Trimming fat cap off pork butt before smoking

[BigD]

Hello all! I was wondering if it is beneficial to trim the fat cap off of a pork butt before smoking it? The reason I ask is I am planning to smoke 15+ boston butts next weekend for a party.

Trying to make things easier, I thought I would trim the fat cap off before cooking so I could toss the shoulders together and use a variation of the porkinator (porkinator.com) to shred the shoulders after smoking.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Happy Smoking!

[Spinaker]

I always remove the fat cap when I am doing pork shoulders. I don't like having those gobs of fat in the pulled pork, most people don't. The trimming on a pork should is much easier than a brisket, so it is not a big deal to remove the fat cap.

[LA Pork Butt]

I’ll second that!

[Steve B]

Exactly what Spinaker said. It also allows the salt to penetrate the meat and the rub the adhere better which equals more flavor and bark.

[Potkettleblack]

No cap = moar barq.
Barq is the reason for the season(ing).
Take em off. Or maybe leave a couple, but trim them much tighter.

[Thom Emery]

Fat is flavor
we mix it in and say "your welcome" when they go crazy over the eats

[Steve B]

Hmmmm. This sounds interesting. Almost like bits of pig candy mixed in with the pull. I know Spinaker will experiment with this technique.

[fuzzydaddy]

Thanks!

[texastweeter]

Same here

[smn1285]

I trim it back/off. There is plenty of other fat marbeled in that contributes. As stated many times above, more surface are of meat, more bark and flavor.

[RonB]

I don't mind leaving a tiny bit - less than 1/8", but I don't worry if there are bare spots either. There is really all you need within the butt.

[HawkerXP]

I also trim to leave just a thin layer. Pork butt / shoulder has lots of internal fat but like they say, "fat is flavor" it just depends on your customers. I see 15+ butts? yowzer!

[Thom Emery]

yep I likes my bark also

[Huskee]

Same. Less wads of fat in the pulled product the better, and more bark the better. And the pets love eating the trimming scraps. I very aggressively trim mine, I will even reach down in and hack away some internal fat bands while prepping, and my butts have a misshapen jagged appearance quite often because of this. I wouldn't take a pic of them for a BBQ cookbook, but I'd gladly offer my end product to anyone!

[Mudkat]

I'll take it! 😀

[Sweaty Paul]

I trim them off. My family and I don’t dig the texture of that kind of fat. Besides I want salt to get to the meat for my dry brining and personally I prefer the texture of meat.

[Jerod Broussard]

I left mine on tonight. I cut a sliver off to see how thick it was, and it might be just over 1/8". Trying to use up all my Pecan pellets so I can use my Mesquite on two briskets Friday night. I'm running fat cap up on the second to highest rack. Butt is experiencing about 264 degrees F. cooking temp.

I also mostly disconnected the money muscle so I could fold it out and get darn near 360 bark.

[kbremer]

I always trim....get more bark

[DWCowles]

I always leave the fat cap on my pork butts and put the fat cap down to help keep the meat from burning or drying out.

[Nightrayne]

I am somewhere in between. I trim the money muscle, but leave the layer of fat on the bottom in one piece. But, I also smoke my butts in half size hotel pans. This keeps the drippings, which I pour back over the pork after pulling. Since I leave the fat cap on the bottom, the actual meat isn't sitting in the drippings during the cook. I just slide the full fat cap off the meat after it is done and before pulling. Yup, I definitely get less bark this way - but the juicy tenderness of the pork is fabulous.

I will have to experiment with trimming it and see what that does to it overall. Always a different way to go about it!