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Chuck Talk

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Contrary to popular opinion, the cut of beef known as the chuck is not named after its discoverer. “Chuck” is the same word as “chock” or “chunk,” coming from a French dialect word meaning a log or piece of wood. You get the chuck by removing the shank and all but five of the ribs from a beef shoulder, and the result is a big square block; definitely a chunk. (There’s actually a chunk within the chuck. If a butcher removes the largest muscle of the chuck to sell separately, it’s called the clod.)

The other end of a side of beef from the chuck is the hind leg, but of course we call that the round. Sure, it may not be the roundest thing you ever saw, but it is the roundest part of the cow.

If you compare these beef cuts to those of a pig, the round becomes the ham. (A bad actor is known as a ham too, because of the old-fashioned use of ham fat as a cheap way to remove makeup.)

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And the “chuck” of the pig is known as the Boston butt. Though this name suggests Boston butchers sneakily trying to manufacture an extra “ham,” the word “butt” just means the thick end of something.

But follow closely here: The “picnic shoulder” is mostly pork foreleg, with just a bit of shoulder attached (it’s the only “shoulder” that’s located below a butt). That’s odd, and what makes it a picnic shoulder? Well, when this cut isn’t sold as a roast or sliced into arm chops, it’s cured to make picnic ham, which evidently got its name because it’s smaller and more portable, and a less appropriate cut of meat for a formal meal, than a real ham.

On the other hand, maybe Chuck just wanted to call it that.

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