Boneless Pork Butt, Can I Texas Crutch It ?

[HawkerXP]

What are you cooking on?
I cut in half, tie if needed, if cooking on Weber I'll place a drip pan on the charcoal rack under the meat to catch juice. When it comes out of stall I'll drain drip pan, put the meat in the pan cover and usually move into the oven to finish. Separate some of the fat from the liquid and put on meat after pulling.
If done on PBC, well no drip pan, but do put in pan after stall and finish in the oven.

[Santamarina]

With boneless butt be very careful how much fat you trim. Without the bone it’s easy to trim a lot of the inside fat that you’d never trim on a bone-in.

Keep a water pan in to keep the pit moist.

I never wrap butts/shoulders, and don’t have a problem drying out.

Also, I always buy bone in for this very reason! Pork shoulder is one cut I don’t buy at Costco because they only have boneless.

[zzdocxx]

Lots of great ideas, thanks everyone.

Funny sometimes it comes out perfect, that's more often when I get the small ones with bone in that look like a chuck roast, ie. like thick sliced off the butt.

My bark has been a little dry and hard, I think I will experiment with some of the techniques described above, I have got a 15lb vacpak of two boneless butts from Costco sitting in my fridge.

[Polarbear777]

I crutch only after the stall when I’ve got good bark (maybe 170-180). The braise to finish softens the bark a bit but retains the moisture that escapes faster at higher temperatures. I figure I’m pulling it so the bark pieces have to be established because they will be mixed into the moist meat anyway.

[LA Pork Butt]

I have done them every which way on a BGE. Here are a couple of thoughts. I find that if I wrap them after a cook and hold them in an ice chest for at least two hours they come out better, and they are a little more moist with the excess fat being more easily removed when you pull them. Can you put a water pan in your pellet cooker? That would help and would help more smoke stick to your meat. I’ve wrapped them through the stall when I am pressed for time and that works well, but the bark is overly soft.

[Oakgrovebacon]

After 3-4 hours and decent bark - drop it in a disposable foil pan to catch the juice. On my old pellet grill - pork butt tends to dry out the bottom if left on open rack. I also push it to the end of grate to not be directly over the fire pot. I like the crust but I do not get much smoke flavor. (my wife likes it better, I prefer the smoke from the stick burner) The pellet grill is an easy way to cook, not as much hands on as the stick burner. Both have a place in my outdoor cooking.

[Loren]

I don't crutch, I tried it twice and found the effort to not be worth it for me...but I also (pretty much) always make a giant pot of beans when I barbecue, where the beans are underneath the meat for most of the cook (much to my dogs chagrin).

[smokin fool]

I don't cut mine but tend to buy smaller butts so cutting not needed and smaller can be an easier cook.
Crutching depends on the cook but I usually do crutch.
Tend to go with the way Rod does his butts.
Additionally I'll add a portion of a dark beer in the foil for more moisture.

[Rod]

I always Texas Crutch with just foil around the stall (160ish). I think it's definitely more moist. All those juices collected in the foil go right back in after shredding. I know I may get banned for saying this, but bark isn't really all that important to me. I'd rather sacrifice it for more juiciness. You didn't say what temp you cook at. If it's the traditional 225, go to 250-260. That, combined with the wrapping saves about 1-2 hrs or more of cook time. And if it gets done too soon, just cambro it for a couple hours.

[TripleB]

What has been written above. Cut in half. I bought a 8 lb bone in pork butt this morning. I cut it in half and am getting ready to smoke that for pull pork sandwiches. I took the bone out of the other half, froze it and will make sausage, soup or carnitas out of it. I also trim the fat cap and save that as well.

[bbqLuv]

If you wrap, try foil on the bottom and paper on the top, Big Mo Cason style. Foil collect juices, paper breaths to help save bark.
Dito on no wrap and cook through. Go pellet grilling, and pairing with PBR.

IMHO wrap chuck roast cooked like brisket, but not the same.

[Whiskeyman53]

Totally agree with Oak Smoke not to cut it into to many pieces and let it go nice and slow without over thinking it. You might want to next time inject the pork with apple juice for some extra moisture. It will not effect the flavor profile of your rub but will add a moisture with a little bit of sweetness.

[Oak Smoke]

I wouldn't cut it more than just in half. I do believe that if you cut it into too many pieces the chances of a dry outcome go way up. It took me a while to realize pork butt is so simple, no need to wrap, don't over think it. Just rub it with Memphis dust, 275 is the temp that's best on my cooker, some where around 200 to 210 it'll be probe tender, like butter. You really don't even have to rest it at that point. Enjoy!

[zzdocxx]

Boneless Pork Butt, Can I Texas Crutch It ?

I am one of those who buys boneless pork butts at Costco. I have been slicing each of the two pieces in thirds for the crust aspect of it, and potentially a quicker cook.

It ends up with a lot of flopping around tail ends, so I have come up with some ways to tie them up with butcher's twine. It doesn't necessarily involve wrapping it up in the same orientation as the way it was cut, just whatever works is my motto.

I cook them on a Traeger smoker grill. Great crust, but can come out just a teensy bit dry. Maybe I'll try cutting each shoulder into two pieces next time.

But I have another idea also. I wonder if I wrapped up the pieces in peach butcher paper, or foil, after a good crust has formed, would they get to temp quicker, and might they be a skosh more moist ?

Any thoughts on this ? Same question applies to chuck roast.