Advice Needed, Propper Pork Shoulder

GalanteNate_OneEa · May 2014

Does anyone have a video or advice on how to properly present pork shoulder, ie chop, pull, and sliced money muscle? Pretty much looking for the dissection process, and what gets used for what.

Cowdogs · May 2014

Unless you are competing I say there is no proper way, just preferences. I prefer slices or large hand pulled chunks. I really don't care for the finely pulled or chopped pork, which I find to be too much like baby food ... if pulled pork was a baby food.

SGH · May 2014

Not sure of what you are trying to achieve. When you say present may I ask to whom? Judges or guest? If you are asking how to build a scored box I may can offer some advice on the subject. If you are asking for guest, I usually bomb so I will pass to others.

SGH · May 2014

Are you trying to lay out a whole shoulder for friends and family or build a box for turn in?

nolaegghead · May 2014

I just put it in a pan, grab a couple of forks and go ape-sh*t on it.

GalanteNate_OneEa · May 2014

I really am just looking for some insight on the anatomy of the pork shoulder. What parts are used for what, and how to break it down after cooking. Kind of like removing the point of a brisket for burnt ends, what portion of the shoulder is the money muscle and what portion is better off pulled or chopped. And at this point in my life, family and friends are the only judges I have, for now…

ChokeOnSmoke · May 2014

The money muscle is way over rated in my opinion. I take the whole thing to "probe tender" which is almost always 192-195. Anything more and it seems to mushy to me. Shred it with 2 forks and mix it all together. Good to go.

Carolina Q · May 2014

This works...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8M6KOkyw8

I usually use a couple of forks, but it pretty much looks the same when I'm done.

SGH · May 2014

I'm going to offer what I can as I'm still not sure of what you are asking so here is some general information on the said pork shoulder. The whole fore shoulder on swine consists of two joined parts. The picnic and the butt. This is a primal cut. From here it can be reduced further to the individual butt or blade roast if you will and the picnic. These are the subprimal cuts from the larger primal that has now been separated. Let's look at the picnic first. From here there are a few choices. From the picnic comes the arm roast, the arm steaks and the hocks. There is no need or reason to reduce any further unless you are making sausage. Now for the butt or blade roast. It is usually left as is or reduced to blade steaks and the ends to country style ribs. No further reduction is needed beyond this point. For the home cook the text that follows is for info only as there is never a need to reduce any further. The butt has three main parts. The horn, the rails and the money muscle. The horn lies adjacent to the bone on the end away from the money muscle. The rails are circular such as a clod and lie between the horn and the money muscle. The money muscle is the strip on the opposite end of the horn. Again this is just to make known what they are as they play no part in home cooking what so ever. As far as making pulled pork the whole shoulder is usually pulled and mixed together. For slicing the choice is yours depending on the final internal temp. I hope I have at least answered some of your questions my friend. If I have not please let me know and either myself or some one else will try again.

westernbbq · May 2014

BBQ competitions have become too much. presentation, the money muscle, injecting etc etc. I say all that's garbage as it all defeats the original purpose of BBQ

I cook a shoulder at 210 for 1.5 hrs per pound, shred it with bear claws and serve on homemade cole slaw, bun and bbq sauce

the only things that matter are 1) does the food taste good 2) is the beer cold and 3) is everyone having a GREAT time

if you hit on all three, shredded shoulder on a platter, in a sterno-heated aluminum pan, with buns, slaw and beer is beyond awesome

gdenby · May 2014

There is a really extensive inspection of the whole pork carcass done by the U. of N. at Lincoln. More info than most home cooks could handle, but I thought it was fun to get a little anatomy lesson, and some cutting advice.

There is a muscle database that will let you search for muscles based on flavor, tenderness, juiciness, etc. Locating the muscles can be a bit of a problem. From what I was able to find, it seems that most of the muscles on the outside of the butt are among the most tender, flavor and juicy in the carcass. I suppose for a home cook looking to produce something better than average, cutting those out and cooking separately would help guarantee a fine result.

ChokeOnSmoke · May 2014

Carolina Q said:

This works...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8M6KOkyw8

I usually use a couple of forks, but it pretty much looks the same when I'm done.

Great video! Gotta get a knife like that! My new "pulling" technique!

GalanteNate_OneEa · May 2014

@SGH that honestly did help, I'm going to do a few shoulders next weekend and I was just trying to understand the anatomy.

I agree it's all about cold beer and happy guest, and I should stop watching all of the comp cooking but I am probably going to experiment with slicing pulling and chopping just to see what my guest like. Add some beer, pickles, home made apple slaw and sauce, I think the weekend will be fun.

Thanks all for your input! As always, this forum is my go to source for good intel!

SGH · May 2014

@GalanteNate_OneEa‌
Glad I could help my friend. I'm cooking a whole shoulder tomorrow and I will take pics pointing at all the said pieces with their identification if you would like. Again I'm glad that I could help in some way.

Dulax43 · May 2014

Carolina Q said:

This works...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8M6KOkyw8

I usually use a couple of forks, but it pretty much looks the same when I'm done.
I like this method much better than my 2 fork operation

Advice Needed, Propper Pork Shoulder

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