Retail Meat ID Pork Primal Cuts: Ham/Leg and Shoulder

Chad Schimmels & Dr. Dennis Burson Author

09/05/2024 Added

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This presentation in the retail meat identification series will cover pork primal cuts ham/leg and shoulder.

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[00:00:00.840]This presentation in the Retail Meat Identification Series will cover pork
[00:00:06.200]primal cuts ham leg and shoulder. This is the pork primal cut ham or leg. For
[00:00:14.000]quick clarification, the ham is if it has been smoked or cured and the leg is if
[00:00:19.880]it's fresh. Either way, the ham leg comes from the back leg of the pork carcass.
[00:00:26.400]This is pork out of the leg center slice. Pork center slice is identified the same
[00:00:34.760]way that a lamb center slice or a beef round steak is identified, by looking at
[00:00:41.480]the trapezoidal shaped muscle, heart-shaped muscle, and the big long
[00:00:45.620]muscle curved on one end. When you find this configuration, you know that it
[00:00:50.800]comes from the back leg. This is fresh pork out of the leg center
[00:00:55.940]slice.
[00:00:58.360]This is pork out of the leg rump portion. The face that we are looking at right
[00:01:10.780]now is the center slice because of the big long muscle curved on one end, the
[00:01:15.640]heart-shaped muscle, and the trapezoidal shaped muscle. I see these and you see
[00:01:21.220]the center slice. Now look for the pelvic bone or the shank.
[00:01:25.480]The shank is not there but the pelvic bone is so this is pork out of the leg
[00:01:30.760]fresh rump portion.
[00:01:34.880]This is pork out of the leg shank portion. Again we can see the center
[00:01:47.660]slice because you see the big long muscle curved on one end, the heart-shaped
[00:01:52.440]muscle, and the trapezoidal shaped muscle.
[00:01:55.020]When we see the center slice we either look for the pelvic bone or the shank
[00:01:59.740]bone. Since the pelvic bone is not there but the shank is, this is pork out of the
[00:02:06.460]leg and it's fresh so this is shank portion roast.
[00:02:12.420]This is pork out of the leg top roast boneless. The pork leg
[00:02:24.560]top roast boneless is the muscle system from the top portion of the ham and is
[00:02:29.480]located on the inside leg of the pork carcass. This is a large muscle system
[00:02:35.600]from the hind leg and can easily weigh from 4 to 6 pounds. The muscle will
[00:02:41.600]usually totally be denuded which means all the external fat has been removed.
[00:02:46.480]The cut can be identified by its size and shape and the exposed surface below
[00:02:53.360]where the
[00:02:54.100]ham collar was removed. The muscle in this cut is a semimembranosus muscle.
[00:02:59.940]This is pork from the leg tip roast boneless.
[00:03:10.660]The pork leg tip roast boneless is the muscle system or quadriceps muscles on
[00:03:18.180]the side of the ham that connect the knee to the joint of the ham. This is a smaller
[00:03:23.640]muscle system from the hind leg and can easily weigh from two to three pounds.
[00:03:28.740]The muscle system will usually totally be denuded with all of the external fat
[00:03:35.040]removed. Seam fat between the muscles can still be seen though. The cut can be
[00:03:41.480]identified as having more than one muscle system and by small cut surface
[00:03:46.360]where the kneecap was removed.
[00:03:53.180]This is pork from the ham smoked center slice. The way to identify the smoked
[00:04:04.000]center slice is the exact same way you identify this fresh center slice, except
[00:04:09.560]that this one's been smoked or cured. You see the big long muscle curved on one end,
[00:04:14.600]the heart-shaped muscle, and the trapezoidal shaped muscle, and it's been
[00:04:19.100]smoked. That makes this a smoked center slice.
[00:04:22.720]This is pork out of the ham smoked ham boneless. Smoked ham boneless can look
[00:04:37.260]several different ways or be presented in several different ways. The way the
[00:04:42.260]view that we have here looks more like a lunch meat that you would slice. You
[00:04:46.940]could also bone out a ham and roll it up and tie it with string or put it in a
[00:04:51.140]netting.
[00:04:52.260]But it is boneless smoked and cured piece of pork. That is the identifier for
[00:04:58.080]the pork out of the ham that is smoked and cured boneless ham.
[00:05:02.080]This is pork out of the ham smoked rump portion. Again you can see the center
[00:05:17.140]slice which you can identify by the trapezoidal shape muscle, the heart-shaped
