Pork butt, very lengthy dry brine.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I have a butt that doesn't expire until 11th of May, I put a rub/dry brine on it last Saturday with plans to have smoked it by now. Sadly an unfortunate situation came up at work and I've been busy all this week and have to go out of town next week... I'll be home and able to cook it before the expiration date, but is it gonna be edible after 15+ days sitting in a dry brine?

After than long of a brine will it even produce a good pulled pork or have I created some sort of ham or bacon-y thing?

[jfmorris]

I would wrap it up good and put it in the freezer until the day before you smoke it. It has taken up all the salt its going to take, and to be honest, you could go straight from freezer to smoker just fine. I've done it. Just wet the surface so your rub will stick, and wait until its been on there for a couple of hours before inserting your temp probe. Plan on it taking an extra hour to smoke over normal smoking time.

I feel that with pork, you really do not want to risk it. You've introduced contaminants by opening the cryovac, so I would freeze it until you are ready to use it, versus risking it getting funky.

[crazytown3]

+1 to everything Jeff said.

[Dr. Pepper]

jfmorris Maybe you know the answer to something that has always bugged me: Why does the meat in the cryovac tolerate 'wet aging?' without rotting? Do they irradiate the package? Thanks, Daniel

[jfmorris]

Dr. Pepper because there is no oxygen in the package while the cryovac is sealed. Once you open it, you give oxygen to feed aerobic bacteria, which exist throughout the environment. There are also anaerobic that thrive in the lack of oxygen, and if you had those in the cryovac, you would know quick, as the meat would be rotten when you opened the package.

[Huskee]

Ham & bacon comes from nitrite, curing. I wouldn't hesitate to cook it. Remember the salt you added w/ a dry brine is all the salt it ever gets, time won't hurt it as long as it's not expired. I'd probably wrap it while in the fridge myself though to avoid a harder bark layer. But freezing won't hurt it either, I just don't think you need to.

[Red Man]

The pork may have lasted that long in the cryovac, maybe, but not once it’s been opened. Pork just doesn’t last that long. I’d freeze it. It’s got nothing to do with dry brining though. You can’t cure meat by dry brining. Long dry brines will never make meat hamy.

[JeffJ]

I frequently dry brine meat and then vac seal it for the freezer. Regular salt doesn’t cure the meat.