Pork Butt (Boston Butt) not in the UK!

Jsouthco · February 25, 2011, 04:30:32 PM

Hi All,

Newbie here which explains my inexperience at identifying cuts of meat so please be gentle!

Well I've been to 2 different butchers and straight to the pig farmer in the UK and none of them had ever heard of a Pork Butt or Boston Butt! So I took some images off the web and printed it to take to the butcher to show him. He then said he knew the cut but by a different name and had some boned in cryopack bag. As I wanted bone in he proceeded to get a fresh pig out of his cool box to take the Butt off the shoulder for me (I thought). When i got it home I'm not sure it's the right cut as it has a knuckle in it (i.e. from the shoulder joint) and a bone which doesn't feel like a blade to me. It certainly doesn't have a blade showing and is not as uniform as the cuts I've seen here.
It also cost me £20 (around $30) so its currently in the smoker and I'm cooking it as a normal Butt and will pull it when it gets to 190-200f, FTC it for a few hours and see what happens ??? !! Hope it comes out OK as I have 8 people turning up tomorrow to watch a rugby match - though I have 6 racks of baby backs going in the DBS4 in the morning as a contingency!

Can any of my fellow UK smokers comment as to where they source their Butt's from and what kind of price they pay for them. Not even the butchers as Costco knew what I was after and I've certainly not seen them in any supermarkets over here. The closest I've seen in any of those is a rolled shoulder.

If anyone else wants to chip in outside the UK also please feel free.

Thanks for your help.

BR,

John.

Tenpoint5 · February 25, 2011, 04:38:09 PM

John maybe this illustration will help you some. It sounds like you got the lower portion of the front leg called the Picnic.

Jsouthco · February 25, 2011, 04:52:45 PM

Thanks for the response 10.5, That is exactly the image I printed along with images of the finished cut showing the blade, fat cap removed etc and showed the butcher.

I am assuming I'll still be able to pull this as long as I get it to 190-200f?

Would love to here from any UK folks as to their source for Butts and cost, £20 ($30) seems a lot for a Butt.

Thanks,

John.

FLBentRider · February 25, 2011, 04:56:54 PM

The picnic will still pull like a butt, I've done both, and prefer the butt.

classicrockgriller · February 25, 2011, 06:09:25 PM

How much did that meat weigh?

Boston Butt / Picnics vary in price thru different parts of the US

from $.99 lb to $2.99 lb.

If it was a 5 lb piece of meat, then that is high, but if it was a

11 lb hunk of meat, then it may not be out of bounds on the price.

Quarlow · February 25, 2011, 06:20:51 PM

I don't know if it helps but here in Canada they call them a "Blade shoulder roast or shoulder blade roast". Of course they also have no sense of adventure and cut the bone out, but it is still the same meat.

Jsouthco · February 26, 2011, 12:55:49 AM

Thanks ClassicRockGriller, it was just a touch over 8lbs (with bone in and fat cap) so I'm guessing I'll put that down to 'ripoff Britain' but I don't mind paying for quality product and supporting the farming industry. The butcher also weighed it before he removed the fatcap!

Thanks Quarlow, I will try both those names when I go next time to see if I get any luck. I'm guessing in the UK it might be called just a pork shoulder (which is normally boned and rolled but I obviously need it unrolled). Hopefully some of my fellow UK smokers will chip in when they get up this morning. :D

Thanks,

John.

Jsouthco · February 26, 2011, 12:59:09 AM

UPDATE:

OK, 4 hours smoke and another 7hrs 40mins so far and the temp is showing 194f. I'll wait until it gets to around 197f before I pull it from the DBS4 FTC for around 4-5 hours and see what I get.

Ribs ready to go in to smoke when the Pork Butt (or whatever it actually is) comes out. 3-2-1 for those.

Regards,

John.

Habanero Smoker · February 26, 2011, 01:57:59 AM

I did a search on British pork cuts and came up with different diagram, but maybe with the British diagrams and the one 10.5 posted you may be able to get the right cut. Another problem, in the U.S. depending on what region you are in the names for cuts of meat vary.

U.S.A & British Cuts of Pork
So according to the diagram you would need to ask for the Roast Spare Rib with the Blade attached.

Another:
Bristish Pork Cuts Illustrated

and yes; another :)
Pork Cuts

Jsouthco · February 27, 2011, 02:44:37 AM

Thanks everyone, really helpful ...... it came out greeeeaaaaaatttttt by the way n everyone loved it .... and the baby backs and the BBQ beans and the slaw ;D I think we got a lot of BBQ's being added to the scheduled!

dman4505 · February 27, 2011, 11:57:51 AM

Glad to hear everything turned out great, that's the one problem with this addiction ya gotta have more.
Makes you want to try different meats that you may not have thought of trying before. Example I've got a recipe from "Smoke & Spice" by Cheryl and Bill Jamison that calls for a 7 pound lamb shoulder roast that I want to try.

Don

Jsouthco · February 27, 2011, 04:11:20 PM

That lamb sounds really good Don. I have that book on order from Amazon (couldn't find it in the UK so had to order it from the US) along with Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology by Richard W. McPeake. I'm sure there'll be some great stuff in those that I'll want to try for sure.

Thanks,

John.

Mani · May 29, 2011, 01:35:37 PM

I think the price for a full shoulder seems ok. To be fair, the prices tend to be a bit more I the uk as there is a trend (thankfully) for rare breed pigs (Gloucester old spot, tam worth etc), which taste spectacular and go against lean aspect of modern mass farmed pigs. Unfortunately, you have to pay more!