To brine our not to brine

ht01us

New member
Based on my perusal of this website, it seems I am in a minority for brining my Boston Butts for pulled pork. So, with more than 20 people coming over for dinner this weekend for a birthday bash and celebration of 2 engagements I thought I'd apply the optometrist test. I prepared 2 Boston Butts; one my traditional brine and one with just a rub. "Which do you like better? 'A' or 'B'"?

The Classic
Friday night I put a 7 lb pork shoulder in a brine of 2 quarts water, 9 oz pickling salt, and 3/4 cup molasses. Got it all jammed in a 6 qt container and into the refrigerator. Saturday night it came out of the brine, I pat dried it and applied a rub of paprika, cumin, corriander, and what-not. No sugar or salt in the rub

The Contender
This was another 7 lb pork shoulder. Friday evening I applied a then film of vegetable oil followed by a rub of paprika, spices, sugar and salt.

The Cook
The went on the Mak 2 Start at 8:30 PM Saturday night and cooked all night. The main probe went into the brined butt. 225* until an IT of 145; bump the heat to 255* until IT of 195. Temps got down to the low 30's overnight. It was my first overnight cook; and that was fun. In the morning, I foiled, and placed in a cooler with towels where they stayed warm for 4 hours. After shredding we refrigerated for a bit; then splashed them with apple juice and warmed in the oven for about an hour at 200

The Results
As my son and I shredded the two shoulders we took a couple of tastes and we both clearly had a favorite.
I didn't tell the guests what the difference was. I marked one as "B" and one as "N". I asked everyone to try a bit of both and vote.

Twenty two people were at the house; one was a vegan, resulting in 21 voters. The results were in and the choice was clear: people liked the brined butt much more. The final tally was 16-5; a more than 3-to-1 preference for the brined butt. They said it was tastier and juicier. The 5 who voted for the unbrined butt noted that it tasted smokier.

For me it wasn't even close. As soon as I tasted the sample of the unbrined butt I just didn't like it as much.

So, for me; I'll be brining my pork butts.
 

sparky

New member
wow, thats surprising. i have never brine before. i have always liked my butts just straight up. glue, rub and maybe a injection. i have never brined my birds (chicken, turkey) either and always liked that way they turned out. i might have to try it. the brining solution. just water and salt more or less? you always brine overnight or 24 hours? might as well try it, something new for me. buy meat, smoke meat, eat meat. if its no bueno try again. :cool:
 

firehouse_bbq

New member
I brine my chicken, but have never tried to brine a pork butt. After this weekends 35th place in pork, maybe I should try it. I always inject my butts. I do brine ribs on occasion.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
if anything I inject never brine also never use vegatable oil for glue... never foil at 195 .....that's what makes this fun! so many ways of making great food
 

ht01us

New member
wow, thats surprising. i have never brine before. i have always liked my butts just straight up. glue, rub and maybe a injection. i have never brined my birds (chicken, turkey) either and always liked that way they turned out. i might have to try it. the brining solution. just water and salt more or less? you always brine overnight or 24 hours? might as well try it, something new for me. buy meat, smoke meat, eat meat. if its no bueno try again. :cool:
My brining solution is
  • 8 ounces (3/4 cup) molasses
  • 12 ounces pickling salt
  • 2 quarts cold water.

I cut the salt down to 9 ounces this weekend; sometimes it seems that 12 ounces makes it a little too salty. I use pickling salt because it is so fine it dissolves easily in cold water. I usually brine overnight - about 12 hours. But this time, because of my schedule I let it ride for a full 24 hours.

I bet the brining accomplishes much the same effect as injection.

I look forward to your reports.
 

HoDeDo

New member
Brining definitely works well for pork.... I think in a previous post I mentioned you should try injecting, as an alternative to brining.
I will think you find it brings even more flavor. It still works itself throughout the meat.... but you penetrate much deeper. You could even inject your brine, if you like that profile. Injection makes it easier to add other flavors to the party.

I am surprised that the concensus was that the unbrined butts had more smoke... I would expect the brined butts to have more smoke.
However 24hrs would likely start to cure that butt, so the smoke might have been lost it was starting to go a little to the ham side of the fence.

Next "competition" lets see the injection vs. brine :) nicely done!
 

ht01us

New member
Brining definitely works well for pork.... I think in a previous post I mentioned you should try injecting, as an alternative to brining.
I will think you find it brings even more flavor. It still works itself throughout the meat.... but you penetrate much deeper. You could even inject your brine, if you like that profile. Injection makes it easier to add other flavors to the party.

