Fat cap!!!

SmokingTheHog

Any ideas or thoughts on whether I should smoke a pork butt /shoulder fat side up or down? I usually do it fat side down and just score the fat, but I've heard that it's fat side up only. 

Foghorn

Great question.  Many like fat up so the fats drips through the meat as it renders.  Aaron Franklin said that for a brisket he prefers fat side up - but if he were cooking on an egg, he would put the fat down as the heat comes from below and he would rather burn the fat (hopefully nothing would burn but you get the idea).

I've taken this thought and decided that fat up is OK on an egg - only if you REALLY protect the meat from any direct rising heat.  So, now I make sure I have a drip pan (sometimes just aluminum foil) on my platesetter that blocks the entire silhouette of the meat by a couple of inches on all sides.  And the drip pan needs to be raised a little off the platesetter (with balls of foil or anything that you like) to get an air gap between the pan and the platesetter to minimize any direct heat transmission.  My brisket seemed to improve when I adopted this practice so I've stuck with it for all my cooks. 

RRP

Personally I have never found that it makes any difference. After all that fat will end up in your drip pan either way.

NPHuskerFL

Not a huge difference one way or the other on an egg. I go cap down on brisket's and butt's in the egg and before on stick burners went up. 

fishlessman

all the rub gets removed when the fat comes off, when I cook butt, NO fat cap, I like the crunchy seasoned bark

Eggcelsior

Fat won't seep through the meat, it just melts off and runs down the sides. If you want, you can face it towards the heat source to act as a buffer, but I usually trim it down for more bark.

SmokingTheHog

Thanks guys, I think I'll stay with the fat side down, it's worked great for me in the past so why change things up!!! 

Grillin_beers

I'll be honest I've done enough butts to know it really doesn't matter. However it goes on is how I put it on the egg.  

badinfluence

Personally I trim the fat off of a butt before I put rub on and before I cook a butt.

cottonseed

Fat cap down for protection from direct heat.
Score/crosshatch it for bark and rub penetration.

I dont buy into the theory that fat melts and goes back into the meat. 

jtcBoynton

Neither. Trim the cap so you get a good bark on both sides of the butt (I like to leave some to be incorporated into the pulled meat).  I have never been convinced that the fat cap adds any value to the cook.  If you don't plan to eat it when done cooking, remove it.

saluki2007

While everyone made great points, I prefer to do it down so that way if anything sticks to the grid it's the fat and not a good piece of bark.

JohnnyTarheel

Agree with @jtcBoynton .....  I trim fat cap down and put that side down... I end up with more bark and just as moist.....

Photo Egg

I also trim the fat cap almost completely off. I think the fat cap makes one side of your butt cook slower, wastes rub and prevents a good bark where the fat is thick. 

MrCookingNurse

Last time I did a but I scored it about 1/2 squares and it actually cooked down and I all the squares! Lol. It was awesome. 

I always do fat up because I believe the fat will bathe the meat as it renders. 

pgprescott

Makes a difference on brisket IMO. No difference on pork butt. Fwiw, I cook briskets fat down to offer a small buffer between the flat and the heat source. 

Jstroke

On butts I remove the fat cap. I want maximum bark.

lousubcap

Fat cap down-heat shield and the "if it sticks it's fat..." camp.

HoustonEgger

I've always done fat cap up - but I score the fat and it creates nice little snackable bites later on.

Here's a great article on the entire theory - http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_fat_caps.html

Basically - do it the way you like, it doesn't really matter.

GaryDZ

JohnnyTarheel said:

Agree with @jtcBoynton .....  I trim fat cap down and put that side down... I end up with more bark and just as moist.....

Thanks to the person who asked the question---  I am doing a 9 pounder this weekend.   I will trim the Cap and see how it goes.  Anything to get more bark. 


Question for the people who do Cap Up/Down....    Any minus for trimming the Cap?

fishlessman

seems a waste to cook it on the butt, cut it off and freeze it for later use like for making sausages

Eggcelsior

fishlessman said:

seems a waste to cook it on the butt, cut it off and freeze it for later use like for making sausages

Or mixed into the 93/7 ground beef your wife continually buys.