Mastering the Grill_ The Owner's Manual for Outdoor Cooking - Andrew Schloss [41]
All parts of a pig are tender enough to grill. The cuts, ranging from most tender to toughest, are shown in the chart on page 58.
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CUTS OF PORK FOR GRILLING, FROM MOST TENDER TO TOUGHEST
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LOIN The loin of pork is cut extra long to maximize the number of cuts that can be derived from this, the tenderest part of the pig. It runs between the shoulder and the leg and includes four areas from which chops are taken: blade end, ribs, loin, and sirloin, plus the tenderloin. Blade chops are made up of several muscle groups striated with fat and punctuated with multiple bones (see Chop 1 below). They can be fairly chewy unless they are marinated or brined. When blade chops are split open, they are sold as country-style ribs. Chops cut from the rib section are called “center cut”; they have a large, uninterrupted eye that is ideal for stuffing, and an arched rib bone (see Chop 2). Loin chops are similar except that they have a T-bone separating a smaller eye from a section of tenderloin (see Chop 3). Pork sirloin chops have more bones, more fat layers, and slightly tough meat, although they are still tender enough to grill (see Chop 4).
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PORK LOIN CHOPS
1. Blade
2. Center-cut rib
3. Loin
4. Sirloin
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A pork tenderloin is small, usually just large enough to serve two people. Like other tenderloins, it is buttery soft and expensive, although pork tenderloin is not nearly as pricey as beef or veal. The ribs from the loin are also diminutive, and consequently are called “baby back.” They are meaty and leaner than spareribs from the belly.
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LEG A leg of pork comprises the ham (thigh) and the shank (lower leg). A whole fresh ham can weigh from 14 pounds to more than 26 pounds and yields 6 to 12 pounds of meat. It is composed of three muscle groups, which can be sold separately as inside round, outside round, and knuckle.
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BELLY Pork belly is a flavorful cut that is laden with fat, best known as the cut from which bacon is made. Its bones are sold as spareribs. There are at least 11 ribs in a rack of spareribs, and the cut includes portions of breast meat, the sternum, and the diaphragm. When these sections are trimmed, the rack takes on a rectangular shape and is sold as St. Louis ribs.
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SHOULDER Pork shoulder is a tough and fatty cut that is best for making pulled pork barbecue. It is composed of two sections, either of which makes delicious pulled pork. The upper shoulder, the Boston butt, is the larger of the two. The meat from the arm is sold as picnic ham.
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CUTS OF PORK FOR GRILLING
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GRADES OF PORK Pork grades are simpler than beef grades. Labeled 1 through 4, they are an evaluation of the ratio of lean meat to fat, with number 1 yielding the highest proportion of lean. Almost all of the pork sold to consumers is number 1 grade.
10. Lamb
The average meat-eating person in the United States consumes only a little more than 1 pound of lamb per year, yet it is the most popular meat in Mediterranean countries, which makes it an essential meat for any American who loves to cook. Most people expressing distaste for lamb complain that it has a strong flavor and a musky aroma, which can be said about the meat of mature sheep (mutton) but not the delicate young lamb that is sold today.
Lamb comes from animals that are between 5 and 12 months old, although the majority of the lamb sold in supermarkets is from the young end of that spread. Lamb older than 12 months (called yearling) is rarely seen, and mutton (sheep older than 2 years) is usually available only through halal butchers or in communities with a voracious Anglophilic palate.
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New Zealand, Australia, China, and Iceland all export lamb to the United States. Domestically,