Anyone know the etymology of the “picnic” portion of the cut of meat known as the “Pork Shoulder Picnic”, aka “Pork Shoulder Arm Picnic?” It is excellent slow cooked and has apparent similarities to the “Boston Butt” which is also shoulder and not actually butt.
also, I’m sure Dave Barry would agree that “Pork Shoulder Picnic” is one hell of a good band name.
Well, there’s the ham. Which is cured and smoked pig buttock. Then there’s the picnic ham, which is cured and smoked pig shoulder. It’s a picnic ham because it’s half the size of the big-ass ham, which is waaay to big to carry on a picnic. The “picnic” part apparently got carried over to the uncured shoulder cut.
I worked on the meat department of a supermarket. Boston Butts and Picnic Ham were two names of the same thing (the shoulder). It is just that different brands call it differently. As for why “picnic”, Lemur’s answer sounds good to me.
According to Good Eats, the “butt” part of the name “Boston butt” comes from the fact that the cut is taken from the butt end of the leg as opposed to the shank end. The origin of the “Boston” part is left as an exercise for the viewer.