Pork shoulderd vs. Pork butts

[SmokingPat]

In a recent post, someone was comparing pork shoulders and pork butts. I thought they were the same cut of meat under different names. Is there a difference?

[mrteddyprincess]

Pork shoulder = pork butt

Do a search on why the shoulder is called a "butt" and you'll find satisfactory explanations. :-)

[mcook2201]

Yes. If you can though buy the whole shoulder, which still has the butt and shoulder together.

[bbqLuv]

Miss. Piggie never looked so good.

[SmokingPat]

Me: "I'm going to the butcher to get some pork."
Her: "What about the supermarket?"
Me: "No, I want a cut of meat with the butt attached to the shoulder.'
Her: 😳

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

It depends where you are at too. Some places a picnic is just a skin on butt, here it's either skin on shoulder or skin on shoulder with a piece of the butt attached. Some places shoulder is shoulder, some it's butt. This article might help?

Pork Shoulder Demystified: Boston Butt Versus Picnic Shoulder (seriouseats.com)

[bbqLuv]

You may wanna watch a pig breakdown.

(2) How to Butcher a Pig | ENTIRE BREAKDOWN | Step by Step by the Bearded Butchers! - YouTube

[LA Pork Butt]

I think some folks refer to the Boston Butt as a pork shoulder while as mentioned above others call a shoulder the Boston Butt still attached to the picnic. Still others might call a Boston Butt a butt while others would call the Boson Butt attached to the picnic a butt. Reading minds will help you know exactly what they are talking about. Good luck!

[Huskee]

Meathead's "Pork Cuts Explained" article on the free side also explains this with a very nice color illustration of pork cuts: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...uts-explained/

[SmokingPat]

As if there isn't enough confusion, Meathead's article labels the 'picnic shoulder' as 'picnic ham' -- Oy Vey!
So, pigs have a butt and a 'Boston Butt' (different ends of the animal), and 'Ham' and a 'Picnic Ham' (also at different ends of the animal).

I'm hungry. I'm glad tomorrow starts the weekend, because I want to smoke some pork! 😀

[Huskee]

SmokingPat Right? It's all regional who calls what what.

[bbqLuv]

Pulled Pork?

[glitchy]

Now, that there is funny!

[SmokingPat]

Not yet. I poked a couple of forks in it and it didn't come apart. Just looked at me and said 'Oink'.

[Mark The Q-er]

Yeah I saw that post and I was a little confused too - but apparently this site refers to the entire top shoulder and upper front leg to just before the first joint (elbow) as a "shoulder." And that makes perfect sense because it removes confusion. Cut that in half at the shoulder joint and the upper section is a Boston Butt and the lower half is the "picnic butt" or "picnic shoulder" or "picnic roast" etc. The word picnic is in there somewhere - at least that's what they call it around here in Maryland. The boston is rounder and includes no skin as I'm sure everybody knows. The picnic is shaped like you might expect for an upper leg portion as it tapers down towards the elbow joint and always seems to include skin. The skin is handy if you like that cracklin' and you get it seared at the end. You could use a torch too. Score it, poke it, sear it.