Pork Shoulder carving tips

[weekendsmoker]

Hi, thought I had seen this somewhere but I can't find it in my posts so I will throw it out again.  I am about to carve a shoulder up into to roasts so I can smoke them tomorrow.  I would imagine I cut most of the fat/skin off, but then how do I decide where to cut the shoulder in half?

Thanks,

Jason.

[Habanero Smoker]

This may provide you with some help. You can probably refine a search in Google.

Pork Fabrication

[FLBentRider]

Sounds like you have a picnic shoulder, not a boston butt.

I just smoke the boston butt they way it comes from Sams.

[weekendsmoker]

Yes, it's a picnic shoulder, should have mentioned that. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Oh! I thought you had the whole leg, and you needed to separate the Boston butt (shoulder) from the picnic shoulder.

Just curious, if it is only the picnic why do you need to cut it in half?

[weekendsmoker]

I'm thinking i need to go back to Pork School for a little hog 101.  Just looked at the bag in the garbage and it was a whole pork leg.  That chart you had the link to is a pretty good description by the way so thanks for that.  I hacked it up last night, I think the one piece is still too big so i will saw some off tonight b4 i smoke it.

[Habanero Smoker]

I wish I could get a whole pork leg. I don't know why, but it would seem interesting.

[Father Tom]

WeekendSmoker

It might not help for now but i have  found the book "How to be your own Butcher" by Stanley, Leon, & Evan Lobel, (soft cover) to be one of the finest shelf books to answer where, how, etc when it comes to cutting up meat.  You have a lot of butchers on this site than can give you the most acurate cut.

Wish i could be more of a help.

Tom