Pork Shoulders

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 22:53

I need some sound advice from those of you who have been making quality sausage for some time.

Today I picked up a 14.4 lb pkg of pork shoulder at COSTCO, I have found the COSTCO meats to be pretty good in most respects. I got down to some detail in preparing the shoulder for grinding-in the past I have just ran through it and pulled the obvious sinew and glands and cut/ground the result. Today, I carefully separated all of the fat, sinew/etc. and lean. I ended up with (rounded %) 80.7% lean, 3.2% useable fat and 16% waste (at least I didn't want it in my sausage).

The end cost (after considering waste) is quite a bit higher than the price of sirloin or loin, so my question is in regard to the flavor and quality of the end product (sausage). If I used loin or sirloin and added a good quality fat (fatback or good trimmings which I have available from a local outlet), would I end up with a nice end product?

The sausage that I was making today was a hot smoked polish sausage, but I foresee a similar problem with most recipes. I know that different cuts have unique taste and quality and I do not want to jeopardize the end result but would prefer to not purchase waste at the price of edible pork!

Thanks for any help-
Pat

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 23:25

That seems to be a very low level of fat and a rather high level of waste. Generally a shoulder butt runs about 20 to 30 % fat and there is just the scalpula for a bone. I always cure and smoke that for soup. The gland is only the size of the distal on your thumb. I had some veins and blood clots that went into a stock pot but I rarely get more than 5 to 8 % waste.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 23:30

Was this a picnic shoulder with the hock and the hide or a shoulder butt. http://porcine.unl.edu/porcine2005/page ... rimalId=17

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 23:39

I usually grab Costco's twin-pack of boned pork butt. $1.79/lb which is about average for the special 'sale' prices at the local supermarkets.
They run from 13-16lbs, boned. I'll get about 20-22% fat-(about 3-3.5 pounds)which as Ross stated, is normal for that cut. There is some general 'clean-up'-removal of the gland, sinew & the like-but its rather minor (1/2 cups worth)-less than a pound.

Kevin

15lbs of pork; washed, dried & ready for some some butchery....

Cubed, chilled & ready to grind:

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 00:00

This was a boneless butt, twin pack. Maybe I'm being a bit too picky on the useable product, but most of it wasn't what I would want on my table.

NorCal kid-I wish my purchase looked like what you have posted-I should have taken some pics--

Ross-This was a twin pack boneless shoulder, skinless. I agree that one would expect the ratio of waste to useable product that you mention.

My concern is using an alternate cut with added fat, I don't have a source for a better quality Butt, but I can sub other cuts with added fat if it doesn't diminish the flavor/quality of the end product.

I froze both the fat and waste, I'll try to get some pics and post tomorrow ( I froze the waste to keep the foxes and raccoons from having a field day in my garbage cans!).

Thanks for the help-
Pat

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 01:16

This is a video I made of boning a picnic. turn the sound on I think that I was talking during this.

Cabonaia · Post by **Cabonaia** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 01:58

I get my butts at Costco, too. I also have a good source of back fat. At times I have used loin plus back fat and it worked great. Since the loin was very lean, I've add 20 - 30% back fat when I used it, depending on the recipe.

Like the others who have responded, I don't get much waste from the Costco butts. Maybe half a cup, as NorCal said.

When I buy a picnic, I smoke the bone and use it in beans or soup, like Ross. Picnics have a lot of bone and skin, and though they go on sale around here for 99 cents lb. sometimes, they don't seem to work out to be a better deal than the Costco butts. I haven't gotten scientific about it, though.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 02:20

I have a plan the next time picnics go on sale. I shall ask the butcher to slice it on his band saw into one inch cutlets. then I shall cure them with salt and brown sugar and cure #1 and smoke them as for bacon. Then I will use a slab in a pot of baked beans. That may be the highest and best use for that piece.

Cabonaia · Post by **Cabonaia** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 02:27

Brilliant!

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 05:38

Ross,
That is a great idea, I certainly will do exactly the same.
Every few weeks our pork specials are $ 2.99 per kilo, either forequarter or whole backleg minus the trotter.
This week we also had whole, quality grassfed, rumps for $4.99 kg.
I make smoked bilton with these.
Regards,
Jan.

