To bone or not to bone, that is the question...

[reallyalexsc]

I have a rather lovely 8lb Middle White pork shoulder (neck end).... and trying to work out how to trim it effectively.

As well as the shoulder bone (which I will leave in, naturally), there is a good chunk of neck bone too, which covers a good chunk of the obverse side to the fat cap.

I think that leaving it in will probably decrease my surface area for salting and seasoning too much to be worth any payoff from extra flavour / moisture from the bone itself -- but thought I'd ask and see if anyone had done any testing or had any experience with this particular cut and had anything they wanted to share to help me out!

I'm not going to do the cook for a few days -- it's early Friday morning here, and I have Monday set aside for some quality time with my kettle and newly acquired slow-n-sear, after several cooks with coals just banked up the side -- so can answer questions about what the hell I mean / post pics as needed!

Thanks.

[kmhfive]

Never seen this cut of pork. If you're going low and slow, it might be best to leave the bone in for now and trim the fat off the other side, using that for maximum rub.

[reallyalexsc]

It is basically (I think) a butt but with extra bone on one side.

[reallyalexsc]

This may help...



This isn't my piece of meat, but the 'primal' shoulder on the left shows what I'm dealing with. What I have is basically the top of the left-hand piece, pretty much as it looks there.

[Henrik]

hmm, I would get rid of the bone. The rub you apply, as well as the surface getting bark, adds more flavor than that bone.

[HouseHomey]

I would cook it whole low n slow. when it's done then pick the bones out. You will waste way too much meat trying to get that out. Pork is a delicate meat and wrenching those bones out will take a bit while wasting meat for the cook. If you leave it in then pull off the bone you can suck on the goodness or just toss them. The neck is very gelatinous when renderedadding a good bit of stuff back once cooked and you pull it out you can mix with the meat.

if you can get it out with ease and you choose to save it for stock. Then cook with the skin side down to hold all that gelatin in there. Just drybrine it where you can and hit it with MMD when it's done.

my thoughts anyway.

[EdF]

That matches my thinking. That's going to be a whole lotta deboning.

[LA Pork Butt]

I can't recognize that! The top part looks like ribs and the leg looks like a mini Picnic. Nothing looks like a Boston Butt.

[reallyalexsc]

I'll take the one I have out of its bag later on and capture it from a few different angles! it might make more sense then... maybe!

[Oakgrovebacon]

That picture is a front quarter from a small pig, if you debone you will have a very small rack of ribs and a shoulder.
if yours is only 8lbs-cook it whole

[reallyalexsc]

This is my hunk of pig as it started.

I opted to get rid of the neck bones as they looked likely to come away with a minimum of meat loss... And so it came to pass.

[reallyalexsc]

[reallyalexsc]

A side view.

[reallyalexsc]

The other elevation, with shoulder bone clearly visible.