Are pork butt and shoulder the same thing?

[Maylar]

The only times I've cooked a pork roast have been in a crockpot. I'm thinking of expanding my game to the smoker. I'd like to do sliced roast and pulled pork, preferably from the same roast if possible.

Local grocery stores show pork shoulder and tenderloin. None show pork butt, other than one that says bone in pork butt, shoulder roast. And bone in loin, center cut pork roast. Are any of these suitable?

 

[PitRow]

Around here a "butt" is labelled as a Shoulder Blade Roast typically. To the best of my knowledge, as long as it has "shoulder" in the name and doesn't have "picnic" it would be considered a butt. Picnic cuts are from the arm, despite sometimes being labelled as shoulder.

 

[devious]

Hi Maylar,

The bone in pork butt would be the "pork butt" which is typically shredded. The tenderloin would be the cut you would want to slice.

 

[thirdeye]

The top row has whole shoulders with the butt (upper) and picnic (lower) connected. The bottom row shows a picnic and two butts. These are all barbecue roasts.

https://i.imgur.com/7rIKA.jpg

The 'high-on-the-hog' roasts are tenderloin and loin, just like on a beef. They are lean and naturally tender, so an internal temp of 145° works fine. The rear leg roasts can be made into ham, or a sirloin roast, or a sirloin tip roast.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

The butt and the picnic are sometimes sold together as a whole shoulder. It's the front leg . And the butt is the best part for pulled pork. Picnic works well to but is a bit leaner and usually pinker.

For slicing, your best bet is the loin.

 

[Maylar]

Can a loin be pulled?

 

[thirdeye]

Can a loin be pulled?

It's best when it's pulled (off the smoker) at 145° :laugh:

The loin is the larger muscle you see in a pork chop and it's great sliced. At 275° pit temp, a loin roast might take 90 minutes. They do benefit from injecting. Apple juice is a good choice. 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce per pound works good.

https://i.imgur.com/G3ymfxb.jpg