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4 replies

Butt or Shoulder?

FM Former Member
Might be a newbie question.. but i just have to ask Wink

I normally head to lunardis market, which has the typical butts i have smoked in the past with great success... but yesterday i found myself at safeway... Looking for a butt, i couldnt find one.. so i headed over to the butcher to ask.. he said that the cuts labeled 'pork shoulder' were the same as the 'boston butt' i was looking for...

Since it was on sale, i figured i'd give it a try.. picked out a nice looking 5lb cut and rubbed it down last night.. left it in the fridge until this AM.. and loaded it into the cookshack @225 (Middle rack, fat side up) & inserted the polder right in the middle of the cut.

Here is the kicker.. this thing took *11 hours* to get to 195deg (where i usually do butts). when it came out, it was quite tasty, and very pullable.. but a bit more dry than what i am normally used to.

My question is the following.. is the pork shoulder *really* the same as a boston butt? or was the safeway butcher not informed? I am surprised it took so long to cook.. i usually only have to cook for 1.25 - 1.5hrs per lb.. and this was over 2..
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FM Former Member
Glad you checked around.

That's one of the fun challenges here, we see all sorts of labels applied to the meats they sell.

And that wasn't a shoulder.

Well, a full shoulder weighs out around 11 to 14 pounds, so you didn't get that.

It was probably a picnic.

Did it have skin on?
FM Former Member
No - it didnt have skin on, but it did have a 1/8" layer of fat on one side.. interestingly enough - this cut didnt render hardly ANY fat into the pan when it cooked.. so it must have been fairly lean? the outer fat that it did have needed to be cut off as it didnt render off (sort of like brisket fat).

if not shoulder, i wonder what the heck it was? it did have a triangular bone inside of it which pulled out easily once cooked..
FM Former Member
as the triangular bone gives it away, i think it was a butt, but a small one. i get em by the case and sometimes their are 5 pounders mingled with the 8 pounders. it all taste the same. however, the smaller ones do tend to have less fat. probably a miss cut, or maybe a younger pig. but i havent yet had to trim away any fat after smoking. it usually separates by itself, or just cooks away. i found the smaller ones need more attention to save juices or they can be dry. these i tend to flip fat side up for the last 2 hrs to allow fat to melt through. make since? or am i just too tired to think clear? come on, christmas, my next day off...yee haw!

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