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A pig isn't all ribs and bacon - here is a quick guide to pork cuts and where they come from on a pig?

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Are you confused by all the different Pork cuts?

How do you know what to order when you want to buy directly off the farmer?

You may know what you like to eat and cook but where does it come from? It’s not all bacon, ribs and chops.

A side of pork is half a pig, there is a lot you can do with it BUT there is only

  • 1 loin,

  • 1 shoulder,

  • 1 leg and

  • 1 belly on a side of pork.

    meaning you can’t get all ribs and chops.

That said a side of pork is versatile and you can grind, smoke or cure all of it if you want to.

To cut up a pig carcass we break it down into 4 Primals, then go on to break it down further into smaller pieces, like roasts and chops.

  1. Shoulder

  2. Loin

  3. Belly

  4. Leg

Shoulder

This breaks down into 2 sub-primals (and you should also get neckbones)

The Picnic and the Blade (the blade is more commonly known as the Boston butt - In colonial New England, butchers packed inexpensive cuts of meat into large barrels, called butts, for storage and transportation. The shoulder meat packed into these barrels became known as Pork butt.)

What cuts can you get from the shoulder?

  • Roasts

  • Steaks

  • Stew

  • Ground/Sausage

  • Neckbones - these are great for bone broth

  • Hock/Shank

Loin

The loin is the back of the pig. It’s where the tenderloin, back ribs and pork chops come from.

The tenderloin can be left in or taken out for an extra cut of pork. If you leave the tenderloin in you will get T-bone pork chops.

If you want back ribs you will have to have boneless chops or roasts.

What cuts can you get from the loin?

  • Roasts

  • Chops - Rib chops, t-bones, tomahawks, sirloin

  • Tenderloin

  • Back ribs

  • Cutlets

  • Stew

  • Ground/sausage

  • Back bacon

leg

What cuts can you get from the leg?

While roast pork leg is really popular in the UK it isn’t often seen in Canadian grocery stores. Here they are often made into hams.

  • Fresh Roasts - bone in or boneless.

  • Chops/steaks - bone in or boneless.

  • Cutlets

  • Stew

  • Ground/sausage

  • Ham/Gammon, bone-in/ boneless, steaks or roasts

Belly

What cuts can you get from the belly?

Bacon - in the UK we call it streaky bacon, here in Canada it’s just bacon, or side bacon.

Fresh pork belly - our Berkshire bellies are most popular fresh, wth customers either making their own bacon, pancetta or simply using them for their favourite bbq recipes.

Ground/sausage - the belly has a lot of fat so can be used to up the fat content when added to leaner cuts that have been ground.

Side ribs - St Louis, spare ribs, sweet and sour