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The Secrets to the Best Smoked Pork Butts
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Understanding the Pork Butt
What’s in a Pork Butt? Don’t let the name fool you. The pork butt, also known as the Boston butt, is a cut of meat that comes from the upper shoulder and is closely related to the pork shoulder. In fact, the butt rests right above the shoulder and can occasionally be purchased with the shoulder blade still attached (though this isn’t a common practice). The second major difference is size. Typically, the butt is a heftier cut of meat than the shoulder, in both overall size and weight. This makes it great for when you have a larger crowd to feed, but it can take a little longer to cook.
On cooking times, both the butt and the shoulder require longer cooking times. This makes these cuts ideal for smoking and barbecuing. Slow is the way to go. You can easily make an all-day event out of smoking a pork butt, depending on its size. The butt is also the perfect cut to add your favorite flavors to, whether you add these flavors in the form of a rub, marinade, sauce, or glaze — or all of the above!
What is the difference between the butt and the shoulder? Because they are so close together on the animal, you might not think there would be much difference — but there is! The first difference is the fat content. There is more fat content in the pork butt than the shoulder. When you look for a good butt, you want to look for fairly even marbling. This fat equals flavor. A lot of people will tell you after cooking that the butt has more flavor than the shoulder, but we’ll leave that debate for another day.
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