Pork Shoulder Butt, this photo brings back a lot of childhood supper memories...
This is some of the canned vegetables my Mom used
The star of the show: the butt, which is really a shoulder.
By Kevin Williams
Eating something called "pork shoulder butt" would be enough for anyone to switch to vegetarianism. Â My parents prefer the more elegant sounding, "cottage ham." Â What do you call it? Cottage ham or butt? Â Bluegrass Meats splits the difference and calls it a "Cottage Butt." Â I'm not sure that's much more appealing sounding. Â At least with beef, they sort of take the butt part out of the vocabulary and call something a "rump roast." Â Â But I'm not so sure a "Cottage Rump" would sound a lot better.
I grew up eating this Cottage Butt on occasion, I suspect many of you did. Â My Mom would prepare it with potatoes and green beans.
My Dad says that when he was growing up it was always "pork shoulder butt" and that "cottage ham" is either a regional term or a newer term. Â Weird because when I really dig into this online it appears that the butt is actually the shoulder. Â You know, Â it's easy to get thrown off by the term "butt", but "butt" also has other meanings, like the "end", such as a cigarette "butt", so perhaps the shoulder butt is the end of the shoulder. Â Mystery solved?
The Amish, by the way, fix this dish. Â Most Amish - not all, but most - butcher their own pork and this cut of meat would be saved and served in a simple way with potatoes and green beans. Â Of course most Amish cooks would use home-canned stuff. Â Interestingly, Rhodes IGA in Millersburg, Ohio, heart of Amish country, had a special this past week on shoulder butts, so it shows the popularity of the meat in Amish country.
Bluegrass Meats has a recipe on their website for cottage butt the way my Mom fixes it. Click here.
Here is a recipe for barbecue using a cut of shoulder butt.
And if you just want to say "heck with the butt", I want pork chops, here is a great Amish recipe for superb pork chops.
Kathleen
I prefer the butt but what you call that butt we called cottage ham, wonderful cooked in green beans and a little onion added.
My first car was a 1957 Ford Fairlane, dueil carborator. We had a truck that was manul and yes it is a thrill to drive a stick. I was in my forties before I learned a stick, time for you yet.
Kevin
Good to know, Kathleen, maybe I can still learn!