Bone in vs boneless pork butt

[JoeSousa]

I normally try to cook bone in pork butts but I am cooking for a big group on Wednesday and they bought boneless butts. Should I expect a slightly quicker cook? They are still in the packaging but I am guessing they will lay a bit flatter? Is it worth trying them up?

[bardsleyque]

if you let them lay you can maybe get more bark.I try to cook bone in only as well (though it can be fun to tie things up)

[Santamarina]

I’m also a bone-in fan. The thing I have to be careful with boneless is not trimming too much fat. I don’t tie them, but still try to keep the original shape. Although I like the idea of laying them open to get more bark!

Haven't noticed a difference in time to cook, but if you lay it flat it would probably cook faster.

[Thom Emery]

I did 12 Swift Butts from Costco Saturday
Maybe cooked a little faster than my usual Bone in.

6 hours at 300 degrees on my Southern Pride

I was selling half butts to go so I didn't want to deal with the bone
when slicing long ways
Crisped up the fat cap to make it a trip to flavor town
Sold out all of em

[Henrik]

Nice!!

[Troutman]

Yeaaa I loves me a trip to flavor town !!!!

[mrteddyprincess]

I cooked my first two boneless butts today. Disappointed that I let the smaller parts stick out and get too crispy. The bark on the smaller parts became charcoal. Minor removal of charcoal bark and the rest was absolutely delightful with rich bark. I wouldn't stear clear of boneless in the future, but I might use some string to hold the shape so the burning doesn't happen again.

[JoeSousa]

I took them out of the packaging to dry brine them overnight and to get a look at them. I think I will tie them up and see what happens. There are a couple thin pieces that would stick out and dry out but if I tuck them in and tie them I think they can be saved.

Either way they should be good. I would either cut those pieces off before cooking or after. Might as well try to save them if I can.

[Spinaker]

I really don't notice a difference in cook time. Although, I do prefer to cook boneless butts, because I think they cook more uniformly.

[JoeSousa]

Well, the butts are all off the cooker. Tying them was definitely the way to go. I won't really know until I start pulling them in a few hours but I don't think there are any pieces that got too done. They took anywhere from 11-13 hours to cook so maybe a bit quicker than bone-in? I didn't weigh all of them but they ranged in size from 6.5-9 lbs. The Ranch Kettle ran pretty steady at 225 through the night and I bumped it up to around 250 once I woke up.

Here they are about 8 hours into the cook. The bits I sampled as I was pulling them off and wrapping them were excellent. Can't wait to eat them in 4 or 5 hours.



Bottom line is I don't know if there is a huge difference between bone in and boneless. Tie them up and tuck in all the small pieces and they should be good to go. I think I would still prefer bone in but if boneless is all I can get I won't fret it too much.

[klflowers]

I have done both and don't see the difference. I just like pulling that bone out at the end of the cook on the bone in butts and seeing that it comes out clean. Brings a tear to my eye every time.

[JoeSousa]

Same here. Sometimes I cook pork butts just to pull the bone and then throw the rest away. Well, not really.

[klflowers]

JoeSousa, I can take care of that for you. I'll even pay for the insulated cooler and the shipping, cause that's the kind of guy I am. I know, you can thank me later...

[Willard]

I just cooked 4 boneless on Saturday. They were already tied. First time cooking boneless and I much preferred it over bone-in. I cooked them on the WSM 18. I took them off at about 13 hours. They had an IT of 203 to 205. 2 Butts were about 4.5 lbs each and 2 were only about 2.5 lbs each but close in thickness. All cooked at the same rate. Sorry, I can’t compare this to the bone-in.