Why We Call It Pork Butt When It Actually Comes From The Shoulder

Thick and full of rich fat, pork butt is one of the most flavorful cuts of pork. (We even gave pork butt the coveted top spot when we ranked every cut of pork from worst to best.) If you're making mouthwatering pulled pork, you're using pork butt, and it's one of the best pork cuts to smoke as well. Indeed, the question isn't whether pork butt is your best bet for multiple dishes, but rather what the name "pork butt" actually means. If you cook this cut regularly and aren't sure if it comes from the pig's hindquarters, you're not alone. However, the truth is that pork butt is actually pork shoulder. 

Trust us, you're not the only one who is confused. While pork butt is indeed pork shoulder, there are other cuts that are also referred to as the shoulder. So, what's the difference between pork butt and pork shoulder, and how did the former acquire such a moniker? Well, pork butt comes from the top part of the shoulder, specifically. The pork shoulder is large and typically separated into two cuts: the butt and the shoulder. These are also known as "blade roast" and "arm roast," respectively, or as "Boston butt" and "picnic shoulder." The pig uses the muscles in the lower part more, so pork shoulder is slightly tougher than the upper part. Because of this, the butt's higher fat content yields more tender meat after low, slow cooking.

Even after learning why pork butt is called as such, you may still be wondering, "Why 'butt?'" One popular theory suggests that, during the 18th and 19th centuries, butchers packed certain cuts of meat into barrels to store or ship elsewhere. These barrels were referred to as "butts." At the time, this upper part of the shoulder was considered less desirable — perhaps because no one had tried a pulled pork sandwich yet — which might explain why this cut wasn't often used. This historical theory hinges on the way that meat was processed during this time, which apparently occurred primarily in New England (and specifically Boston), giving the cut the nickname "Boston butt." While the name stuck for a while, the geographic modifier was dropped over time.

Not everyone believes this explanation, though. As with anything that has been around for a few centuries, the origin story is a bit murky. One major discrepancy is that the actual hotbeds of pork processing and trade during that time period were Virginia and North Carolina (not Boston), before moving to Cincinnati and later Chicago in the mid-1800s. While the "Boston" part of the name remains something of a mystery, the "butt" portion may simply relate to the way we talk about the larger, thicker end of anything. Pork butt is certainly the thicker end of the shoulder, and the tastier end, too. Given that, we'll accept any name it has.