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Trim the fat on a Costco butt?

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P_Hop
P_Hop Posts: 5
in Pork
Looking to pick up a package of Boston Butts from Costco to cook for Thanksgiving.  I have used the ones from Costco before and they turned out great but they seem to have a large amount of fat on the top that did not create as much bark as I would have thought. I ended up cutting a good part of the top off when it was complete.  Do I cut out some of the fat prior to cooking or leave well enough alone an trim as needed at the end?
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    I trim all visible surface fat.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • JayHawkEye
    JayHawkEye Posts: 196
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    I would rather trim before and enjoy the bark/not waste rub on the fat. There is plenty of fat inside the butt to keep things moist.
    "Take yourself lightly, but what you do seriously." - M. Martin XL BGE - Johnston, IA
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  • Mighty_Quinn
    Mighty_Quinn Posts: 1,878
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    Remove fat for better bark. Its the rub and smoke that cause the bark, not fat...it melts and washes the rub (bark) away with it.
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    I trim before the cook, and yes there seems to be more fat of late on the Costco butts. Trimmed a good 4 to 5 oz of fat off the last 6# butt, the dog was very happy, she likes it nuked for about 2 minutes in 8 oz of tap water, served over Kirkland kibble. Darn near licked the bottom out of her dish.
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    Fill a small tin pan, like a loaf pan with "Old Glory" turnip greens. Place fat on top. Leave uncovered to retain smokey flavor and then cover.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • jbates67
    jbates67 Posts: 168
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    I used to leave the Costco butts as I go them and realized I was throwing away a lot of the flavorful bark. The last 4 I cooked, I trimmed as much of the fat as I could, pretty much all of it on the cap, rubbed it and did the usual low and slow with much better results bark wise, the pork was still plenty moist as well. I don't cook them without trimming the fat anymore.

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  • Mavs757mx
    Mavs757mx Posts: 7
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    I trim as well and find if I rub the butt down with yellow mustard and then work my rub in. The bark results are amazing!
    Large BGE and Weber Summit 670 on the weekend.  Blowing smoke out of the jet engines during the week!
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  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273
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    Trim.
    Cookin in Texas
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