CarneAtlas

Boston butt

Pork · Shoulder
RoastBraiseSmoke
Also called
🇬🇧Pork shoulder🇲🇽🇦🇷🇪🇸Paleta de cerdo🇫🇷Épaule de porc🇵🇹Pá de porco🇧🇷Paleta suína🇮🇹Coppa di spalla🇩🇪Schweinekamm🇦🇷Bondiola↗🇲🇽Carnitas↗
Raw Boston butt — Pork Shoulder cut

Mark Miller, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — Boston butt , boneless, tied.jpg

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Pork butt (Boston butt)

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Boston butt is the upper part of the pork shoulder, above the picnic. Despite the misleading name it comes from the shoulder, not the rear. It has generous fat content and connective tissue that renders down during long, slow cooking to produce meltingly tender, flavorful pulled pork. It is the most popular cut for American-style barbecue pulled pork.

Names by country

CountryNameNotes
🇺🇸United StatesBoston buttprimaryThe term 'butt' refers to the barrels (butts) in which colonial New England butchers packed the cut
🇬🇧United KingdomPork shoulder
🇲🇽MexicoPaleta de cerdo
🇦🇷ArgentinaPaleta de cerdo
🇫🇷FranceÉpaule de porc
🇪🇸SpainPaleta de cerdo
🇵🇹PortugalPá de porco
🇧🇷BrazilPaleta suína
🇮🇹ItalyCoppa di spallaSame muscle group used for cured 'capocollo'/'coppa'; sold fresh as 'coppa di spalla' or simply 'spalla di maiale parte alta'.
🇩🇪GermanySchweinekamm
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Boston butt

Porter Road · The cut itself

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Dry-aged and cut to order by a US butcher — this is the cut itself, not a search result.

Pork butt (Boston butt)

Similar cuts

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Classic recipe

Pulled Pork (Smoked Boston Butt)15 hr

Pulled pork is the American South's greatest contribution to barbecue — a whole Boston butt smoked for 12–16 hours until…

Get this cut right

Pulled Perfection Box + Meat Claws from Grill Masters Club

$59.99 · Ships free in the US · Grill Masters Club

Shred eight pounds of shoulder without burning your hands

  • Meat claws for shredding a whole shoulder
  • Two BBQ sauces and two rubs
  • Heat-resistant pulling gloves
  • Six pulled-pork recipes

Pulled Perfection Box + Meat Claws

Affiliate link — CarneAtlas may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Price checked 31 Aug 2026.

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More Shoulder cuts

Picnic shoulder

Picnic shoulder

Pork neck

Pork neck

Country-style ribs

Country-style ribs

Bondiola

Bondiola

All Shoulder cuts →

Sources