Twenty-seven-pound pork shoulder

[rmcrob]

We are ordering our groceries for pick up these days. I put in an order for a pork shoulder, expecting a 7-9 piece of butt for making pulled pork. What I got weighs 27 pounds. I haven't opened it yet, but it appears to be a single piece. It seems to have the typical blade bone near one end and I can't tell yet about other bones. Visibly, it looks just like the pork shoulder pieces I'm used to getting, but it is over a foot long.

First question: what is this thing?

Second question: I'm thinking of breaking it down into three pieces and freezing two of them. Does that make sense?

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Our local grocery store had some that were that size and I was amazed at how big they were. Think they were on sale along the same price as a normal bone in butt. You got a piece of meat from a huge hog.

Yep it does to me, Id do the same thing

 

[cornman]

You might have a true whole shoulder...the pork butt/shoulder and picnic shoulder portion. Do you have a picture?

Unless you’re doing a large gathering, you may want to break it down between butt and picnic (assuming that is what it is).

 

[Sowsage]

My guess is its a double back thats untrimed in one cryovac pack. Thats how I get them when making sausage. I see a lot of pork buts that are trimmed pretty clean of the fat at the grocery. An untrimmed one will have a very thick fat cap. Packed together end to end in one pacage will make it look like one extra long pork butt.

 

[rmcrob]

View attachment 449708
The blade bone is near the left end in the photo.
View attachment 449709View attachment 449708View attachment 449709

 

[rmcrob]

And I am sorry the photos show up twice. Not sure how that happened.

 

[noboundaries]

27 lbs is a weird weight. If it all looks like meat, no skin, then you've got a 3 or 4 piece cryovac of pork butts. Cryovacs look and feel like one piece of meat until you open it.

If it looks like it has skin, is big on one end and tapers to a point on the other, you've got a monster pork shoulder.

 

[rmcrob]

I won't be opening it up until tomorrow evening. I'm leaning towards thinking it is a boston butt + picnic roast all in one. Assuming that is the case, I'll cut off the boston butt end and smoke it for pulled pork. The other end I plan to portion in two pieces. I wonder if it will really make pulled pork or if I should just plan on slicking that after smoking. Never tried that before.

I should mention that I'll be smoking with a new Masterbuilt Gravity 560, so I'm learning a new smoker plus getting a curveball piece of meat.

 

[noboundaries]

A pic would be nice.

 

[rmcrob]

A pic would be nice.

I put a couple photos in a reply post.

 

[rmcrob]

I put a couple photos in a reply post.

Pics didn’t work. I’ll try again.

 

[rmcrob]

 

[smokerjim]

That's just 2 butts packed together

 

[rmcrob]

That's just 2 butts packed together

I bet you're right. That's what my wife thinks too. Film at eleven.

 

[Sowsage]

That looks like exactly what I thought it was. Most of the ones I buy are in the 25lb range.

 

[thirdeye]

I think you have a twin pack as well, but 27# seems heavy. 10# butts are harder to find anymore. And I've never seen a triple pack, maybe we'll all be surprised. Here are whole shoulders on the top, picnic and butts on the bottom. A whole shoulder is in the 20# to 22# range.

 

[krj]

That's two butts packaged together. If you look at the 4th from the left black 'logo stamp' on the packaging that's the separation line. All the butts I buy anymore are packaged this way, and honestly I can't remember the last time I bought a single butt.

I will say, those are some pretty hefty butts to weigh out at 27lbs. The majority I buy range between 18lb to 21lb.

 

[noboundaries]

Nope, not a twin pack. There's 4 butts in there. No picnic. Any bets?

 

[smokerjim]

Nope, not a twin pack. There's 4 butts in there. No picnic. Any bets?

very possible, it will be a new one for me i've never seen a 4 pack. the suspense is killing me. please start the drum roll

 

[noboundaries]

In the pic I can see a blade on one butt; a money muscle on a separate butt, and spacing where the four butts are pressed together in the VacPak. The drum is rolling.