Just cooked a butt... fat cap up or down?

ColAngus · July 2016

Just cooked a butt... total brain fart... fat cap up or down?

piney · July 2016

RedSkip · July 2016

Down. The fat does not render and make the meat moist. It travels the outside. Fat cap down forces the fat to stick to the grate and not your meat.

Others trim rim it off before cooking, more bark that way.

Darby_Crenshaw · July 2016

If you just cooked it, it is too late

anyway, doesn't matter.

Fat up won't baste the meat or melt down thru it. Good crust though maybe

Fat down? Comes off the grid easy, sometimes also gets a good crust from the slight radiant heat increase

reality? Doesn't matter one iota

AVEngineer · July 2016

Up for me and I score it and try to get rub into the cuts.

NonaScott · July 2016

Doesn't really matter. If you like more bark fat cap down or off. If you don't really care about the bark cook it however it lands.

ColAngus · July 2016

whew.

Master_of_meat · July 2016

Either up or down for me!!!!! Depends on how I'm feeling. Downs effect the end result to much IMO

cheeaa · July 2016

Fat cap side. Cause why not

JRWhitee · July 2016

doesn't really matter but if you like a good amount of bark do fat down.

buzd504 · July 2016

Down

bgebrent · July 2016

Doesn't matter.

JohnnyTarheel · July 2016

Trim it..... More Bark

StillH2OEgger · July 2016

Try it both ways and see what you like best. There's clearly no consensus. I have done it both ways and still have no preference.

nolaegghead · July 2016

fat cap should always be facing south, on the side, so mold doesn't grow on it. (provided you're in the northern hemisphere)

shtgunal3 · July 2016

nolaegghead said:

fat cap should always be facing south, on the side, so mold doesn't grow on it. (provided you're in the northern hemisphere)

Or remove it altogether.

blasting · July 2016

I believe a butt has enough fat inside to keep it moist. Additionally, the egg is a pretty moist cooking environment. For these reasons, I trim the fat to get more bark.

Fred19Flintstone · July 2016

Well, the fat cap issue seems to be covered. Now let's talk about wood chips or wood chunks and should we soak them or not.

JethroVA · July 2016

I score the fat and cook it down because I like the crust from the non-fat side up.

THEBuckeye · July 2016

I went down down down to a burning ring of fire

Legume · July 2016

Am I the only guy that cooks two at a time so I can lean them and have the cap on the side? I hate it when everyone argues.

Bojangles · July 2016

I always do 2 at a time. I trim the fat cap mostly off, then do that side down. I'm crazy about bark, so I always make that the priority and cook accordingly.