shoulder

[Cliff H.]

I noticed a local grocer now has pork shoulder. Does the bigger bone have any bearing on taste ?

They are small also. Is that normal ?

[Bbq Bubba]

My view has always been bone = flavor, being bigger i would guess means a bigger shoulder
what's small, the shoulders? They're probably just butts, not whole shoulders

[Cliff H.]

My bad, I need to clarify. It is a Shoulder Picnic that I am speaking of. It looked to be about 5-6 lbs. The ones I have seen smoked on the tube seemed to be Huge compared to these little shoulders.

[wittdog]

Sounds to me like it's a shoulder-the butt...from my experience...if you cook the shoulder minus the butt..you tend to get less of a yeild...

[Captain Morgan]

in the southeast you'll find a lot of places that serve
sliced bbq pork as well as chopped/pulled.
The picnic section of the should is good for slicing.
Makes good chopped bbq too.
Lexington style bbq traditionally uses whole shoulders,
containing the butt and the picnic.
Eastern style traditionally goes whole hog.

[Larry Wolfe]

Cliff the picnic will make great pulled pork, just a little less than a butt of the same size. Also the picnic does not have as much internal fat marbleing as the butt section of the shoulder. Some people say that the picnic will be a little hammy and/or sweeter than a butt, I haven't really noticed this though. One thing I'll point out is that picnics have a layer of thick skin on them. With that in tact, you won't get alot of rub coverage, thus less bark. I remove the skin but it is not necessary, you can even score it like a ham if you choose.

Give the picnic a try to see how you like it compared to a butt. They used to be about all I cooked because they were generally 1/2 the price of a butt. Good luck!

[John A.]

Unless I'm mistaken the collar is what most places use for sliced pork.

[Larry Wolfe]

Originally Posted by Bryan S

Go with the Butt. After many years of doing test drives with both models, the butt is much better, less work, more moist, cheaper in the long run (less waste), and just makes better Q than a picnic. [smilie=a_goodjob.gif]

Who are you??? Where you been boy??