# Boneless vs. Bone-In Pork Shoulder/Butt



## y2kpitt (Jan 19, 2006)

All,

I went to Costco last night and all the had was boneless pork shoulders.  Has anyone ever smoked one?  The reason I ask is because everything about butts/shoulders seems to reference smoking a bone-in cut.  I am having trouble finding a bone-in shoulder at a reasonable price in my area and I'm wanting to smoke one for this weekend.  So is boneless cool and is there any uniqueness in the cooking of it I should be aware of?


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## bob-bqn (Jan 19, 2006)

I have purchased bone-in Boston butts and de-boned them on two occasions for experimental purposes.

Once I smoked half and grilled have with a Jamaican Jerk seasoning to see how the jerk pesto was affected.

another time I just smoked one open faced to see if added surface area exposed to smoke and spice would improve the final pulled pork product.

Both time the meat still came out tender and juicy. With the Habanero pesto on one and the extra bark on the other there was not loss of flavor from not having the bone.


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## y2kpitt (Jan 19, 2006)

well heck bob if mine turn out half as good as yours look then I'll be satisified.  Thanks for the info, it looks like I'm heading back to Costco, perhaps I'll pick up a brisket while I'm there its hard to leave costco with just one item

Should I be figuring on 1.5 hours per pound at 225?


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## chipotlepat (Jan 19, 2006)

I like the boneless sholder More smoke and more flavor.


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## burksmoke (Jan 20, 2006)

Bob,

You are killing me!  That pork looks great!

Burk


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## cheech (Jan 20, 2006)

I will use either and have not noticed any difference. May be it is the beer talking but it tastes great either way.


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## y2kpitt (Jan 20, 2006)

Well, I went back and got a 10lb boneless pork shoulder from costco. I now have it brining for the next 36 hours.  For the brine I'm using the following

1 Gallon Water
1 Cup Salt
1/8 Cup Maple Syrup
1/8 Cup Corn Syrup
1 Cinnomon Stick
A pinch or a dash of the following: Ground Cloves, Pumpkin Spice, Coriander, Ground Chipotle, and Lowry's

The plan is to pull it out from the brine around 8pm tomorrow night and then pull an all nighter smoking it and several other goodies (including ATBs and Fatties)  :)  all for the football games on Sunday.  I'll keep you guys posted


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## Dutch (Jan 24, 2006)

When I do pulled pork for a catering I like to use a boneless shoulder but when I do one for the family I like the bone in. Even tulsajeff will tell ya-Pulled pork from a bone in shoulder gives you the sweeter meat.


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