[00:05:21.800]muscle and the big long muscle curved on one end. When I see the
[00:05:26.100]I look for the shank or the pelvic. In this picture, the shank is gone, but the pelvic is there.
[00:05:32.090]Since this is smoked and cured, this is pork out of the ham, smoked rump portion.
[00:05:46.090]This is pork out of the ham, smoked shank portion.
[00:05:52.090]I can see the center slice with the big long muscle curved on one end, the heart-shaped muscle, and the trapezoidal shape muscle.
[00:06:01.090]When I see the center slice, I always look for the shank or the pelvic bone.
[00:06:06.090]In this picture, the pelvic bone is not there, but the shank is.
[00:06:10.090]So this is pork out of the ham. Because it's been smoked, it is a smoked shank portion.
[00:06:18.350]The primal cut pork shoulder is made up of the Boston shoulder and the picnic shoulder.
[00:06:30.350]This is just the front shoulder of the pork carcass.
[00:06:34.350]This is pork out of the shoulder, arm, picnic.
[00:06:39.350]The way I explain to students how to identify this is that they think about the pork carcass,
[00:06:46.350]and it's hanging up in the air.
[00:06:48.350]And it's hind leg, and both halves are still together.
[00:06:52.350]To split the hams apart, you split straight down the back, and that's what splits them apart.
[00:06:58.350]And then you just cut it off of the loin, so there's only basically two sides of the ham that have been exposed.
[00:07:07.350]But with the pork shoulder, because the way that the pork animal is,
[00:07:11.350]to get the shoulder out, they have to cut it in three different sides of exposed lean.
[00:07:17.350]And so it seems kind of tricky to begin with,
[00:07:20.350]but if you start visualizing the way the animal is built, this becomes much easier.
[00:07:25.350]So this is pork shoulder arm picnic.
[00:07:35.350]This is pork out of the shoulder arm roast.
[00:07:40.350]Well, the really nice thing about teaching meat identification is that the muscle structure
[00:07:46.350]and the bone structure in all three species is the same.
[00:07:50.350]So when I'm looking at this, I see the triangular triceps complex, the biceps brachii,
[00:07:56.350]the deep pectoral, and I can point those out just like I did in lamb or beef.
[00:08:02.350]And this comes from the front of the animal, so this is pork out of the shoulder arm roast.
[00:08:15.350]This is pork out of the shoulder arm steak.
[00:08:20.350]The muscle separation on this cut is a little more difficult to see,
[00:08:24.350]but if you look closely, you can see the triangular triceps complex of muscles,
[00:08:30.350]the deep pectoral, and the biceps brachii.
[00:08:34.350]All of these things tell me that it's from the shoulder.
[00:08:38.350]This is pork shoulder arm steak.
[00:08:42.350]This is pork out-of-the-shoulder blade Boston roast.
[00:08:52.350]Because of the way the scapula or the blade bone lays in the animal,
[00:08:57.350]where we cut the blade when we cut the top half of the shoulder off,
[00:09:01.350]you're going to end up with the blade bone exposed on two sides.
[00:09:06.350]And you see this generally in a square, and you know this is pork.
[00:09:12.350]So this is pork out of the shoulder blade Boston roast.
[00:09:23.350]This is pork out of the shoulder blade steak.
[00:09:29.350]The blade steak or blade chop can be confusing,
[00:09:32.350]but I tell students the simple rule I use is to look for the backbone.
[00:09:37.350]If the backbone is there, it's pork out of the loin blade chop.
[00:09:41.350]But if the backbone is there,
[00:09:42.350]it's pork out of the shoulder blade steak.
[00:09:46.350]As a colleague of mine once said,
[00:09:48.350]"No chine, no chop."
[00:09:50.350]So this cut itself does not have the chine bone,
[00:09:54.350]so it is a steak.
[00:09:56.350]So this is pork out of the shoulder blade steak.
[00:10:08.350]This is pork out of the shoulder smoked pig.
[00:10:11.350]Smoked picnic hole.
[00:10:15.350]Again, the way to identify a picnic on an arm picnic
[00:10:18.350]or picnic hole, as you can see,
[00:10:21.350]there are three sides of exposed lean here,
[00:10:24.350]and it looks more rounded because it was held in a sack
[00:10:27.350]and hung up, but it's still exposed lean on three sides.
[00:10:33.350]Still has the picnic bone.
[00:10:36.350]This is pork out of the shoulder arm smoked cured picnic.
[00:10:40.350]Thank you.
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Retail Meat ID Pork Primal Cuts: Ham/Leg and Shoulder

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