Boston Butt – Your Next!

[Barry]

Hi all,
Thanks first off to your responses and advise, really made me research a LOT!. Put my first NY strip to age today in a dry bag after many 14 day cheesecloth primals and can’t wait. Getting the biggest Boston butt I can find in the morning for pulled pork and gonna dry bag that baby too. The dry aging of pork is almost the same as beef with the exception of smoking for pork, and the butt will be smoked at 12 hour cooking so there you go! I’ve read a few posts here about aging pork and “good mold”…this isn’t cheese. Will post all results.

Barry

[Ron Pratt]

Barry-

Just so happens that last night I pulled a pork butt off my BGE that I had smoked low and slow for 21 hours – it started out at 7.5 pounds and turned out GREAT! Now for a question…I have never heard of aging a pork butt let alone aging pork at all! You care to tell us more? Thanks!

Ron

[Barry]

Ron,
You never had an aged ham from a smokehouse or a “country” ham or bacon? Those are cured by the age old rubbing down with salt, hanging in a temp controlled smokehouse and slowly smoked. It is the same basic principle…moisture relase and the salt and/or sugar along with the enzymes do their thing. Nice to see someone else enjoys making pulled pork…try doing that Sous-vide!LOL.

Barry

[Ron Pratt]

sure – I’ve had smoked, cured ham – it’s just that personally I avoid adding much salt to my raw pork butt until just before going on my smoker/cooker. In the past when I’ve rubbed and salted butts for 24 to 48 hours first I’ve never cared for the hammy taste that has caused. While I love ham I also just prefer the natural taste of traditional pulled pork.

[Barry]

Ron,
This butt is going to be an experiment only. I guess I was a little overboard on the subject line. Salt was used way back to deter mold. That – I hope is where the drybag comes in. I would not like to see the results of a salted skin against a drybag polymer. This butt will not be seasoned or smoked until cook time. I wanted to start with a butt because it’s the worst cut of pork that can be turned into something wonderful as you well know. If it works then maybe a ham. By the way 21 hour for a butt…sure would like to taste some of the bark that came off of that! What temp did you use? The 7 -8lbs I have done at 225 usually take 12 – 14 hours in a Weber smoker fired with natural lump. You are in IL, the BGE holds good steady temps there? I live in RI and if the BGE holds those temps in your weather it would be worth the investment.

Barry

[Ron Pratt]

barry593 wrote:

quote :

Ron,
… By the way 21 hour for a butt…sure would like to taste some of the bark that came off of that! What temp did you use? The 7 -8lbs I have done at 225 usually take 12 – 14 hours in a Weber smoker fired with natural lump. You are in IL, the BGE holds good steady temps there? I live in RI and if the BGE holds those temps in your weather it would be worth the investment.

Barry

Barry,

First about the bark – YES it was WONDERFUL! And it was what I call the chef’s reward! :laugh: I used a home made rub recipe that Pat and I have enjoyed for years – it’s not my recipe, but one I’ve modified to our liking over the last 12 years. I also use the (pssssssssst hush hush hush trick of yellow mustard smeared on the raw butt to bind the rub)

Then with the BGE I used lump charcoal of course and then for smoke I used hickory chunks scattered throughout the lump to catch on fire and smoke over the many hours, plus 3 handfuls of apple chips to get the smoking kick started after stabilizing my egg at 225° and putting the butt on.

As for holding a steady temp here in IL let alone in AZ or AL or RI – that’s one of the many advantages of a ceramic cooker – it retains and levels out the heat. This cook of 21 hours was without refilling the lump – I’ve gone as long as 28 hours on the same single load and then still had enough fire power leftover to cook hamburger.

I don’t want to sound like a bge sales person since I’m not, but with 4 of them sitting on my deck for the past 12 years you might say I am a believer! :laugh:

[Scott Mark]

RRP wrote:

quote :

Barry-

Just so happens that last night I pulled a pork butt off my BGE that I had smoked low and slow for 21 hours – it started out at 7.5 pounds and turned out GREAT! Now for a question…I have never heard of aging a pork butt let alone aging pork at all! You care to tell us more? Thanks!

Ron

I’ve thought about doing pork, as well, but more the loin than the butt. (other topic for another posting).

When I started dry-aging again, I became interested in the pork-side aspects, which led me to this website: Compart Duroc Dry Aged Pork

They are offering the pork equivalent of ribeye and porterhouse chops and it got me thinking that this is worth an experiment, especially after I’ve got a stock of dry-aged beef in the freezer for steak night and I don’t need to be filling the fridge totally with beef.

There are people who say that dry-aging pork doesn’t make much difference, but clearly the Compart Duroc Johnnies think … well, they think that people will pay for it. Cynical me, that’s not the same thing as saying that they think it makes a difference.

I’m going to try dry-aging pork.

But I don’t know how to get a pork “sub-primal”. I would appreciate any advice you have on sources.

And I don’t know if I should do a Boston Butt (shoulder) or the pork equivalent of a ribeye. Maybe I should try to do a 1/2-size version of each to compare. They can share one shelf on the fridge. They can get to know each other. They can be friends.

[Barry]

Hi toasty,
So far the the best place I have found to buy fresh pork primals is Whole Foods. They can be pricey in general but have given me reasonable prices on primals. For example they charge $23.99Lb for aged NY strip, $16.99Lb for regular NY strip, but an untrimmed whole NY strip was $10.59Lb. All choice cuts.

Barry

[Scott Mark]

barry593 wrote:

quote :

Hi toasty,
So far the the best place I have found to buy fresh pork primals is Whole Foods. They can be pricey in general but have given me reasonable prices on primals. For example they charge $23.99Lb for aged NY strip, $16.99Lb for regular NY strip, but an untrimmed whole NY strip was $10.59Lb. All choice cuts.

Barry

Thank you! I’ll call the store and see what they’ve got.

[Charlie]

This is an interesting idea for aging. I am anxious to hear your results with the pork.

Charlie B)

[Scott Mark]

Clam Digger wrote:

quote :

This is an interesting idea for aging. I am anxious to hear your results with the pork.

Charlie B)

As Han Solo said, “Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it?”

First, I’ve got to shop around and see what’s available in terms of sub-primals. Call it a week, and I sent some E-mails to stores on Sunday. Then 30 days in the cooler for a first experiment. So, we’re talking Valentine’s day as an early boundary for results. And I’ll be honest – I’m more likely to serve a known-quantity aged strip loin than an experimental aged pork sub-primal. So, probably expect first results in the range of Feb 17 – 25.

Don’t be too anxious.

[Charlie]

Barry, I like the idea of aging a Boston butt. Hope it works out well! Have you had a chance to bag one yet?
B)
Charlie

[Scott Mark]

In case it helps — I declared the pork loin experiment a ho-hum result. Not bad, but not worth the time and fridge space.

Pork loin is incredibly lean. It’s possible that an aged pork shoulder might show some improvement over a fresh one. Is there any research on how intramuscular fat content affects the value of dry-aging?

[Author]

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