Cutting a Boston Butt in half

[LSUBBQFan]

Getting ready to do as many here have suggested and cut my 8# BB into two smaller pieces to create more bark and reduce cook time. Since this is a whole bone-in roast, what's the best way to cut and how do I circumnavigate the bone? Looking for some pointers. Oh yeah, I have limited knife options, but would also like feedback on the type of knife you would recommend.

Thanks!

[_John_]

Just a fair warning that in my experience cutting them in half does not reduce cook time. Cook time is determined by the thickest point, if you cut it in a way that does not reduce that thickness then you won't save any time.

The next part depends on the bone and how it was cut, some are cut a little to the side so the bone is longer than it may be on others. I feel for the bone, one end should be plainly sticking out of the end opposite of the money muscle, and the other should be along one of the sides, this is the part that will keep you from being able to cut straight across. I find the end of the bone and angle the knife to cut from near the center on one side to the bone tip on the other. If i'm lucky it is a relatively straight cut, if not I may have to tie it up because it is triangle, or maybe pie shaped is more accurate, and that end can over cook. You may need to angle more severely to get the two halves equal, but that is only if you care about cooking time, if not then you will have one much small piece that will cook much faster.

This is the best shot I have at the moment, you can see I kept it reasonably straight. The meat pulled back from the bone on the left, but you can also see it at the bottom right. So one hunk is slightly larger but has all of the bone, the other piece as no bone.

[LSUBBQFan]

_John_, thanks for the excellent detailed advice! Good point about the cook time, makes sense. I'm really doing this for the extra bark anyway. I just successfully cut my butt into two fairly "normal" shaped pieces and not too different in size. I think I got lucky because the bone ran fairly quickly from the end to one side so I didn't have too much of a wedge shaped result.

Now, for my first cook tomorrow on my new Slow'NSear....can't wait!

[Jerod Broussard]

I just pull it and cut that membrane......

[_John_]

You mean separating on that natural line, making it half as thick instead of cutting it in half the other way?