Hello,I trying my first BB on the PBC tomorrow.She looks nice and i plan on doing a simple inject of apple juice and my rub.My question is this---Does it help/have you done a dry brine ahead of time?I dont plan on hanging it until i get comfortable with this smoker.
Sometimes i rub down ahead of time -sometimes i dont.Having said all this -What has turned out the best for you on dry brining or not?Im forcing myself to not wrap and just with live with stall and enjoy the bark,but i will spray AJ every hour till 200 then rest for 1 hr.
I will dry brine the pork butt. To be honest with you all the humidity created by the fat dripping on the coals you won’t need any moisture. I use Meatheads Memphis Meat Dust. After it is dry brined I then apply rub and then the hooks. I usually spitz water so the rub sticks
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Pit Barrel Cooker
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I resisted the dry brine at one point, but now I'm a true believer. The longer the better, within reason. There is a video here in The Pit on salt and brining by Dr. Blonder that is life changing and if you haven't already, you should watch.
IMHO after trying a few styles, what seems to work best, and is the least pain in the butt is to not inject.
Just dry brine a day before (salt is only going to penetrate so far), slap a dry rub on the day of that doesn't have salt, and get that butt smoking.
Why no injection? Because it really doesn't do a great job compared to using a finishing sauce that has vinegar/citrus. You get the smoke, the pork, and the option to add as much of the finishing sauce to the final shredded product. The PBC will do the rest of the work.
Sorry FNG here.. what are you calling a dry brine?? Rubbing with salt?? Also what is a PBC? Sorry for dumb questions.. I rub down with Dijon mustard before I apply rub.. it helps hold the rub and has vinegar.. I also add 1 part apple cider vinegar to 7 parts apple cider for the spritz.. I don't wrap.. ever!! A guy came over to my smoker a few years ago on family vacation to see what I was smoking. I had 17 racks of babybacks on and told me I should wrap them soon... I told him I don't have to cuz I don't overcook!! I have never been a fan of wrapping.. he laughed at me and told me to let him know if there were any left overs he wanted to try some .. so I brought some over and he asked what the rub was and I told him I make it.. sold him the quart of rub I had and he told me they were the best he ever had.. that being said I have ruind a ton of meat to get to that point!!
PBC is a Pit Barrel Cooker.
Dry brine here in the pit is 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat. Something Meathead recomends. Rubs are usually sans salt.
I will go against the grain here. The Dry brine salt will only penetrate so far. Typically I inject my solution that has salt in it to serve as a deeper quickie brine. I then apply my Rub (that includes salt) the night before usually. It gets kind of tacky overnight and then I put another light coat on before it goes on the Cooker.
I typically wrap post stall. I love collecting the juices to use later. When using my PBC I use the grate for BB. As long as you don’t tinker with the PBC to try to make it run 225 then the stall shouldn’t hurt you too bad on time. The PBC typically runs hotter and the humidity in the Cooker helps to power through the stall.
Lang 48 inch Deluxe Patio Model (burns hickory splits)
PK 360 (burns premium lump charcoal with wood chunks)
28 inch Blackstone Griddle (propane)
Rubs I love:
Yardbird by Plow Boys
Killer Hogs by Malcom Reed
AP Rub by Malcom Reed
Meat Church (any)
Three Little Pigs Memphis Style for ribs
Would love to try Meathead's commercial rub
Sauces I love:
Gates'
Joe's
Pa & Ma's
Killer Hogs Vinegar Sauce
Disposable Equipment I use:
Disposable cutting boards
Tumbleweed chimney starters
Aluminum foil
Aluminum pans (half and full)
Latex gloves
Diamond Kosher Salt
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I dry brine a day or two before with kosher salt. Dry rub (no salt) usually on thin coat of mustard. No injection (good bark development trumps flavors from injection). Sometimes I spritz, sometimes I don't. Cook until bone will pull out. And my preference is to slice thinly across grain as opposed to pulling or chopping.
I just cooked a Boston butt / pork shoulder 2 days ago. I neglected to dry brine, but I did apply the rub the night before. It was an 8.4lb hunk of meat and it took 9hrs to reach internal temp of 195 (powered thru the stall - no wrap). Didnt hang it - used the grill grate. It was fantastic. Bone pulled right out... delicious.
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