Boston Butt Brine

[rbrattrud]

Brining a pork butt before cooking is key to locking in moisture and flavor. I mix this brine and submerge the meat in it for 3 days before cooking.

Good Brine
1 dark beer (amber bock worked great)
¾ cup brown sugar of dark brown sugar
¾ cup pickling salt
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup ground pepper corns
Water to completely submerge meat

3-4 hours before cooking i use a rub with yellow mustard that makes a nice paste.

Pork Rub
Brown sugar
McCormikes BBQ pork rub
Pickling salt
Onion powder
Granulated garlic
Mccormikes Italian seasoning ground
Ground pepper corns

[Pit Boss]

[rbrattrud]

Brining is not new. Soaking food in salt water has been used by cooks and restaurants for many years.
According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service1 the verb "brine" means to treat with or steep in brine. Brine is a strong solution of water and salt. A sweetener such as sugar, molasses, honey, or corn syrup may be added to the solution for flavor and to improve browning.

The brining of meats is an old process used for food preservation. Before refrigeration, heavy amounts of salt were used to preserve meats for long periods of time. Now, we use much smaller quantities of salt, mixed with other spices and herbs, achieving increased flavor in the meat as well as other benefits. Brining in a saltwater mixture before you smoke typically will add flavor, tenderness and typically reduces cooking times. Our poultry and pork have much less fat than they used to, which means they tend to dry out more quickly when cooked and to be less flavorful than in the past.

Brining is chemistry in action. The chemistry behind brining is actually pretty simple.

Osmosis:Meat already contains salt water. By immersing meats into a liquid with a higher concentration of salt the liquid is absorbed into the meat. Any flavoring added to the brine will be carried into the meat with the saltwater mixture. And because the meat is now loaded with extra moisture it will stay that way longer while it cooks.

Protein modification:Brining alters the chemical structure of proteins by breaking some of the bonds that give proteins their shape. The salt denatures the meat proteins, causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. According to David Krauss, a professor of biology at Boston College, those bonds are sensitive to changes in temperature, acidity and salinity, causing the proteins themselves to break down a bit in brines and allowing the salt, sugar, and other flavoring agents to permeate the food's flesh.

Salt:Salt has a couple of efforts for poultry, it dissolves protein in muscle causing the to change and trap more moisture. Combine Protein Modification and Salt and you get a reduced moisture loss during smoking.

The results: juicier, tender and more flavorful.

You can read all about it at this site

http://www.cookshack.com/brining-101

[Jarhead]

The only thing that I brine is Turkey.
I marinade poultry and loins, and occasionally inject, if I have time.
Pork butts have enough natural moisture. I prefer that natural flavor and not "Enhanced". I can get that enhanced crap at Wally World.
JM2C and YMMV
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