Rookie Butt

This is one that has been debated a fair amount on this forum. There are those who say put the fat on the top because it makes the meat more moist (somehow the fat runs through the meat and moistens it) and those who say put the fat on the bottom to maximize the amount of bark you'll get from your rub. I put the fat on the bottom, but I am not sure you can go wrong either way.

there was a good discussion yesterday on butt, you might slide down the page and take a quick look. t

Technically you can do them either way; however, lets put some logic to it. Fat really does not allow the spices of your rubs to penetrate. If you put fat side up you are putting what spices you have to the heat. It gets burned off and washed away with the fat dripping from the cooking process. Furthermore you have all that fat flowing through the meat. As the meat cools off this solidifies into grease.

Rub up the meat put the fat to the heat (down). As that fat breaks down all it does is go into the drip pan.The spices on the meat stay on the meat. The fat give you that much more of a barrier between the heat and the meat.

Brisket or Pork.. Fat Down...

Pulled Pork

I guess i stand corrected

You can sit :woohoo:

I am going to have to try trimming off the fat next cook. That makes sense to maximize the amount of bark on the butt--I like it.

Pete, believe it or not, there are people that like to eat the bark...and sometimes more of a good thing is a good thing. I will argue that bark does add to overall taste if properly mixed into the final product.

It boils down to personal preference, everyone can be correct in this situation.

I said it doesn't add much to the flavor. Granted it does add. Most people grab the little pieces of bark because it looks and feels like bacon.

besides the fat cap shrinks down as it cooks off. Guess what is left at the end of 16 hours of cooking.. Yep you guessed it.. BARK.

I just don't see a reason to waste time trimming the fat cap off.

Yep..

We are up in Huntsville.