Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Pork Butt - Trim or not trim

Gaprofitt
Gaprofitt Posts: 9
edited December 2011 in EggHead Forum
Hi All,

Picked up my first pork butt at the local grocery store,
how do I know if I need to trim it or not? It says ready to cook, if I
do need to trim how do I do it, I have no clue on this part.

Thanks,

Greg
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    I trim them. It's a matter of choice really but the pull will have plenty of fat without. I think the bark is better too.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gaprofitt
    Gaprofitt Posts: 9
    Exactly what do I cut off, excuse the ignorance, dig out the white fatty section, etc?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Hillbilly-Hightech
    Hillbilly-Hightech Posts: 966
    When we get pork butts to use for pulled pork, we do a mixture of both - try to get the internal membrane-like fat, as well as the external gelatinous fat.  You're never going to get ALL of it, nor would you want to, as the fat is what provides flavoring, and I believe juiciness as well. 

    There really is no mathematical formula for "how much" or "how little" to trim, but for health reasons (cholesterol, etc), obviously you'd wanna trim the huge amounts of fat externally.

    When I was helping my GF awhile back, I was using a new Shun knife to trim, and I was getting all into it & going "hog wild" (no pun intended) w/ trimming away, and she looked over & basically said that I didn't have to trim all the stuff I was trimming - but I was having so much fun seeing how thin I could trim the fat from the meat w/out cutting off the meat.  heheh...
    Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup... Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. - Bruce Lee
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gaprofitt
    Gaprofitt Posts: 9
    Sweet, im gonna hack away and fire up the grill..
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Yes as HH said, get as much of the surface fat as you can easily.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stilllaughing
    stilllaughing Posts: 143
    When it comes to the fat cap I leave it on and cook the butt cap side down because whatever is touching the grid or rack will stick. So when I pull it off the only thing I lose because of being stuck to the grill is fat. I trim everything else.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories