How much fat to trim off in competitions?

I think you are missing a point here. Butts smoked for 14-16 hours have very little fat left on them. And what is left does not go into the judges. The Team Mom is very strict on us about that.

Having said that, I have seen teams that do not trim butts at all and other that trim as much as possible off. You have to find what you are comfortable with and run with it.

But if you do send in pork to the judges with fat on it, I feel comfortable in saying that the majority of judges would not look on it very kindly.

I don't trim my butts at all.

Yep,comp quality may have all the fat,for flavor and moisture,but only a large pound-possibly from three butts may, go into the box.

Like Ribdog says"Team Mom" allows nothing in the "actual judges' box" but the best bite they ever had.

We all feel that ,if we cook sixteen butts,they are "comp quality"

Yep,in our neck o' the woods,we throw out the few small fat pieces and the bone.

quote:

Originally posted by RibDog:
I think you are missing a point here. Butts smoked for 14-16 hours have very little fat left on them. And what is left does not go into the judges. The Team Mom is very strict on us about that.

Having said that, I have seen teams that do not trim butts at all and other that trim as much as possible off. You have to find what you are comfortable with and run with it.

But if you do send in pork to the judges with fat on it, I feel comfortable in saying that the majority of judges would not look on it very kindly.

Hmm, I just got done smoking one to 198 probe temp and it took about 16 hours at 224 degrees cook temp. At the end of the time (fat side up,) the butt still had about a 1/4" of fat on the one side where I did not trim it. It tasted amazing and had great texture but I realize that may not mean much when it comes to something that is judged in a competition.

From what you guys are saying it sounds like you smoke it fat side down, cook it to a higher internal temp, or cook at a higher temp, or something else?

Thanks for the help by the way.

I have two that I picked up last night and will try my luck again in a couple days. I will put mine on for 200 till the pb's stop taking smoke. I got a good idea of when it hits the wall, then I think I will crank my up maybe 250-265 and see if that will help it through that process.

IMO I would think that fat cap would keep it juicie.

I guess after couple weeks to tend to start thinking a little more...maybe not right.

Many of us have been taught by oldtime,good cooks that the longer butts stay in the plateau,the better job of breaking down collagen and rendering fat.

You have one,or two bites to make an impression on your six judges.

You could get 180.0000 points,possible.

Some of us have won,or lost state championships by a ten thousandth of a point.

As far as fat up,or down,that is up to the particular cook and how their cooker cooks.

Some may keep the fat between the heat and the meat they intend to turn in to the judges.

Some cooks may cook 6 to 8 butts,eight to 10 lbs each.

They have very specific pieces/bites that they prefer to turn in to the judges.

Maybe a pound ,or two to make an attractive presentation.

They may trash the rest,sell-if they are vending.

They may donate to the fire,police,garbage collectors at the cookoff.

Many restaurants,that are considered good,render all the fat they can,and chop the whole shoulder to serve diners.

Most comp cooks,at home,cook an eight butt case,and don't trim at all.

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish,not what is "correct"

Is it not right to think that that fat is taking energy from the smoker? Hence the need for more heat

Can't answer that myself. It makes my brain hurt just to try and think about it. I will venture to say that it would make Tom's brain hurt also.

Maybe our resident guru, Mr. Smokin will respond to this one.

I don't think you're on the right track with that one cal. Like Tom says, "leave it in at a set temp, low to cook longer and render more fat." I think RibDog is saying you're over thinking the process.

Pags,
I know I tend to over think to much, but if you have two hambugers(fat ones). The heat is turned up on one side of the grill and low on the other.With me so far? Which one will render fat faster? I know with this theory you must not cook to high though.Just a thought, seems I have a lot more thoughts about good Q than I did before I bought this smoker.

I guess you have to cook a large hunk of meat slowly to get the fat rendered, make it tender, and not make the outside look like it spend time on the surface of the sun. I let hamburgers and steaks rip(thin cuts), but cook looooooooowww and sslloooooow with large cuts in the smoker. They come out great that way. I didn't come up with the idea. The experienced folks led me that way.

