Karen, do you think it would be okay to use a "picnic" pork shoulder for this? Should I cook it longer if I do?

I think it is the same thing as a pork shoulder, if I recall my Good Eats lessons properly.

Ok, thanks, Nancy. I thought I'd read that the "picnic" ones were tougher than the, um, "eating indoors" ones...

--signed, learned about BUTTS from AB too!-

I've only ever used the butt part of the shoulder, so I can't say. The picnic portion is below the butt.

What I think is important, is using the correct weight, and not rolling or tying it.

If you try it, report back and let us know how it worked.

Karen

Will do!
My supermarket gave me a "free" picnic shoulder as a reward for spending lots of money there last month. I plan on cooking it this weekend.

Okay, it worked pretty well, but I'm glad I didn't make it for company. I'm used to the regular pork shoulder, which I usually buy boneless (and tied, but I cut off the string before I rub it). This one had skin on it that I had to cut off, making a mess, of course, and it had an arrangement of bones inside that I didn't know the locations of until after I started cutting. So carving it up was an interesting experiment, and the final product wasn't very attractive.

Tasted doggone good, though, and I know it'll be good eatin' for the next little while.

Whole thing into the crockpot, skin, bones and all.

The meat and good bits just FALLS off when it's done; and the dawg just adores the well cooked skin and gristly bits (but not the little bones in the middle).

Delicious.

I have this marinating/curing right now. I only have a 3 pound shoulder so I'm curious low long I should cook it for. Recipe says 6 hours for 4-5 lb. Since the temp is so low, should I reduce the cooking time by 1 hour, or more? BTW, I love your new book. Thanks for your awesome recipes!

OK, no-one got back to me before I had to cook this, but in case anyone's wondering, the 3 lb roast took 4 hours-and it was fantastic. Kudos to Karen!

I am having trouble finding a "shoulder" roast. My butcher says they don't sell anything called that. He sold me instead a sirloin roast that came in a net bag. He took it out of the bag- it was three separate pieces- and butterfly-ed those pieces. He also told me not to cook it as long, which I guess goes along with Karen's idea here:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...58&postcount=17

He also suggested that what I might want instead is boneless spareribs that are in a slab and haven't been sectioned into individual pieces. Does that seem like the right thing?



Ok, I find this totally mysterious and obviously I am really missing something here! Ummm...how can the butt be part of the shoulder, because isn't the butt far away from the shoulder? So, I went to this website to try to figure out what's what:

http://www.hormel.com/templates/kno...temid=31&id=158

I admit, I'm still a bit confused! Based on this website, it looks like the spareribs come from the "belly" so, maybe a slab of boneless spareribs is not going to be what I want. I feel like what I really need to is to take in a picture of a pig to the butcher and just point to the right spot!

I just bought a cut yesterday from wal-mart labeled

Pork shoulder boston butt roast so go figure.....lol

DDaniels, here's a link for you, complete with picture, of the Pork Shoulder Butt, which is the correct (traditional) name in meatcutting and has absolutely nothing to do with actual butts (or even ribs) as we think of them! Butt used to mean barrel or tub, maybe it got the name because of the shape, oh so many years ago? Who knows.

Anyway:
http://www.askthemeatman.com/pork_s...r_butt_cuts.htm
Take this info and pic to your butcher, it may help.


Sirloin or Loin is way more expensive (and lean) than Shoulder and comes from a different part of the pig completely, as do the Ribs. Side ribs cost less than back ribs and are just as tasty. Ribs would go nicely in the crockpot, but it's a different recipe (though I bet the seasoning would be quite nice on them, too).

Here's another page of useful info and recipes all about pork Butt, hope you find it useful!
http://www.dizzypigbbq.com/recipesButt.html

Enjoy.

Wow! Thanks for all the info.! (I do think meat names are confusing enough all ready without naming things butts that aren't really butts!)

I noticed the picture of the pork shoulder butt does not have a covering of fat on it, and I think Karen talks about scoring the fat. Is there normally fat on this but someone took it off before they took the picture?

On the dizzy pig site, there was a picture of the meat with what looks like fat and it also says it has rind on it, although I can't tell what is what. If I can't get meat with that cap of fat on it, will that make much difference? Should I cook it less?

Kevinpa- did the meat you got at Walmart have the fat on it? It seems like everybody assumes shoppers don't want the fat on their meat, so they cut it all off!

Thanks guys!

I believe the pic is of the "inside" of the shoulder/butt piece, so you wouldn't see the fat cap, which is on the other side or "outside" (sometimes with the skin still on) IF it hasn't been trimmed off. You are exactly right, often the fat is trimmed off, depends on the butcher. Then again, just about as often, the fat and skin is left on cuz of course you're paying meat prices for it. Don't worry, even if it's trimmed, there's enough of a fat "cap" left on to allow for scoring. If not trimmed, you get to peel enough of it off to leave some on for scoring (only need a 1/4" or so). Of course, you can always talk to the meatcutter/butcher and ask for what you want, a pork shoulder/butt piece with a small fat cap left on but the excess fat and skin trimmed. That's what they're there for...

Hope this helps.

It only had fat on the 1 side. I have it going in the crock now.