Brining a pork shoulder thoughts????

tons of things on here about brining shoulders. take a look. lots of brines in here also. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch?search=brining+pork+shoulder

It's a matter of personal preference.
I like to brine for flavor.
Dry brining in a bag will eliminate the need for a large container and extra space....no biggy.


~Martin

If you are going to brine - do it right and brine for upwards of a week. Brining for short periods of 24 or so hours does nothing for you. It takes time to get the good stuff into that big a chunk of meat (which is why so many inject).

Here's my variation on Here Piggy Piggy Brine:

In the snap lid container I use it is enough to cover two shoulders when I top it off with additional chilled apple cider.

1 6 pack Vernors Ginger ale

1 qt apple Cider

1/4 cup celery salt

1 cup sea salt

4 Tbls diced dried red bell pepper

2 Tbls rosemary

6 Tbls light brown sugar

1/2 Tbls cumin

2 Tbls chili powder

2 Tbls cayenne pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp thyme

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp sage

Baja Traveler said:

 
If you are going to brine - do it right and brine for upwards of a week. Brining for short periods of 24 or so hours does nothing for you. It takes time to get the good stuff into that big a chunk of meat (which is why so many inject).

Here's my variation on Here Piggy Piggy Brine:

In the snap lid container I use it is enough to cover two shoulders when I top it off with additional chilled apple cider.

1 6 pack Vernors Ginger ale

1 qt apple Cider

1/4 cup celery salt

1 cup sea salt

4 Tbls diced dried red bell pepper

2 Tbls rosemary

6 Tbls light brown sugar

1/2 Tbls cumin

2 Tbls chili powder

2 Tbls cayenne pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp thyme

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp sage

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Might have to this on cornish game hens..........

I'll tell you what.  I'm lazy.   If I have to do flips and twists to prepare anything, I ain't gonna do it (within reason, of course).  That's just me.   I like to keep things simple.  Fresh butt with an apple juice/Bilbo's rub concoction to inject along with a nice coat of Bilbo's rub overnight and out onto the smoker early the next day or just straight on overnight.  No foil (I LOVE bark) and smoke to 203 degrees.  The results are tremendous, every single time.  I'll stick to the KISS method all day long.  I can't see the efforts of brining being worth the very small impact it makes on the final product.  People say that the brine enhances the tenderness and juiciness of the pork.................bull.  I will never believe that.  A butt can't turn out any other way if it is prepared properly, even without being injected or nuthin'.  And then if anything, the injection gets a little flavor on the inside of the butt, but probably does nothing for juiciness.  Just my 2 cents.

I'm almost certain that in BBQs humble beginnings, nobody was bring anything.  Why break tradition?

Well, in BBQ's humble beginnings they were eating real dinosaur 'bones'!!! :biggrin:



~Martin