Place the pork butt on the smoker grate fat side down. I love cooking outdoors over live fire and smoke whatever the weather, using various grills, smokers, and wood-fired ovens to produce epic food. Cooks that purchase pork tenderloin 1 2s at their local butcher or grocery meat counter will probably never need to deal with the fat issue. Many people like to use bbq sauce with pork belly. I did a cooking experiment one day with the same pork loin divided vertical style smokers that have the heat source directly under the About how long should I put it on the grill for? There may be a bit of fat on the underside, but usually, not much. Aiming to do bbq pulled pork. Some trim it off leaving the fat underneith. Joe explains that every smoker is a little different and that the heat source will come from different areas depending on how your smoker is designed. Our Advice on Pork Butt fat Side up or Down? Thinking slow cooking (like with pork ribs) would be The pork butt’s weight determines how long it needs to smoke. is not the same thing as a pork loin. Cup one hand along the side of the pork and use it to catch the rub and press it evenly onto the meat. Smoking Pork Loin Fat Side Up or Down Fellow smokers I have a question before my smoke. This could also result in a charred and crispy pork shoulder, and not in a pleasant way. If you’re not sure which side you want to go with, I would recommend smoking the belly with the fat side facing up and the next time you make this, try smoking the belly with the fat side facing down. Facebook Pinterest Instagram Print. Please leave us a comment down below letting us know what you do and why, so we can all learn from each other! While not all pitmasters wrap their meat in the final stages of a cook—in barbecue circles, wrapping in foil is known as the “Texas crutch”—wrapping is an effective way of finishing a long cook time without drying out the smoking meat (after 10 hours, a bone-in smoking pork shoulder should register an internal temperature of just over 200°F with a meat thermometer). Rump roast is so lean that it's often larded with extra fat in restaurants. The pork shoulder is high in fat, too. Step 2 - Pork shoulders have a half-inch or so thick fat cap. There’s a lot of disagreement on cooking pork butts fat side up or down. by: Bill. Preparing a smoked pork loin isn’t tricky. to smoke like briskets or pork shoulders. If your cooker has the meat sitting directly above the heat, putting the fat cap down creates a heat shield protecting the meat surface from drying heat. Then I'm going to finish it on the grill using indirect heat and smoke. At first glance, neither choice appears optimal. But whichever you're smoking, they're both great cuts of meat for the smoker. Fat side down is my recommendation; put the fat to the heat, even if indirect. Do whatever you want. © 2021 Food Fire Friends, All rights reserved. But in my opinion, you can You can put the shoulder in the smoker fat side up or down, I’ve had good results with either way of doing it. Pork loins lie along the top of the back of the hog, one on each side of the back bone. Smoke until there is a nice mahogany color on the outside of the pork butt and it has formed a nice bark (about 5 hours). Tenderloins require gentler cooking than the loins because of their tenderness. You do not need to remove all of the fat, and you should be careful not to trim too much, so you do not remove any of the meat below. What do you do when you cook a pork shoulder and why? 2. On many large cuts of meat like pork shoulder, there is a fat cap, a layer of hard white fat that sits on top of the meat. However in general you want the fat side up so the juices baste the meat while cooking. And the temperature on the trimmed side (blue) dropped due to evaporative cooling. Those who like fat side up, and those who like fat side down" now ow I know he was talking about brisket, but he is a fat side up guy, and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me Maybe one of the offset guys can chime in, but I believe with an offset the heat is coming across the top of the meat. Rump roast is so lean that it's often larded with extra fat in restaurants. I'm a self-proclaimed BBQ nut, and the founder and chief editor here at Food Fire Friends. Many people erroneously call pork loins tenderloins, and it just ain't so! The fat will remain on top of the meat, possibly render away and melt off of it basting the meat, but it will not penetrate deep into the meat as it cooks. How Can You Get it? This helps protect the It can be further divided into the pork shoulder butt, the picnic, and the shanks, or hocks. You are getting the best of both worlds. You just need to decide whether you want to end up with thin, moist slices or pulled pork style meat. As the fat melts, the juices drip down