Local grocery store here had an ad for this week with Picnic cuts being dirt cheap. This sparked a conversation with a friend of mine because I have only ever used the shoulder/boston butt cut before for pulled pork. Anyone know of any real disadvantages to using the Picnic?
Thanks.
Sorry irish_smoker, I've only ever done the butts. But I recall reading a thread a while back on this subject and just found it. See if this will help? (http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=16534.0)
Thanks TR, sort of backs up my belief on sticking with the butts.
But hey! If there dirt cheap you might give one a try. You might surprise yourself? ???
Yeah, how 'cheap' are they? It'll still be tasty - you just might have to rough-chop it a bit..
I prefer the butt, however if you decide to try the picnic make sure to inject it with apple juice solution or something before smoking.
The butt is considered a better cut than picnic because it is more tender and meaty. Remember this, once you subtract the skin, the fat, and large bone in picnic and the price difference between picnic and butt isn't as great as it seems at first glance.
I know a lot of people who uses the picnic because it's cheaper and they say you can't tell the difference but I believe that they "are not" interchangeable, but they both work well for pulled pork.
I think I'd go for the butt.
You _can_ pull a picnic, but in my world:
picnic = sliced pork
butt = pulled pork
Good post, I have been wondering the same thing myself...
Well, here's an idea for the picnic. I've done it before and posted the recipe before.
Pernil is a traditional Puerto Rican pork dish. The following recipe is easily adapted to a smoker. Lower temp and longer time with a finish in the oven.
Adjust the spices to your taste and use your favorite wood. A mix of apple and hickory sounds good. Believe me, it's good stuff.
This recipe is courtesy of the NY Times.
January 2, 2008
Recipe: Pernil
Time: At least 3 hours
1 pork shoulder, 4 to 7 pounds (or use fresh ham)
4 or more cloves garlic, peeled
1 large onion, quartered
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil as needed
1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar
Lime wedges for serving.
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Score meat's skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern. Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt and pepper together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty. (Alternatively, mash ingredients in a mortar and pestle.) Blend in the vinegar.
2. Rub this mixture well into pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Put pork in a roasting pan and film bottom with water. Roast pork for several hours (a 4-pound shoulder may be done in 3 hours), turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender. Finish roasting with the skin side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking if necessary.
3. Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be so tender that cutting it into uniform slices is almost impossible; rather, whack it up into chunks. Serve with lime.
Yield: At least 6 servings.
The picnic was $0.98/lb, I had never really paid attention to the price of the butts...I just bought them when I need to make pulled pork. I did do some checking and Sam's Club has the butts for regularly $1.29/lb and if you buy them by the case (which is 8 of them) then they drop to $1.02/lb. A friend of mine who just started smoking was the one saying that they were interchangable and wouldn't listen to my objections. Oh well. I'd rather pay the extra $1.20 for a butt since that's what I've been using for years without complaint! I think the fella was trying to prove his worth or something.
Got a couple butts in the fridge now with a brisket, ready for a smoking tomorrow morning. I work from home so it's nice to be able to fire it whenever and not take off from work!
Boston Butts are hard to find in my area, so I always go with a picnic or half-picnic cut. Always taste great and they pull no problem, in fact they nearly fall apart by themselves.
Quote from: ArnieM on August 17, 2010, 02:22:43 PM... This recipe is courtesy of the NY Times...
Well, of course it is, and...Quote from: Ka Honu on January 08, 2010, 08:00:21 AMSince you already have pulled pork, why not try roasting it Puerto Rican style? Not outdoor cooking, but a great taste. Good & easy recipe here (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/021mrex.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print) or Google "recipe pernil."
Quote from: ArnieM on January 08, 2010, 08:22:13 AMThanks for the suggestion and the link KH. I think I'll give that a shot on Sunday.
... you're welcome.
Last week a local store had picnics on for .58c/lb so I bought 4 and smoked them. The end result was that even at 195F they didn't want to pull easily and I had to use a knife. The "chunks" of meat are bigger so the strands are longer when they pull.
Other than that, the taste was pretty good.
Rich
My Daddy always said - "you get what you pay for"
I've always used butts and have never had a problem, the Picnic is more dense thus the more difficult to pull.
Quote from: Indy Smoker on August 27, 2010, 07:20:45 PM
I've always used butts and have never had a problem, the Picnic is more dense thus the more difficult to pull.
Dense is such a objectional term, around here we say meat challenged ;D ;D
Quote from: Smokeville on August 24, 2010, 01:17:59 PM
Last week a local store had picnics on for .58c/lb so I bought 4 and smoked them. The end result was that even at 195F they didn't want to pull easily and I had to use a knife. The "chunks" of meat are bigger so the strands are longer when they pull.
Other than that, the taste was pretty good.
Rich
If you want to pull them , just give them a little more IT (200 to 205) and
a long FTC.
Hey CRG;
I learned that on Thursday... After what seemed like 2 years in the smoker, I put the picnics in the oven at 250F with some cider vinegar. And, sometime later, as I neared despair, after checking them and almost giving up, I let them sit for a while, then looked in at them and with almost one touch they fell apart.
Tasted excellent!
Rich
I just had a chat with the new butcher at our local grocery store. He's a young guy but seems to know his stuff. I was still confused as what I was looking for in this matter, and I know you guys have told me and shown me charts and I still was unsure.
The confusion comes in the name of this thing. Boston Butt,shoulder, blade aargh. Cause here we are looking for what is called a "Shoulder blade roast Bone-in". Which he doesn't get very often to almost never. They did however have a "boneless shoulder blade roast". Ok fine but I what to do the real thing. I want to give a slight tug on that bone and have it slide out like in was never there and the whole thing fall apart when I touch it. Now I am not complaining about my "Mock pulled pork", and hell I don't really even know if what I have made has been a reasonable facsimile of pulled pork cause they just don't do pulled pork around here, so I have never had it before and I just don't know what real down south pulled pork is, but if when I get an actual butt roast and it is that much better than what I have done you all are going to have to pray that I make it cause if it is that much better I am going have an orgasmia heart attack. ;D ;D And I will die a happy man. :D :D :D
Hey Q,
"Shoulder blade roast Bone-in" sounds like the Canadian dialect for Boston Butt to me. I could be totally wrong but if it's coming from the shoulder and has that blade bone in it, sure sounds like a butt to me.
I'll yield to the guys who probably know otherwise.
For the record, my opinion is you're not smoking "mock pulled pork" at all. You're smoking a boneless butt and making 100% genuine down South pulled pork. Especially if you smoke it with hickory! :)
Hi cuz'
I agree with Ky. The blade bone in a butt is kinda strange looking. The picnic (lower part of the leg) has mostly round bone.
If it's boneless, it's likely tied up to hold it together. You can untie it, slather the inside with some good stuff and tie it back up again.
The boneless variety is great for making sausage; less work then trying to bone it.
And yes, of course, hickory :D
This is just a guess but due to the fact no one does pulled pork up there they probably removed the bone
for people to make a roasted type pork and to be able to slice it with out hitting the bone.
If he is buying his front shoulder pork roast boneless and you can't find any with bone in it ....
Smoke What You Got
Well the first one I did was a fresh ham (bought the wrong thing not knowing) and the second was picnic (knew it was wrong but figured it would do and it was cheap) hence calling them mock pork butt. But the next one I do will be a blade roast (bone-in). ;D the other ones were so darn tasty I can only imagine what a blade will be like. My family loved the others so they should be blow'n away with the real deal.