Sorry for being late to the party on this topic, but this is for all the common Joe’s out there that don’t have any fancy cooker or BBQ equipment, but want to make killer BBQ like the pros.
First, let me say I’m sure we’ve all heard of or tried brined turkey. I will not cook a turkey EVER anymore without brining first. I tried for years to get a buddy of mine who thinks he is a great cook, and he is pretty good at it, to brine his turkey and he wouldn’t do it. Well, one time here recently he finally brined a turkey, and now, he “…will not ever cook a turkey without brining it first”. What I’m going to next tell you is you gotta try to brine your pork butts & shoulders.
I got this recipe from Alton Brown, the science guy, on the Food Network. I am 59 years old and have cooked on grills all of my adult life and lived in SW Missouri, a great place for BBQ. I really love grilling and cooking outdoors, so I’ve had plenty of time and experience at it. I’m not great at it, but I do try and I have tried BBQ pork butts and shoulders for 35+ years. Most of the time I’m successful but not always…but it’s usually good enough to eat. Like I said earlier I have brined my turkeys for years and never did a pork butt. I saw this Alton Brown show where he brined his Pork. I had heard you could brine just about anything, but I had never tried anything else other than my turkeys, but this time I gave his brine recipe a try. I cooked it on a Big Green Egg at 225 for about 8-10 hours until 195. I use mostly oak and some pecan woods for smoke.
I took my cooked, brined pork butt off the BGE cooker and brought it in. I started to pull it and it just started to fall apart. I was so tender and moist – I had never cooked anything like that before. This was restaurant quality. My first taste was fantastic and I immediately thought to myself “I could go into business selling this stuff!” That was the best pork I had ever made and quite possibly ever tasted.
I’m sure you’ve never tried brining a pork butt/shoulder but I will never cook a pork butt ever again without brining it first. What is even better, is I smoked a whole chicken in this very same brine recipe (about 4-8 hours soak) and my chicken breast was like eating butter. It was just so tender, flavorful and juicy. I love smoked turkey, but I’ll tell you I love brined smoked chicken even better. I left the skin on my chicken and cut in halves, and cooked it on my BGE. The brining will make your meat salty tasting (don’t use turkey drippings to make gravy – too salty), but that salty and crispy chicken skin was one of the best tasting things I’ve ever put in my mouth. My wife commented on how good it was.
Anyway, please give brining a shot, especially on your Pork butts/shoulders. You’ll be glad you did. It’ll make you cook like a pro.
Here is Alton Brown’s recipe (I added 2 tsp of garlic to his brine)
¾ Cup Molasses
12 oz. Salt
2 tsp minced garlic
2 Qts Water
Mix above together in a cooler the size of your pork. Put pork in brine mix and let sit overnight or 8-10 hours and keep cool.
A.Brown’s RUB – This is simple, easy and good.
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Fennel (crushed)
1 tsp Coriander
1 TBL Chili powder
1 TBL Onion powder
1 TBL Paprika
Mix rub together, put on pork and cook at 220-225 degrees for 8-10 hours until 195 inside meat temp.
FYI - I do not use this brine recipe on my turkeys. There are dozens of turkey brine recipes on the internet.
