Boston Butt deviation

[Mickey]

Has anyone sliced a B.Butt up before cooking it?  I'm thinking like slabs of cake about 2" thick.  Why?  Primarily not to reduce the cooking time but to be able to get a more even distribution of the spices through out the meat and, more importantly, to have much more bark.  Possibly the reduced cooking time will not allow the bark to grow, unless jacking the temp up at the end but 250 probably won't be enough before the meat would be dried out. just guessing.  Comments, thanks Mickey

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[Walt]

Sounds like your looking for burnt ends.

[Mickey]

I take it that you mean that leaving smaller pieces in for the same amount of time would produce burnt ends.  I agree, obviously the cooking time would have to be reduced.  After my first post I thought, really this would be no different than smoking thick pork chops not talking about the fat content difference.

[SuperDave]

Country style pork ribs are slabed pork butts. 

[NDKoze]

Technically if they are cut in slabs they would be called "Blade Steaks". Country Style ribs are cut in strips usually 1.5-2.0 inches square. That is how they refer to them around here anyhow.

They are both just different cuts made from a Boston Butt.

[Walt]

For burnt ends you would cook the shoulder whole until abiut 170 - 175 & then remove, cube, roll in sauce/rub, then put back in smoker to carmelize so you gets 6 times the amount of bark & the cube shouldnt be all dried out.

A quick search should produce a few receipes on this forum.

[SuperDave]

Burnt end being more like the size of an ice cube and a country style rib looking like a couple of cubes of butter, end to end.  Mickey, is either of these what you are thinking about?

[Mickey]

SuperDave, Yes, not so much the exact shape but rather than the whole butt in one piece just the smaller sizes to increase the exposure to the cooking process. I was thinking a size for 2 people for later distribution. I keep see the term "burnt ends", at first I thought he was implying that the meat would wind up being burnt, dried out.  But now I get the impression that is a term for smaller pieces??

[NDKoze]

Yes, that is the term for small pieces.

And it lends really well to smoking whole like Walt said, and then cutting up into chunks. You can then vacuum pack and freeze in smaller quantities, which can later be unthawed and finished off with the sauce.

Typically "Burnt Ends" are associated with cutting up the "Point" from a full packer brisket. But this sounds like a great idea and I am very interested to see how it turns out.

Here is a post that Tony posted on his latest Burnt Ends smoke:
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2726.0

Let us know if you have any questions and most importantly how they run out along with the very important pics.

[DivotMaker]

Mickey,

Around my parts, pork "country style" ribs are a bone-in Boston butt, sliced into chops on the saw.  Here's an example of some:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1970.0

You won't get pulled pork out of them, but it's a darn tasty smoke!

[jcboxlot]

Bookmark this one.   If you are NE or east country I see this cut a lot offered at stores.  Will try.  Maybe its a PA or MD thing.

[NDKoze]

We have both the blade steaks and the country style ribs. I love the blade steaks cooked in the grill just like a beef steak. Actually I love the beef blade steaks too. The are kind of a poor man's ribeye as they are pretty tender with nice marbling.

I have been meaning to try doing something with country style ribs, but haven't decided on a cooking method yet. I am interested to see how our burnt ends come out.

[SuperDave]

Gregg, I like the country style (boneless) just on the plate or added to a stir-fry.  I cook them like a regular rib, glaze them and finish on the grill.

[NDKoze]

That seems like an easy good way to try them. I would think that they could benefit from a short batch in a pork butt brine as well.

[Mickey]

Tony, Thanks for the pics. " http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1970.0 "   That shows what I was looking for perfectly.  I had never given any thought to where country ribs came from, just knew I liked them as they came off my Charbroil Red [infrared].  I think I will dry brine, then Memphis dust, cook to 170 as yall suggested, then cut into 2" thick slabs, thicker just to keep the meat more moist.  Then finish on the grill.  I'm planning on pics but sometimes stuff gets in the way...