Fat side up or down?

* Kingman *

Joined: August 25th, 2014, 10:28 am
Posts: 268

Fat side up or down?

I know this can get to be a bit of a religious debate amongst some folks, particularly around comp cooking, but I assure you I'm not posting this to start a war...really...Just curious what the Yoder community's preferences are for beef briskets and pork butts. Wish this site had a survey tool. Would be fun to use it on this question. [Admins, if there is one and I just don't know about it, please let me know how to start one. In the FAQ section, it suggests that polling is a capability of this site software, so perhaps it's just not permitted for my user status?]

I have gone back and forth on briskets a number of times and tried both ways many times. I find, personally, that I prefer fat side up for both briskets and butts at this point. I usually trim briskets to about 1/4" of fat cap, or as close to that as I can get over the entire flat. I find, when cooking fat side down, that I lose most of the benefit of having the fat cap, as it just renders away into the drip pan. I used to think I wanted the insulating property of fat side down so the bottom wouldn't burn, but I now find that letting the fat render out over the brisket keeps it moister and it enables the fat layer w/ spice rub to develop an incredibly tasty bark using a fat side up approach. I also find that the crust that develops on the bottom is great too. So, I'm now a pretty died-in-the-wool fat side up fan. I know others who start one way and then flip once in foil or butcher paper. Always did fat side up for butts anyway and no plans to change there...

What do you prefer? No judgments--just interesting in different techniques and experiences.

TJ