Where to Probe Pork Shoulder / Butt (with Pictures!)

There are Two Angles you can Probe From

1. Either from the left (where the money muscle is) or
2. From the opposite end of the bone

You want to probe the meat until you reach the bone and then retract by a few inches.

By doing so you’re roughly at the center of the meat.

In the photo above, the arrows are where you’re probing from.

The circle is roughly where you’d retract your probe to – which is roughly the center of the meat.

Here’s an actual pork butt to illustrate:

On a boneless pork butt you’re eye-balling where the center of the meat is.

It’s also a smaller cut of meat so this is easier to do.

Here’s an example:

A Note on Minimum Probe Insertion Lengths

If you’re someone who uses a leave-in thermometer, it’s incredibly important that you look at the specifications for minimum tip insertion length.

To help demonstrate this, I’ll be citing the documentation from two leave-in thermometers that I own:

• The MEATER probe
• the Thermoworks X4

Both function very differently in terms of minimum tip insertion length.

The first we’ll look at is MEATER:

Citing their documentation.

“Always insert the MEATER probe past the safety notch (the minimum insertion point) to avoid product damage and personal injury.”

They go on to note:

“DO NOT cook with MEATER if the probe cant be inserted past the safety notch.”

Meater.com

On the MEATER probe the safety notch is pictured below:

When inserting this probe we’d insert it into the thickest part of the pork butt, away from the bone, while ensuring we’re probing past the safety notch.

Then we’ll look at the Thermoworks X4:

Citing the documentation for their Pro-Series^® High Temp Cooking Probes.

“Insert the probe so that the tip rests at the thickest part of the meat or food. Avoid gristle, fat or bone.”

Thermoworks.com

On a Pro-Series^® High Temp Cooking Probe, the “tip” is as pictured:

From my examples above, both require different insertion lengths:

• The MEATER probe requires that you insert up until a safety notch.
• The Thermoworks X4 probe uses a thermistor sensor that’s located at the very tip.

In both cases though, both suggest probing the thickest part of the meat.