You drunken pig, you!

So, last year, when we had our first pig butchered, it was a sobering experience.   We had raised 'Bacon', as he was called.  He was like one of the family, and of the two pigs, the sweetest one.  We ended up keeping his sister, 'Porkchop' to breed, and we knew one of them was going to have to bite the big one in order for Tiffany to have a ham/bacon/egg entry.

When we took him, he was so well behaved.  He walked calmly out of the trailer, and we walked down the aisle to a pen where he was placed by himself.  We gave him a little bowl of food, said our goodbyes, and then piled into the truck to leave.  We were just driving down the road when my husband frantically turned to me and said, "We have to go back! We can't leave him there!  We'll get a dummy pig to take his place!"  I held his hand and told him we had to leave him there.  That this was part of 'it'.  It, of course, being the farming experience.  The circle of life that we had opted to participate in.  It was a very quiet ride home. 

Before we took him, we had received a piece of paper in the mail asking us to select how we wanted him cut up.  We honestly didn't know what to do with most of the cuts.  We knew the hams and bacons were going to be going to the school where my daughter attends, because they were going to be salt cured and smoked for the FFA Ham/Bacon/Egg sale that would be following in March.  We knew we wanted the loin, and opted for it to be cut into 6 giant chunks so that we could the elect whether or not we wanted to reduce it to chops, or leave it whole.  But what to do with the rest of the pig?

We decided to have it all made up into sausage, because we just didn't know any better.  Breakfast sausage at that, because in addition to not knowing any better, we also weren't very adventurous.

Down the line, we decided to familiarize ourselves with the different cuts.  We had been to the supermarket and seen things like Boston Butts, Picnic Shoulders, Blade Steaks, etc.  It was overwhelming, honestly.  We knew we would grind butts up to add to our venison sausage, but naturally, we assumed they were from the posterior of the pig.  So, imagine our surprise when our children were learning the various cuts of meat for the Skill-a-thon, and they told us that it was the top of the shoulder.

As you can see, it's located probably the furthest from the butt as possible, short of situating itself on the snout of the pig.  And, to make matters worse, just when we thought we had all of the cuts down, the National Pork Board decides to change all the names to more 'beefy' names, to make it easier on people.  Well, for crying out loud, we just learned the pork names! We haven't tried to learn the beef names yet!  *sigh* *bangs head against wall*

http://www.pork.org/News/3826/PorkCutstoGetNewConsumerFriendlyNamesattheMeatCase.aspx

But, moving on.  So, speaking with local restaurateurs in an effort to drum up interest in the Ham/Bacon/Egg sale, and the overall sale at the WV State Fair, we discovered that most of the BBQ joints in the area were only interested in one cut; the Boston Butt.  They informed us that it was the best cut for pulled pork, was generally cheap, and well marbled with fat. 

Interested in this phenomenon of pulled pork, and having no desire to pay 12 dollars for a pulled pork sandwich at a local eatery, we procured for ourselves a few of these cuts.  There seemed to be two factions of pulled pork producers.  One group suggested that the best pulled pork came from smoking it.  The second group insisted that the best pulled pork was simmered in a broth.  We have not tried the smoked pork shoulder, yet.  We will be posting the results when we do.  We did, however, try the simmered pulled pork, and must say, it turned out rather well. 

The recipe was simple enough.  Take a couple of Boston Butts.  Cut the meat off the bone.  Toss in a large crock pot.  Mix together 1/2C apple cider vinegar, 1/2 C Heineken, 1/4C water, 1/2C brown sugar, 1/2C Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and 3 sliced onions.  Pour over meat, high 1 hour, low 6 hours. Couldn't have been simpler, right?  I imagine if you had a small crock pot, you could halve that recipe.

Anyway, after it was done cooking, a fork shredded it easy enough.  I topped it with a little smokey honey bbq sauce from Yoder's Country Kitchen.  Not a lot, because honestly, I'm not a huge soggy bread fan, hence the lack of the evil coleslaw.

Needless to say, it was pretty good.  I'm interested in trying to smoke the next shoulder.  I'll let you all know how it turns out.