I am surprised that the concensus was that the unbrined butts had more smoke... I would expect the brined butts to have more smoke.
However 24hrs would likely start to cure that butt, so the smoke might have been lost it was starting to go a little to the ham side of the fence.

Next "competition" lets see the injection vs. brine :) nicely done!

Thanks HoDeDo; sounds like a good idea. Guess I'll have to shop for an injector. Hmmm..... wonder where I might be able to buy one.
 

ht01us

New member
Actually, I think there is this absolutely stellar Marinade rub combo.... right here: No, it isn't Kraft Original :)

1oz per pound (roughly), and 10 hrs of time to marinate... I believe, are the instructions ;)

That looks good. Looks like I've got another learning curve on marinades and injections. The package has both a marinade and a marinade/injection. What's the sequence and timing y'all recommend? How long before cooking do you inject?
 

HoDeDo

New member
That looks good. Looks like I've got another learning curve on marinades and injections. The package has both a marinade and a marinade/injection. What's the sequence and timing y'all recommend? How long before cooking do you inject?

The "BBQ Marinade" is what I use on my competition chicken. It is good on just about anything you would grill... Steaks, Kebobs, Shrimp, etc. Sparky has actually used it on fish I have not tried it on, and also on seafood, with a few pics to boot. I will search and see if I can find that thread and link it. (several folks have posted pics actually, Sparky's just came to mind!)

The Pork Injection & Marinade is what I use on my competition butts. Inject 1 oz of marinade per pound ( so if you have a 7-8 lb butt, 1/2 a bottle is ideal.) I inject all over with a 5ml injector, 1-2" apart all over the butt roast, including from the sides/ends. Once injected, it is bagged and placed in the fridge for 8-10hrs, then cooked at 225.

You can rub it at anytime. At home I will pull it out of the fridge about an hour before cooking, to let it start to come up in temp.... and rub it at that point. it goes into the cooker glistening with wet rub. no dry spots left.
 

ht01us

New member
The "BBQ Marinade" is what I use on my competition chicken. It is good on just about anything you would grill... Steaks, Kebobs, Shrimp, etc. Sparky has actually used it on fish I have not tried it on, and also on seafood, with a few pics to boot. I will search and see if I can find that thread and link it. (several folks have posted pics actually, Sparky's just came to mind!)

The Pork Injection & Marinade is what I use on my competition butts. Inject 1 oz of marinade per pound ( so if you have a 7-8 lb butt, 1/2 a bottle is ideal.) I inject all over with a 5ml injector, 1-2" apart all over the butt roast, including from the sides/ends. Once injected, it is bagged and placed in the fridge for 8-10hrs, then cooked at 225.

You can rub it at anytime. At home I will pull it out of the fridge about an hour before cooking, to let it start to come up in temp.... and rub it at that point. it goes into the cooker glistening with wet rub. no dry spots left.

Perfect! Thanks HoDeDo
 

ht01us

New member
Thought I'd take the next step in my personal competition. I've done brined and not brined. This weekend I'm thinking I'll try an injection.

I'm going to start pretty simple and then build on it during future cooks. It seems like the Chris Lily's Big Bob Gibson standard is a good place to start (but feel free to chime in if I should do something different)

3/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt finely ground
2 tablespoons Worcestershire

Then do my standard cook.

I'm new to injection; but my plan is to make about 16 injections per side, jamming the needle all the way in and pushing the plunger on the way out. Chris Lily makes it look sooo easy; I'm sure it will work out exactly like that for me. ;)

At this point I'm planning this method: turn on the grill, inject rub, cook

Is there a consensus on how long before the cook I should inject? I'm thinking: . How many of y'all wrap it for 6, 8 or more hours before cooking (that seems kind of like brining at that point).
 

SmokeAndSpice

New member
Interesting. I started out brining 'cause that's how the guy who taught me did it, but when I didn't brine I didn't notice a difference (this was all in a Brinkmann water smoker), so I stopped. Then again I never did a side by side.

Did you notice any differences in cooking time between the sets? At least for poultry, they say brining reduces cooking time. I wonder if that made some sort of difference.
 

ht01us

New member
Did you notice any differences in cooking time between the sets? At least for poultry, they say brining reduces cooking time. I wonder if that made some sort of difference.

Hmmm, great question. I don't remember any difference in temp of the 2 butts; at least there wasn't enough of a difference to warrant a mention in the cooking log. They both pulled pretty much the same. I wonder if the injection affects the cooking time.


I still dont liked brined butts
That's what makes this forum so interesting; lots of opinions. The injection looks pretty similar to a brine: water, sugar, salt. I'm interested to see how it turns out.

If I had a ton of people coming over, I'd cook 2 and do a new comparison test.
 
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