Payne County Rust Boston Butt or Picnic Shoulder?

Well, I had guests over the other night for a good dose of pulled pork and have decided that the picnic shoulder portion of a hog's forequarter is to be shredded and added to the strange stuffing inside those burritos at gas stations that proudly boast 'real pork'. This thought was not born from the fact that I had a bad experience with a picnic shoulder, rather from the fact that I had yet another perfect episode of culinary bliss due to my purchase of a Boston Butt. The whole pork shoulder is sold just as it says, whole. The scapula or shoulder blade of the hog is severed from the main carcass, and everything from that point down to the last joint before the foot is sold as whole shoulder. If, however, you were to severe the meat once more in the middle of the entire leg portion, at the elbow, you would be left with two separate cuts. The 'top' cut, or that which goes to the scapula is known as the Butt Roast, or Boston Butt, and the remaining 'lower' cut is know as the picnic shoulder. The picnic shoulder has a much higher percentage of connective tissue such as tendon, ligament, cartilage, etc... The Butt Roast, however, has very little of the aforementioned, and has a large percentage of fat in the form of inter-muscular fat (see future entries for fat type differentiation). This fat serves as nature's perfect basting brush as the cut of meat starts to heat up. The fat slowly works its way outward, basting the meat. Mmm... So, in summation, while the whole shoulder holds its own in the purist realm of smoking an entire portion of the hog, I'll stick with the cream of the hock, so to speak, and continue to purchase the Boston Butt. Bone-in, of course.

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