few pork butt Q's

[gotbags-10]

So I went to get a butt for this weekend and was looking at the boston butt's. I noticed that the bone in it looked identical to the pork shoulder blade steaks sitting right next to it. I was wondering if they were from the same cut? I always thought that the pork steaks were from the picnic roast not the boston butt. Also I was wondering the package said it had a 4% marinade. I know this falls under the category of enhanced meat but normally that would be around 12% i thought. I didn't know what the thoughts were these days on that subject. 4% seems like a pretty small number at least. Any thoughts?

 

[pops6927]

Yes, pork steak is cut from the boston pork butt, not the pork shoulder (picnic).

The marinade is primarily a sodium-based enhancement which tenderizes the muscle fibers to some extent but more like adds weight to the product.  At $1.50 lb. wholesale 4% of salted water adds up and pays for the COV packaging!  I've sold thousands and thousands of fresh, unpackaged pork butts with no enhancement and never had to advise a customer it needed any tenderizing beforehand.  But, so is the state of modern meat merchandizing today!  

But, the injection prior to packaging also extends shelf life and enables 'hard-chilling' easier (bringing internal temp to just below freezing temp for 30 days to certify the pork and kill any trichinosis) and is a common practice for producers and doesn't harm the meat.  You can still cure the meat just fine for buckboard bacon, smoked pork steaks, etc. or make sausages with it and so on.

 

[venture]

Pops has you covered!

Also the "Country Style Ribs" these days almost always erroneously come from the butt blade cut.

Originally they came from the rib end of the loin roast.

Good luck and good smoking.