picnic shoulder
- noun
- /ˈpɪknɪk ˈʃoʊldər/
- US
:
paleta de picnic
- The chef prepared a delicious roast using a picnic shoulder of pork.
Examples
-
The picnic shoulder is a favorite of those who enjoy the smoking of pigs.
-
Well, I'm gonna go with the picnic shoulder, 'cause, um, I just love smoking pigs.
-
After marinating overnight, the picnic shoulder was smoked to perfection.
-
For the barbecue, we decided to cook a whole picnic shoulder on the grill.
Synonyms
342
1.0
The meat from a pig that people eat
44
5.3
A cut of meat from the upper front leg of an animal like a pig
1
2.5
A piece of meat from a pig sold for cooking, like loin or shoulder
A shoulder cut of pork that is usually smoked and cheaper than other cooked pork
How Lean
Surface Forms
Morphology
picnic + shoulder
The noun 'shoulder' clearly signals a cut of meat, so part of the meaning (that it is a shoulder cut) is predictable from the constituents; however 'picnic' is not transparently related to a specific part or processing of the shoulder (it normally means an outdoor meal), and 'picnic shoulder' is a specialized butcher's name. Because the compound is a lexicalized meat-cut term whose specific referent (the lower part of the pig's shoulder, often smoked/cured) is not derivable from everyday meanings, a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would likely not infer the full meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Picnic shoulder comes from a simple idea: the lower part of a pig's shoulder was often cured or smoked and taken to a picnic because it was easy to carry and share. So picnic shoulder now means the lower part of the pig's shoulder, a 'cut of pork' often smoked or slow-cooked.