Cuts · US butchery
Boston butt
The upper part of the pork front shoulder as divided in US butchery, IMPS item 406, and the cut most American pulled-pork guidance assumes. Its name is actively misleading outside the US.
Known as
The same muscle carries different names in different butchery systems, and some of those names mean different cuts elsewhere. Where a name is ambiguous, BBQHQ says so rather than picking one.
- United States
- Boston butt
- Pork butt
- Shoulder butt
- Blade roast
- butt — butcheryMeans different cuts to different trades here
Used in US pork butchery for the upper FRONT shoulder, IMPS 406 — the name comes from a barrel, not from the animal's rear. Outside the US it is not a cut name at all, and a butcher asked for 'butt' will not think of the shoulder.
What to ask a butcher for
- United States: Pork shoulder from the blade end, bone in.
- United States: Pork shoulder from the blade end, bone in. 'Butt' is not a UK cut name.
- United States: Pork shoulder from the blade end, bone in.
Where it comes from on the animal
Pork shoulder (blade)
Forequarter, upper · high use · connective tissue: high
The upper part of the front shoulder, with heavy intramuscular fat and collagen. The classic candidate for a long cook to a texture endpoint rather than a temperature one. IMPS item 406 in the US, where it is called the Boston butt.
Muscles: Triceps brachii, Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus
Asking a butcher for it
Named the way us butchery names it. If the counter does not recognise the name, the anatomy is the fallback: ask for the cut by where it comes from.
- What to say
- Boston butt, or Pork butt (US), Shoulder butt (US), Blade roast (US) depending where you are.
- If that draws a blank
- Ask for forequarter, upper — the muscle is Triceps brachii, Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus.
- What to specify
- Typical weight is 3.0–5.0 kg.
What it is suited to
Derived from how hard the muscle works and how much connective tissue it carries, which is the pairing that decides whether a cut wants a fire under it or beside it. BBQHQ does not rank cuts and does not name a best one.
- High connective tissue: this wants long, low, indirect heat. Collagen converts to gelatine slowly and well above any safety endpoint, so the cut is tough until it has had the time and tender afterwards. Cooking it fast makes it worse, not quicker.
- A hard-working muscle, which is why it carries the tissue it does and why it rewards patience.
What to use instead
A substitute is not the same as an equivalent. These are graded, because “yes, use that instead” is the answer that ruins dinners: most real substitutions work only once something about the cook changes.
Workable, once you change the cook
Ask a UK butcher for shoulder from the blade end, bone in. 'Butt' will not be understood as a shoulder cut and may cause genuine confusion: the name refers to a barrel, not to the rear of the animal. IMPS item 406 states the vernacular name itself — 'may also be referred to as the Boston Butt or Blade'.
- IMPS item 406: the shoulder with the picnic (item 405) removed, skin and neck bones off.
- UK shoulder is less standardised and may include the arm/picnic portion too.
- Typically around 4.3 kg from a 250 lb hog — larger than a common UK shoulder joint.
Asking for it in another country
UK butchery: Overlapping cut
Ask a UK butcher for shoulder from the blade end, bone in. 'Butt' will not be understood as a shoulder cut and may cause genuine confusion: the name refers to a barrel, not to the rear of the animal. IMPS item 406 states the vernacular name itself — 'may also be referred to as the Boston Butt or Blade'.
What differs
- IMPS item 406: the shoulder with the picnic (item 405) removed, skin and neck bones off.
- UK shoulder is less standardised and may include the arm/picnic portion too.
- Typically around 4.3 kg from a 250 lb hog — larger than a common UK shoulder joint.
The UK side of these mappings rests on AHDB’s published cutting specifications, which BBQHQ has read. The US side does not: USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications and the Beef Checkoff cut pages both refuse automated access, so no mapping here reaches “same cut” across two butchery systems. See the open question.
Typical size
3.0–5.0 kg