<P> Boston butt or pork butt is the American name for a cut of pork that comes from the upper part of the shoulder from the front leg and may contain the blade bone . Boston butt is the most common cut used for pulled pork, a staple of barbecue in the southern United States . When smoked and cured, the cut is sometimes called a picnic ham, as the resulting meat closely resembles a ham taken from the hind leg . In Louisiana cuisine, cured, smoked, and spiced pork shoulder is called tasso ham . </P> <P> In the United Kingdom, Boston butt is known as pork shoulder on the bone, since regular pork shoulder normally has the bone removed and then rolled and tied back into a joint . </P> <P> In pre-revolutionary New England and into the American Revolutionary War, New England butchers tended to take less prized cuts of pork like hams and shoulders and pack them into barrels for storage and transport, known as a butt . This particular shoulder cut became known around the country as a Boston specialty, and hence it became the "Boston butt". In the UK it is known as "pork hand and spring", or simply "pork hand", or, as noted above, "pork shoulder on the bone". </P> <P> In Latin American Spanish the cut is known as paleta de puerco, and is the main ingredient in the Mexican dish carnitas and in the Caribbean dishes lechon asado and pernil . </P>

Why is it called a boston butt roast