Well now,I ain't no "Big Gun",but I have cooked with a bunch.
IMO several of the folks here are partly/mostly correct.
I have had the good,or bad ,fortune to travel the whole South for well over 30 yrs and sought out bbq joints ,,
Other than NC,I very rarely heard the terms mentioned.
I can't ever remember them from cooks ,or judges.
Never in the rest of the country.
Next,some of the folks/writers we hear quoted,are taking bits and pieces of info that they may not really understand.
The quotes may come from folks in NC that are cooking whole hog, and they may serve Mr Brown-which is difficult to achieve on hog skin,and the split side of the hog may be mostly steam cooked.
The interior can have rub,and it can be burnt/crispy in places.Mr Brown?
Traveling that area,it differed from joint to joint.
Some joints may put the whole hog out in a big tray and you pick your pork.
Some use two cleavers,to finely shred the whole hog.
Others use a Hobart buffalo chopper,which eats a large butt at one bite.
Finer than hamburger.
Can't figure how this could be named.,anything.
The other side of NC cooks shoulders,and they talk some about Mr Brown and Miss White.
Some folks get a heavier dose of bark mixed into whatever is attached.
Yep,there is light and dark in a whole butt,and they taste somewhat different.
The bark can be a very small thing,a great thing,or a bad thing.
IMO eating straight bark,could be dried,oversmoked,overseasoned,oversalted.
Like the cooks here suggest,mixing in the flavorful bark laden pieces with the nonbark interior pieces could give a balance of moisture,pork flavor,flavor of the seasonings and smoke,and texture.
Makes sense when I eat.
As to what we all put in the box,only what we want the judge to sample.
They will take some of everything.
Anything less than the best,we can't risk a lower score on.
Memphis in May is an all pork contest and fully covers what many think of as the "Southern BBQ Belt.
They traditionally put half bark laden pieces in the box.
They then may add the other couple colors,maybe displayed in different manners.
I feel that the money muscle use came from some of the best MIM cooks and has spread from there.
Some folks will cook three 10 lb butts to get the money muscle to display in the box.
Smokin' could speak better to the area surrounding Kansas City,as they may cut thick,full slices across the best area of the butt.
Maybe a few chunks of bark pieces,maybe some more finely pulled.
Texas and some other areas can't spell pork,and Q joints can't give it away.
Yes ,they cook spares and might slip some ground butts into the beef hot links.
As to trimming,most guys cooking a dozen butts,season them up and cook them.
The slow cooking and the longer we hold them in the plateau,the more fat renders away and collagen breaks down.
If you have a fire to protect from,many put the fat side there.
When I used to cook one,in my Smokette,I'd try to do the very greatest.
I'd trim fat caps-until I'd lose half the pork.
I'd go with the rumors about top fat basted,as I cooked.
I'd tried 10 different time periods when to put the rub on.
I'd worry which rack,and five degrees difference in temps.
Then I got back to how the Southern cooks did it,when I'd work with them as a kid.
Open the cases of butts-supplied by the local small packing houses.
Fill a tub with rub,and roll the untrimmed butts around,until no more would stick.
Cook indirect, between 200* and 250*,where we could hold the fire.
Take off when you could wiggle,or remove the bone.
Most all the fat disappeared.
Toss all into a large tub to hold,until needed.
Cover with a couple feed sacks.
They take the larger pieces off by hand,throw the few scraps and the bone away.
Chop into chunks with a cleaver,as served.
Now we do about the same,except we have therms.
Big coolers.
My Smokette liked to run at about 235*at the cooking surface.
We may wrap and hold.
We can pull one in a couple mins,and it is difficult to find fat.
Mix the bark-always a bunch, with the pieces of different colors.
Add a little of our rub to taste.
If it has to set,we'll mix a little vinegar sauce-like Smokin's.
Fine eatin'.
If we had to do a case of butts,like I'd worry with one in the smokette,it would take a week.
We really can't tell any difference,when it comes to eatin'.
Like Smokin' says "try a ten lb butt each way"..
Worry/aggravate one to death with all the tricks and rumors we've read from the "gurus"
Just season the other with all that will stick, and cook it low and slow,until the bone will wiggle out of the butt.
Pull both,toss the scraps,season to taste with your rub
and a few squirts of smokin's vinegar sauce.
Well,I'd better get outa here,before someone accuses me a makin' a Smokin' post.
