On May 3, 8:48*pm, John Kuthe > wrote:
> On Thu, 3 May 2012 17:15:50 -0700 (PDT), Bryan
>
> > wrote:
> >On May 2, 10:27*pm, John Kuthe > wrote:
> >> On Wed, 2 May 2012 20:38:57 -0500, (z z) wrote:
> >> >crockpot recipe called for "pork shoulder or butt" and tonight I bought
> >> >at the store a hunk of pork that says shoulder and butt on the label.
> >> >Same thing?
>
> >> Who woulda thunk that a pig's butt and shoulder are the same thing?
> >> ;-)
>
> >> It's what you slice 1/2 inch thick and call "pork steaks" too! A
> >> Midwest thing. My niece went to NYU and had to call her mother to find
> >> out what to ask the NY butcher for to get "pork steaks"!
>
> >Those things are tough as nails
>
> ...
>
> Not tough as nails. Not even as tough as the toughest steak I ever
> had, which was in Fredericktown recently at the Olympic Steakhouse
> which serves industrial grade beef, I'm convinced. It used to be
> really cheap and they have a pretty good salad/dessert buffet. But I
> went there recently and their prices have gone up considerably (I'll
> never go again!) plus it was the toughest damned steak I ever had!

A sirloin? Beef can certainly be the toughest if overcooked, and
ungraded old cattle especially, but pork is by tradition cooked well
done.
>
> But anyway, getting back to pork steaks: they are not nearly as tough
> as you make them out to be. IMHO. But you are correct, slow cooking is
> essential to render the fat and tenderize them, in sauce if possible.
> Smoking them for several hours would be pretty good too, although I've
> never had a smoked pork steak.

The way they're usually cooked is too fast, and pork fat is less well
distributed. Pork chops--which are analogous to T-bone/porterhouse--
can be tender, and are more often cooked less than well done. Pork
shoulder is just tough. I've even slow smoked them, at least to the
extent that one can using a Weber Kettle. There just isn't enough
intramuscular fat to make it tender. Same with chicken breast, though
that is much more finely textured. Slow roasting chickens breast-
down, then flipping them to brown the skin helps.
>
> John Kuthe...

--Bryan