Porkbutt Sale

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 14:03

I just got my morning newspaper and see that this weeks specials at my local Safeway market include whole pork shoulder sold in the bag, 99≠ per pound. I wait for this price and wasn't sure it was going to happen this year due to the increase in corn-feed. Last years 120 pounds are long gone, the freezers are freshly defrosted with plenty of room, and I will be jumping on this sale like a kid on a trampoline! I even have one coupon left from when my wife and I got our flu shots at the Way a couple months back, we each received a 10% off shopping chit that's good till February. They open at 6am, about a hour from now. I'll give them a little extra time to ensure they have enough out for me! RAY

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 18:37

That is a very fine price! I have a few times stumbled upon good deals like that. 100 pounds must be nearly a cart full.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 19:26

False alarm! They were not the "whole shoulder in-the-bag" as advertised, which are usually in the 16 to 20 pound range. What they had was half the shoulder, with quite a bit of the fat trimmed off. Not what I'm looking for at this time, or any other time. I'll just keep a sharp lookout, this is right about the time I scored last year. RAY

Post by **redzed** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 02:29

Ray, I looked at the ad and I sure would grab it at that price. It still has the blade bone it it but that is easy to remove and has good meat right up to it. I'd buy a couple for testing to see how much waste there is after boning and what the meat looks like. The pic shows a neatly trimmed piece, but often that is not what you actually get. I always prefer to use well trimmed meat for sausage and add pork back fat if want or need more fat. Back fat in sausage is superior to the soft, membrane encased fat from the the shoulder. I buy a box of nice hard backfat for buck a pound. You should be able to get it for less than that.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 04:42

redzed wrote:Ray, I looked at the ad and I sure would grab it at that price. It still has the blade bone it it but that is easy to remove and has good meat right up to it. I'd buy a couple for testing to see how much waste there is after boning and what the meat looks like. The pic shows a neatly trimmed piece, but often that is not what you actually get. I always prefer to use well trimmed meat for sausage and add pork back fat if want or need more fat. Back fat in sausage is superior to the soft, membrane encased fat from the the shoulder. I buy a box of nice hard backfat for buck a pound. You should be able to get it for less than that.

I already have a couple of those roasts in my freezer Chris. I like to get the whole shoulder, before trimming of any kind, and it gives me all the fat I want and need. What I want will come up in a week or two, or else I'll just lump $1.19lb at Smart & Final or Sam's Club, it's the principle of the entire affair. I'm on a pretty fair relationship with the second-in-command at my local Way's butcher department and I'll have a bit of fun with this, he's eaten my sausage more then once. Buying the whole shoulder before anything gets trimmed off means never having to take a special trip to another store,(24 miles each way), just to get some backfat that wasn't needed in the first place. The last backfat I bought cost me $1.65lb and took a 50 mile round trip in a truck that gets 15 mpg at best. I've had pretty fair luck just grinding up the fat that was attached to the rest of the meat on the shoulder, so I'll most likely be waiting around till what I want hits me in the face, unless my wife decides to give me a good smack before then.

RAY