pork shoulder, to brine or not to brine?

[beneficial7]

I am about to smoke my first shoulder, and i see a lot of people brine their shoulders, picnics etc. have never tasted brined pulled pork, any thoughts?

thanks crew.

[KevinJ]

If you want it to taste like a ham brine it otherwise no. To each his/her own I say but a shoulder that isn't over cooked or under cooked will come out moist and tender without injections, brines, spritz or mops.

[MisterChrister]

Brine is meant to keep lean meats (chicken breast, pork loin, etc) moist. Since shoulder has so much fat, it's nearly impossible to dry out. No brine is necessary.

[roncoinc]

I remember the first time i brined a shoulder..

thot it would come out nice and moist and it did.

after hours of smoking/cooking i was hungry as hel and went at it.

first bite i asked " what did i buy ham !! "

[beneficial7]

thanks all. thats how i was leaning anyway. thought it would end up way to salty.

[roncoinc]

thanks all. thats how i was leaning anyway. thought it would end up way to salty.

No,,it would be to salty.

thats how ham is made...

[Bludawg]

Brined Pork Butt is Butt Ham

[Happy Hapgood]

I don't brine anything. I've been known to inject a Cajun fryed turkey or two though.

[IamMadMan]

A proper brine mixture will not make the butt/shoulder taste like ham, and it is not too salty (if it is salty that could be the reason for the hammy taste). I also agree that for the most part meat is brined to keep it moist during cooking. As stated above the shoulder has enough fat to keep it moist, especially if you hold it in a cooler for a couple hours. However there are brine recipes designed to add flavor into the meat, more-so than just to keep it moist.

I used to brine pork, and had good results with great flavor. Then I started injecting which made the task easier and less clean up. I used Chris Lilly's Injection but found it to be salty to my tastes, I cut back to almost half the amount of salt and it was very good. Last year I switched to OakRidge Game Changer Brine as my Injection and have nothing less than great results with it.

I now, always use OakRidge Game Changer Brine as an injection. I Use fruit juice (Peach, Pear, Apple, or White Grape) for added flavors. For every 8 ounces of juice add 1 Tablespoon of OakRidge Game Changer Brine and then inject into the pork. I inject right through the cyro-packaging to save with cleanup, using different angles through the same hole to prevent leaking. I used to rub and let the pork sit overnight, but now I'll rub a few hours before smoking depending upon my time constraints.

When cooking injected pork butts I find the bone begins to wiggle at about 187°, I pull and rest the pork in a cambro/cooler for 3 to 4 hours, and pull the pork just before serving. I find the OakRidge Game Changer Brine keeps the pork exceptionally tender, moist, flavorful, and it pulls in very long strands which is great for sandwiches.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/rwbarney/Rubs/Game_Changer_Brine_zpsxqirkma3.jpg

[CTSmokehouse]

Years ago I started a thread: To inject or not to inject?

Forget about brining a pork butt.

You will do much better injecting to get the flavors and moisture into the butt. A butt is too big a piece of meat to brine. Chicken does well with brine as do pork chops or pork roasts.

Yours in BBQ,

Cliff

[Royalslover]

I would normally say never brine a pork butt HOWEVER.... one of my go to recipes is Alton Browns pulled pork. It calls for brining in water with a heavy dose of canning salt and molasses. It is excellent. In my food notebook I noted that my best butt ever was brined 18 hours in his brine mixture. not so much for moisture but for flavor.