Why reinvent the wheel when others have already done so? Read a little and listen to the advise of our pros. We all tend to experiment and over think these smokers when we first get them. I think I still send chills up Tom's spine but just not as much as I used to.

No need to make this difficult on yourself. If you like difficult, someone will buy your smoker, and you can get a stick burner to fool around with. What's nice about the Cookshacks--follow the advise/directions you'll find here, set it, forget it, let the smoker do its thing, then take all the credit for the great spread you've just concocted. The Cookshack folks deliberately made these smokers to be easy on us so why try to change that?

If you have a need to tinker, make your own rubs, sauces, and injections or go online and order some barbecue stuff. That's what I do. You should see my pantry. My wife's told me a few times, "Hey, the pantry's mine." Actually, I've overflowed into a couple cabinets.

Good barbecue to you.

Pags,
I hear ya, but I'm not doing comp cooking. If it was a big piece of beef I would diffently feel different. Have saying that, it would be nice to do a 7.5lb pb in 8 hrs and give someone eating it a taste that they never tasted before.I do know now that it will be much harder for me to eat Q at some shop.


And as far as trying something new. We would all be eating around a campfire if we wouldn,t have had to think a little!



That means there is no way your getting my cs, I'm not that nice of a guy.

I guess I'm suggesting start changing things after you've tried smoking PB's a few times on your new smoker following the advise of some pretty good cooks. Then once you've got it, go for it. Just seems like you're changing it before you really try it.

It's only my perspective. What it comes down to is what makes you happy. So the best of Q to you. If you find something that really floats your boat, let us know. If it's good, some of us might try it.

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
And as far as trying something new. We would all be eating around a campfire if we wouldn,t have had to think a little!

There's a difference between trying something new, and re-trying something that's been done and proven less effective a million times.

You could listen to Smokin, Pags, Tom or others, or read the old posts, and save yourself many mediocre results. But experimentation for fun is, well, fun.

We have a bunch of engineers around here,what with the defense industry,and the Space program.

It is nice to know we have folks that enjoy the deeper thoughts.

Had a couple, that I encouraged into the Smokette business.

They could make computers "sing".

The threads may still be around,where they used multiple probes on small butts,fed thru their computers, as they varied temps of the cooker,and internal temps of the pork in assorted colors,in real time ,throughout the cook.

They even posted the parts numbers and costs to build your own system from Radio Shack.

Their friends,around the country,could follow the action and use their own software to analyze and interpret the 24 hour cook.

Exciting,but not always for the faint of heart.

thanks Tom,
I did find some of the old threads and just loved the reading(thinking). It only made me thirst for information on the pb"s plateau.

I know I have to much time to do nothing but having good thoughts about Q. I have no engineers degree only my common sense, which always gets me in trouble.

I can only think that if the pbs are taking my 020's enery to break down, which I can easily see on my 020. That extra energy may lead to better rendering, maybe more complete rendering.

The way that my thoughts lead me this way is by thinking of frying bacon. A guy doesn't want it to lay ther soaking in grease. I know this is smoking not frying, but pork is pork.

Thanks again on the old threads!!!

I'm lost.

Are you trying to say that by trimming off the fat it will cook quicker? Well technically since you're reducing the overall mass, but trimming too much will lead to other issues, the most important one would be dry end product.

Why and who cares?

The key is the end result, not how you got there. Large cuts (brisket and butts) need time for the collagen to break down. During those long periods you need the fat to keep the meat moist.

The smoker, doesn't care if the meat is trimmed or not or the smoker has 1 or 4 PB's in there, it's just going to try and hold one set temp.

As they said, you can experiment all you want. Just keep good notes and try new things all you want.

Me? After 1,000's of PB's; at home I season them, throw them in my FE, set it for 250, check it at 1 hour per Pd and most of them are coming off.

No complaints so far.

Not competitions, I work a lot harder at. I inject them, then follow the above recipe.

Works for me