Chris Lilly's Pork Shoulder

Sounds like normal amounts of salt to me!

In my experience just a shoulder picnic or a butt can very well be enhanced.
Usually a whole shoulder will no be.

If the meat has a white/pinkish/shinny color usually that would indicate no enhancement.
A darker red hammy look will indicate salt water brine from the packer.

How To Identify Enhanced Meat

Don't think that just because meat is sold in Cryovac packaging or is displayed unpackaged in a fancy display case that it's not enhanced meat. The only way to determine if meat has been enhanced is to carefully read the package label and ask lots of questions of the meat department personnel.

Under federal law, the solution used to enhance meat must be disclosed on the package label. The label must list the total quantity and the common or usual name of the solution ingredients.

A national-brand of enhanced pork ribs says the following on its label...in very fine print:

"Tenderness and moistness enhanced by 10% of a solution of water, salt, sodium phosphate and natural lemon juice concentrate."

Another popular brand of enhanced pork ribs reads:

Deep BastedTM by addition of up to 7% of a solution of water, sodium phosphates

Another brand of "premium" pork loin back ribs says:

"Moistness enhanced with up to an 8% solution*"

then on the back of the package it says:

"*Solution ingredients: Water, salt, sodium phosphates"

I have substituted chicken broth for the water in Chris' pork injection - works excellent on butts.

yeah, definitely check, I think the enhanced butts I buy here are WAY to salty before I start and I LOVE salt.

AZPete said:

I am going to be smoking two whole shoulders tomorrow and I was planning on using Chris Lilly's rub and injection recipes. I am a bit concerned though at the amount of salt included in both the rub (1/3 cup garlic salt and 1/3 cup table salt) and injection (1/4 cup table salt) as my shoulders might be enhanced.

If the shoulders are in fact enhanced would everyone agree that the salt content of the rub and injection should be reduced? If so do you think cutting the amount of salts in half would be the best route?

Thanks.

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Hold on there....did you say "table salt"?? The Chris Lilly rub and injection are one of the worst kept secrets on the internet and both call for fine ground kosher salt. I like sea salt in injections (I think it dissolves easier), but that's just me.

I have cooked plenty of whole shoulders and have never seen one that was juiced, and I definately inject the chit out of 'em. Of course in my neck of the woods they are hard to come by and I have to special order them.

If you determine that the shoulder is enhanced, I would not inject at all. Hard to say whether or not to reduce the salt in the rub.

I injected mine with a mix of apple juice, whorsteshire, say its not butter, and a little lemon spray juice.

The Recipe from Chris Lilly

Chris Lilly's Six-time World Championship Pork Shoulder

Recipe By : Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson's
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
For the pork shoulder rub
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
-----------
Pork injection
3/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
------------
1 whole pork shoulder (approximately 16 pounds)
1 bottle Big Bob Gibson Championship Red Sauce (or substitute your favorite BBQ sauce)

Inject pork shoulder evenly with injection solution. Apply a generous amount of rub onto meat. Pat so the rub will adhere. Place in a smoker and cook with indirect heat for 16 hours on 225°F. Serve with sauce on the side or paint shoulder with sauce the last 20 minutes of cooking. When done, the pork should pull off the bones easily. The internal temperature of the pork should reach 195°F.

thirdeye said:

The Chris Lilly rub and injection are one of the worst kept secrets on the internet.

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Hmmmm...........Ya think??? :biggrin:

AZPete said:

The "table salt" call out is what threw up the flag for me too thirdeye! That much table salt seemed like an awful lot of salt to use for a rub/injection.

The person who posted the info on the web site must have typed it out wrong (I can only hope).

Thanks for all of your input!

Pete

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Using table salt in rubs and injections is usually not recommended because some folks claim they get an off-flavor from iodized salt. There is also plain table salt, but either could have some anti-caking agents on board.

The biggest error when substituting table salt is the size of the crystal. A cup of table salt weighs more than a cup of kosher. (In fact, cup/weight ratios between brands of kosher are not consistent either) So...you could come up too salty.

Internet searches For Lilly's injection come up with just "salt" or "kosher salt". The same injection recipe can be found in "Peace, Love & Barbecue", in the section featuring Chris Lilly. This was the first time I noticed the words "1/4 cup kosher salt, finely ground".

I would like to think that Mike Mills did his homework and that those words came from Lilly's mouth. That being said, I have made a lot of that injection without grinding my kosher salt. I really like it.

Sawdustguy said:

Hmmmm...........Ya think??? :biggrin:

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Okay, one of the worst kept "barbecue secrets" on the Internet. I wouldn't want to steal any of the glory from that Pamela Anderson home video. :shock:

i tiried it and i thought it sucked, i couldnt give it away, even my neighbors were honest and told me that they have loved everything else i have ever fed them but this

Sledneck said:

i tiried it and i thought it sucked, i couldnt give it away, even my neighbors were honest and told me that they have loved everything else i have ever fed them but this

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You know what, you have some great neighbors. Really. Most people tend to fib a little rather than offend you.

Here is another injection to try that has no salt. Stogie is a good dude and is loaded with information .... Give this one a try. Let us know how you like this one.

Stogie's Injecting Juice - Posted by Stogie & a number of his friends on The BBQ Forum. Recommended for pork shoulder.

4 cups apple juice or apple cider
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Worchestshire Sauce
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons favorite rub

Heat thru and then strain (so rub doesn't clog injector) Cool and inject into meat at approximately 1 oz of juice per lb. of meat.

Far too much sugar & salt for my taste buds. I'd cut both by half.

I'd also only use [home ground] Sea/Rock salt not table salt (has loads of bad additives)

From Wiki: The salt sold for consumption today is not pure sodium chloride. In 1911 Magnesium carbonate was first added to salt to make it flow more freely. In 1924 trace amounts of iodine in form of sodium iodide, potassium iodide or potassium iodate were first added, creating iodized salt to reduce the incidence of simple goiter.

I've never injected shoulder, does it make a lot of difference to the flavour/texture?

I just loaded 2 butts that were rubbed and injected with his recipe. I always get great results. If you want to see picks, the before cook pic is loaded, and when done I'll post more.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21785

And I do run the Kosher salt through a coffee grinder to acheive "finely ground".

Ty