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Pork Cuts Explained

written by

Stacie Edwards

posted on

June 13, 2022

Purchasing a whole or half hog can be overwhelming, especially if you have never done it before. Many have been left to complete a cut sheet on their own. What is a cut sheet? How do I fill it out? How do I know which cuts to choose?

In this article, we will discuss what a cut sheet is and the basic cuts from a hog.

What is a cut sheet?

A cut sheet is what the butcher uses to know which cuts of meat the customer is wanting from their animal. However, there are no explanations or details on the cut sheet and many customers are left wondering what in the world they are supposed to write down.

Hog Primal Cuts

The hog is broken down into 5 basic primal cuts: the loin, ribs, hams, shoulder, and belly. Out of these areas, you get a variety of cuts. Sausages are made from scraps and other sections of the hogs. We will go through each section below.

Loin

Loin provide us with pork chops pork chops, and tenderloin. There are several cuts here depending on what you want, but because several cuts share the same pieces of meat and/or bone, you can’t have everything. 

For example, if you want bone in pork chops, you will not receive baby back ribs because the rib bone is the same bone on a bone in chop.

Common combinations from the loin:

  1. Bone in pork chops: You can choose to have the tenderloin on the bone in chop or have the tenderloin whole and separated. When separated, they tend to be in the 0.75-1lb range. When choosing bone in chops, you will NOT receive baby back ribs.
  2. Boneless pork chops, baby back ribs, and whole tenderloin.

If you had something special in mind send us an email or call. The butchers can probably do it, but we will have to check before proceeding.

Ribs

Spare ribs are the most common cut here. They grill up amazingly and are an excellent summer treat. You will receive spare ribs in your pork share automatically.

Shoulder

Absolutely the best cut on the hog in our opinion. Also known as Boston Butt and Picnic shoulder. You can do a couple things here.

  1. Get one large roast for a big party: 4-5lb roast
  2. Get the shoulder split into half for two smaller roasts: 2-3lb roasts.
  3. Get shoulder made into shoulder steaks
  4. Turn the shoulder into sausage

We also recommend the two small roasts. They are perfect on the grill or in the oven. With two small roasts you can try one as is, and have another to experiment with sauces or seasonings or if you are splitting your share with other people, this makes it easier to split.

Hams

The ham is very similar to the front shoulder.

  1. Get one large roast for a big party: 7-9lbs
  2. Get the ham split into half for two smaller roasts: 3-5 lb roasts
  3. Get the ham made into ham steaks
  4. Turn the ham into sausage

Belly

From the belly comes bacon. If you don’t want bacon you can always turn it into sausage. If you do want bacon, it should be smoked for the ultimate in fine pork dining. Most packages in stores and farmers markets are 1 pound.


Sausage

Everything that isn’t made into delicious cuts is made into ground sausage. Anything that you don’t really want could be turned into sausage. Actually, if you wanted to turn the entire hog into sausage, you could do that.

Most sides of pork have enough meat to make two batches (or flavors) of ground sausage. Although on small hogs, there is only enough meat for one flavor. Our butchers require a certain poundage to mix the spices up in the proper ratios.

You can have just plain ground pork if you’d like some versatility in adding your own seasoning. Ground pork is great when cut with beef to make meatloaf, burgers, meatballs etc. Most common packages are 1 pound.


Oddballs

The leftover parts will be Fatback, leaf lard, soup bones, kidneys, heart, and liver.

The Fat back is great for rendering down and making suet blocks for the birds, making cured fatback, or adding to beans other cooking dishes.

Leaf lard is the classic source of cooking lard for pies and pastries.

Heart, liver and kidneys can be great in stews or used for dog treats. If you are using these for dog treats, we ask that you please talk to your vet prior.

We hope this helps you in feeling more confident about pork cuts. As always, if you have any questions, please email us at hello@edwardsfamilyfarmsns.com

To reserve half a pork share, click here.

To reserve a whole pork share, click here.

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