Thanks guys! I appreciate the kudos very much.
I'll tell you exactly how I did it Mr T
I started with a 7.5 lb bone-in butt that came out of the freezer and thawed for 3 days in the fridge.
The brine was made as follows....... roughly 2 1/2 cups of pickling salt dissolved in a half gallon of hot tap water. Then I filled the rest of the gallon container with cold water.....(total liquid, 1 gallon)......pour that pitcher full of water into the cooler (I use a 28 quart cooler to do my brining). Next I took my frozen concentrated OJ (the large size) and frozen concentrated apple juice (the regular size) and dissolved those both with water in my pitcher.....(total liquid, 2 gallons)....dump that into the cooler too. I then put about 2/3's of a 10 lb bag of ice into the brine mixture in the cooler. Then I placed the butt into the cooler fat side up.....I put the fat side up so I wouldn't need to worry about trying to keep the butt submerged....Place the cooler in a cool area of the house (I put mine half way covering an A/C vent) and let it sit for 14 hours or so....(I just kept an eye on the ice to make sure there was enough to keep everything nice and cool) After 14 hours I dumped the rest of the 10 lb bag of ice into the cooler....I think the total amount of liquid ends up being just over 3 gallons when you include the ice. The total time in the brine ended up being a little over 24 hours.
I suspect that any sweet juice would work just fine for this.....pineapple would be awesome too I think.
I should point out that there was not really any obvious "fruity" or "juice" flavor to the butt from just brining. Injecting might bring out more of that flavor but I'd be wary of acidic juices turning the meat mushy......but the sweetness certainly was apparent in the bark....which is my favorite part any way.
That's pretty much what I did. Pretty simple really.
If you try this please let us know how it turns out.....I'd like to know if it's repeatable!
I'll tell you exactly how I did it Mr T
I started with a 7.5 lb bone-in butt that came out of the freezer and thawed for 3 days in the fridge.
The brine was made as follows....... roughly 2 1/2 cups of pickling salt dissolved in a half gallon of hot tap water. Then I filled the rest of the gallon container with cold water.....(total liquid, 1 gallon)......pour that pitcher full of water into the cooler (I use a 28 quart cooler to do my brining). Next I took my frozen concentrated OJ (the large size) and frozen concentrated apple juice (the regular size) and dissolved those both with water in my pitcher.....(total liquid, 2 gallons)....dump that into the cooler too. I then put about 2/3's of a 10 lb bag of ice into the brine mixture in the cooler. Then I placed the butt into the cooler fat side up.....I put the fat side up so I wouldn't need to worry about trying to keep the butt submerged....Place the cooler in a cool area of the house (I put mine half way covering an A/C vent) and let it sit for 14 hours or so....(I just kept an eye on the ice to make sure there was enough to keep everything nice and cool) After 14 hours I dumped the rest of the 10 lb bag of ice into the cooler....I think the total amount of liquid ends up being just over 3 gallons when you include the ice. The total time in the brine ended up being a little over 24 hours.
I suspect that any sweet juice would work just fine for this.....pineapple would be awesome too I think.
I should point out that there was not really any obvious "fruity" or "juice" flavor to the butt from just brining. Injecting might bring out more of that flavor but I'd be wary of acidic juices turning the meat mushy......but the sweetness certainly was apparent in the bark....which is my favorite part any way.
That's pretty much what I did. Pretty simple really.
If you try this please let us know how it turns out.....I'd like to know if it's repeatable!
