The difference is with or without the fat cap...how do they come up with the fat calulation ? i thought i read somewhere that a boston butt was in the 15-18% range ?
Ah....well that is a different thing entirely. I assumed you were referring to sausage since this is a sausage thread.i guess i should make it clear that when i say i remove all the fat , i am talking about when i make pulled pork NOT sausage
Enough sausage makers, over time, have separated the fat from lean meat in pork butts to determine the fat percentage. That's how we know they average 25-30% fat content by weight. You could also do this, but I'm inclined to just grind whole butts knowing the approximate fat content in the meat I'm making sausage from has somewhere around 30% fat, which is about where I want to be for flavor and juiciness.i agree that sausage needs "some " fat " but when it comes down to it , how is the amount of fat on a boston butt determined ?
Weighing the lean and fat absolutely will give you the percentage, if you are inclined to do it. You are conflating what's done commercially with what we do at home. And besides that, I already said that I base mine on averages, not measured fat content. With that, I'm done.so it would seem that none of us ( me included ) have any real idea what the fat content is in the sausage we make
If they are collecting a sample of lean meat, then this is a measure of intramuscular fat.a small sample of the meat is collected
Nothing like projecting to the world your lack of experience in sausage making or meat grinding generally.now as to the fat content of a boston butt it seems to vary wildly from 15% to as much as 30% from what i could dig up it changes from pig to pig and from one geographical area to another, so it would seem that none of us ( me included ) have any real idea what the fat content is in the sausage we make