Had an old timer at Wilson's Meats teach me something about pork shoulder

I was helping break down a case of shoulders at Wilson's last Tuesday and this guy who's been there 40 years walks over. He grabbed a shoulder and worked the bone out with a butter knife in about 30 seconds flat. I still use a regular boning knife - has anyone else seen a trick like that work?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden_butler272mo ago

Learned a similar trick from an old butcher in Vermont using just a spoon.

johnson.jesse2mo ago

Not gonna lie, I'm always a little skeptical when someone says a spoon can do the same job as a proper tool. Like how serious is this trick really? If we're talking about shelling a hard boiled egg or something, sure, I can see it. But if it's about deboning a chicken or trimming fat, a spoon is just gonna make a mess and take twice as long.

elizabeth9001mo ago

Wait, a butter knife? Like the kind you spread butter on toast with? That can't be right, can it? I've got a good set of boning knives and I still manage to tear the meat up trying to get a shoulder bone out clean. There is no way a dull butter knife does that in 30 seconds without some kind of magic. I mean, I've seen old timers do some wild stuff with just their hands, but a butter knife on a pork shoulder sounds like something from a fairy tale. Either that guy has hands made of iron or he's been pulling a fast one on you.