Am pretty sure that even in SoFla, the shoulders are from the front legs of the pig. Whole pork shoulder consists of the boston butt and the picnic. They weigh in at about 15-20 lbs.
The rear 2 legs are the hams not the shoulder, if your buying a pork shoulder it is the butt and picnic as a whole, which comes from the front legs of the hog. Boston butts come both bone in and deboned, also commonly known as a pork roast. The butt is the upper portion of the front shoulder, the picnic is the lower portion.
All good ycastane. Here in the states, the rear leg is usually cured and sold as ham. I've never had the rear leg (other than ham), so I really can't tell you about a difference in flavor. Looking at the whole shoulder, the picnic has a stronger flavor and less fat marbled through it. Some people cook the whole shoulder for pulled/chopped pork, while others go with the butt, and yet others go with the picnic. Kind of comes down to personal preference. In any case, you cook all parts of the shoulder until it passes the poke test. This is where you stick a probe or toothpick into it and when it goes in with no resistance like a knife through butter, the pork is ready. Generally, this is in the neighborhood of 200 degrees, though it might be 205 or even 210.
There are actually plenty of folks who make pulled pork with hams with no trouble as far as dry meat - pulled ham has a good flavor too
Looks like folks helped you understand the real meaning of boston butt: the part above the front shoulder. The front and rear legs are usually used for hams, front is called picnic roast, never seen what rear leg is called. Silly South Florida!
