Boston Butt fat

[peteramone]

Going to smoke a Boston Butt roast (US description), do I remove the skin & fat layer or leave it on. In england it is called A shoulder of Pork and it is left on when roasting and usually crisps up to make crackling (you may call it pork rinds).

[Oldman]

Interesting to say the least.  I would remove the skin and trim the fat to 0.762 centimeter. (About 1/3 of an inch.)

Olds

[whitetailfan]

Like Olds says...I always remove the skin.  I'm surprised you butcher did not...perhaps its a cultural thing.  Leave on a reasonable fat layer to keep the meat moist.  You are going to break down all the connective tissue in the meat but the fat will remain in small part depending how much is rendered out.  It's good for total flavour and texture most importantly.  Good luck.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[peteramone]

I am about to buy my shoulder and I can now get it skinned as described, Thanks for the info.

[Bad Flynch]

A layer of fat is the norm in the States; pork in general, and butts in particular, no longer ship with the skin on here. A layer of fat not only adds a buffer to keep moisture in, but it seems to soak up smoke flavor at a high rate. Later on, if you leave some of the fat on, the fat's smoky flavor enriches the meat's smoky flavor. (or so it seems) A fat flavor is part of the Butt's characteristic magic, so please do not remove all of it, either before or after smoking.

It may be a regional choice, but cooked skin pieces are rinds and rendered fat peices are cracklin's (note: no g in normal use, especially in the South). The Boston Butt is, here also, part of the shoulder, but the then shoulder is further subdivided. Some meat wholesalers still supply whole shoulders as "primal cuts." If you bought a whole shoulder, you could cut it into a Boston Butt and a Picnic Shoulder. Picnic Shoulder makes Picnic Ham after curing, of course. Our Picnic Ham or Shoulder Ham is the U.S. rough equivalent of the Italian Cappicola. I say rough equivalent because Cappicola is an elegant product meant for fine eating and Picnic or shouder ham is meant as a poor man's substitute for the real thing. I ate a lot of picnic ham as a boy. Now that it is no longer the 1950s and times are different, I might have to retry some. Have fun.

(Edited for spelling 7/5/05)

B.F.

[JJC]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bad Flynch</i>
<br />A layer of fat is the norm in the States; pork in general, and butts in particular, no longer ship with the skin on here. A layer of fat not only adds a buffer to keep moisture in, but it seems to soak up smoke flavor at a high rate. Later on, if you leave some of the fat on, the fat's smoky flavor enriches the meat's smoky flavor. (or so it seems) A fat flavor is part of the Butt's characteristic magic, so please do not remove all of it, either before or after smoking.

It may be a regional choice, but cooked skin pieces are rinds and rendered fat peices are cracklin's (note: no g in normal use, especially in the South). The Boston Butt is, here also, part of the shoulder, but the then shoulder is further subdivided. Some meat wholesalers still supply whole shoulders as "primal cuts." If you bought a whole shoulder, you could cut it into a Boston Butt and a Picnic Shoulder. Picnic Shoulder makes Picnic Ham after curing, of course. Our Picnic Ham or Shoulder Ham is the U.S. rough equivalent of the Italian Cappicola. I say rough equivalent because Cappicola is an elegant product meant for fine eating and Picnic or shouder ham is meant as a poor man's substitute for the real thing. I ate a lot of picnic ham as a boy. Now that it is no longer the 1950s and times are different, I might have to retry some. Have fun.

(Edited for spelling 7/5/05)

B.F.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hey Olds,

Think we aughta get BF involved in the meat cuts project?  Sounds like he knows quite a bit . . . [;)][;)]

John
Newton MA

[Oldman]

JJC,
Funny you should bring that up... I was just thinking the other day that we need to get back on that project.

What we can do is if he will help is once I finish with the beef, he can edit it or make changes as needed.

I've been using the recipe site for business--most companies today filter out jpg file so I set up hidden boards where pictures and information can be viewed. I could do the same with this until we are finished and it is ready for the public....

Well it was your idea so you ask him. LOL~ [^]

Olds

[Chez Bubba]

I just assumed the topic was about Ted Kennedy![;)]

See what you miss when you're away for a few days![:D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?