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 09:48

Cabonaia wrote:I get my butts at Costco, too. I also have a good source of back fat. At times I have used loin plus back fat and it worked great. Since the loin was very lean, I've add 20 - 30% back fat when I used it, depending on the recipe.

Like the others who have responded, I don't get much waste from the Costco butts. Maybe half a cup, as NorCal said.

When I buy a picnic, I smoke the bone and use it in beans or soup, like Ross. Picnics have a lot of bone and skin, and though they go on sale around here for 99 cents lb. sometimes, they don't seem to work out to be a better deal than the Costco butts. I haven't gotten scientific about it, though.

Cabonaia-that is what I was thinking of doing. The Costco shoulders are cryo packed and it is difficult to tell exactly what you are getting. This pkg was $1.75/lb and after considering waste it actually came out to $2.10/ lb-Sirloin was $1.45/ lb and I buy the fatback for around $1.25/lb so as long as the sirloin makes a good sausage when mixed with the fatback it would be a better deal. I know this may have just been a poor pkg but without being able to actually examine the contents you don't know what you have until you open it. Just by it's nature the sirloin would be a more consistent product.

Ross-good video, looks like you have done that a time or two. Most every year I end up butchering 3 or 4 deer and an elk or two and by the time I get done boning and stripping out the connective tissues and fat on the last one I am about ready to give up hunting (until next season).

Here is a pic of some of the waste I stripped from the pork shoulder-the actual breakdown was 1059g of this stuff (waste as far as I'm concerned), 212g of useable (but very soft) fat and 5311g of lean (containing a fair amount of embedded marbled fat). I know the "waste" is edible but it is mostly connective tissue, silver skin and some fat that is so soft it melts out in your hand.

I think I will try the sirloin + back fat on my next grind. I'm thinking maybe 75/25 mix of lean and fat-the sirloin doesn't have much embedded fat so maybe a little extra back fat will help the flavor/texture.

Thanks all
Pat

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:35

Sometimes I take out these soft fats in 1 piece, they can be as big as my palm.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 14:01

I leave that fat in place but carefully remove the sinews. Then I freeze the meat and fat for a couple of days and then allow it to "warm up" in the fridge overnight and cut it into 1 inch chunks the next day while it is still soft frozen. Then I grind it that way and the fat behaves perfectly. Those layers of fat provive lubrication between the muscles and the connective tissue helps to bind the mince when it is cooked.

Cabonaia · Post by **Cabonaia** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 20:59

Pat -I discard most of that type of stuff, too, because I'm concerned with sinews wrapping around the grinder blade. I suppose I could just freeze it and chop it small with a knife before grinding. I've never weighed and calculated the result. I also can get all the backfat I need for $1.19/lb., and it really is the best for most uses. The first time I used loin was when I had some extra that I didn't know what to do with. I mixed it with back fat and was pleased with the result. But I've kept on buying boneless shoulders from Costco.

I appreciate the analysis guys like you and Ross do, because I tend to have an "it will all come out in the wash" attitude, and use whatever I have on hand as long as I can come up with the right meat to fat ratio. The basic ingredients of sausage are so inexpensive (with the exception of some casings), that it is the equipment that hits me hard on the cost side, as I have been building equipment up over the past year.

Ross's comment about the binding properties of connective tissue attracted my attention. There is a lot of that in pork butt, pretty much none in loin. Maybe a mix of loin, butt, and backfat is adviseable? I'm no expert here.

Where do you get loin for 1.45/lb.?

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 22:29

When I cut soft frozen meat I can slice it a neatly as slicing apples or onions. I freeze it in about 4 inch rounds made by stuffing that much meat into a bag and rolling it up. Then I slice it like a roast and cross cut the slices into cubes. It is usually fast enough to proceed to grinding right then. With it cut into 1 inch cubes sinew wraps are kept to a minimum and the fat grinds/cuts into nice neat pellets separated by small bits of lean.