I’ve not achieved final results. I’ll check back later with a report. But at this point, I’m highly skeptical about the savings being worth the down sides.

Have folks here been pleased & had good results with Costco bonuses commodity two pack pork butt?

Best regards,
JD

My last Costco pork butt package also looked a bit lean but still came out fine. I cut the boneless pork shoulder into about 2" "steaks" and pin the loose bits together with long bamboo cocktail skewers. This gives me six "steaks". I drybrine them overnight and use Meathead's Memphis Rub. With more exposed surfaces you get more bark, and a faster cook. At the end of the cook I wrap each one in foil and hold them in a 170F warming over for a couple of hours. A bit busier than the usual pulled pork cook but it works great.

[Santamarina]

Generally, I steer clear of their boneless butts. They trim too much fat. Their baby back ribs are good, if you stick to the thinner ones without too much loin. Their prime briskets are fantastic. They alone are worth the price of membership.

[jjdbike]

6 1/2 hours in the smoke.1 hour at 225, 2 at 250,
2 at 275, 1 hour at 300.

Two more hours in 300 degree oven wrapped w/ some apple juice, butter and apple, cranberry habanero rib candy. Rested 2 hours, pulled, covered & into the fridge.

The pic below is when I pulled from smoke.

KBQ = bark machine.

I’ll report back after the BBQ.
Respectfully,
JD

[DTro]

Lookin' real good!