I've got a ~9 pound shoulder, trimmed, cut in two and salted down. The plan is to smoke on Wednesday, pull some. slice some, vacuum bag and freeze. We're headed for a week in Islamorada Friday morning, and it will be used there. I've never injected shoulder before, but I was wondering if anybody thinks it will help what will basically be "leftovers". Any thoughts on what to inject with (I've seen Spinaker's apple juice/vinegar suggestion, and was thinking about trying apple juice). For what its worth, I will rub with MMD and cook in the PBC. Probably will wrap after suitable bark formation to preserve some of the juice to mix back in.
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I've only injected a pork butt a couple of times, but it turned out good with apple juice with some rub in it. As for dealing with "leftovers", I boating them and then freezing with the juices is the way to go. -
Keep it simple on the injections
When we know we are going to reheat
We take em to 190 vs 200
Then reheat to 200
I don't like mushy over cooked pork
Enjoy! 😀Comment
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When I inject, I'll generally inject with apple juice, melted butter, and some rub. I take all my busts, etc. to probe tender. I vacuum seal leftovers and will reheat using my Sous Vide. that I run at about 175°F.
Most recently I picked up a jar of Butcher BBQ injection powder that is supposed to be top shelf. I think I'll give it a go next Friday/Saturday on a butt.
Injecting butts is no big deal, especially on the Competition Circuit. Those guys fight time deadlines with high temp cooks compared to what I do on my patio.Comment
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I inject pretty well all the time (especially if i am trying to change things... i only want one thing to change at a time and all other things to be consistent... for me it is part of the process)... Everyone has their own take on injecting and what to inject... My injections are to act as or sort of quickie/forced brine. Honestly I use Chris Lilly's injection most often (although I have done what Boftx said about apple juice and some rub)...
Chris Lilly's injection:
3/4 c. apple juice
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. salt
2 tbs. worcestershire sauce
You mentioned you would probably do this and I HIGHLY recommend it.... Reserve all the glorious Pork Juice you can from wrapping it... I love to mix that back in with a little rub once pulled. If I am saving some pulled pork just to heat back up during the week then I make sure that is in the container because it helps with some moisture and flavor. IMHO.Comment
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I have used this for the graduation party I did for friends and was a big hit. I also lightly dry brined as I think pork can take that extra salt. -
Powersmoke_80 , I agree.... I really like Chris's combination of injection and rub. Occasionally I will use the mop too... But it is always a real big hit for our parties. And I absolutely agree on the salt... I will dry brine some too as well. I also use the injection on pork loin when I smoke it.
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I've injected brisket, but don't see the point in injecting a butt unless you are trying to acd some specific flavor which you could mix in after you pull it.Comment
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Johnny Trigg claims he has never injected anything and he has done pretty good. I dont think I have ever tried pulled pork and thought "I bet he injected that"Comment
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Yes true but he is a competition cooker and they use 5 percent of the product for turn in which is the money muscle and a little pulled that is doctored up. Most of us use the whole shoulder, and there is no way salt is going to penetrate to the center of a shoulder without injecting. -
I would also argue that Chris Lilly is a multi time champion as well &nobody has had more success in pork at Memphis in May than him. He injects. Before you flip, yes I have a lot of respect for Johnny Trigg. My point being that diff guys do it diff ways & still win.
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All of that said either way... My opinion is that injecting pulled pork that you are going to eat as soon as it is done is going to make a marginal change at best and probably isn't going to be noticed by your everyday pulled pork eater...
Competition Q.... You are looking for an edge and this is one way a number of teams try to find it. Yes the money muscle is where a lot of the love is going. As meathead has said though you have to be careful because you can over do it and all the sudden you are eating pulled pork that instead tastes like apple juice and not pork.
Leftovers and warming later... Air is your enemy and as soon as you pull, slice, cut that thing it is going to start to dry. Any help you can give it to fight against that in my opinion is worth it. In this case injection and my favorite thing to do is saving the juice to add back in and/or pour back over.Comment
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I personally don't inject butts or briskets just don;t feel the need to but turkey breast is a different storyComment
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Just thought I'd add to this post to thank all for the excellent advice. I couldn't follow all of your suggestions as there were many differing opinions (which is exactly what I was hoping for when I wrote the original question). I'll also go through what I ended up doing, and after we get back from vacation I'll let you know how the preplanned "leftovers" went over.- Monday evening - Trimmed ~9 pound butt, separated into two pieces, and started dry brine with meat tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.
- This (Wednesday) morning - Mixed up some of the Chris Lilly's injection with about half the salt, injected about 1/2 cup in each piece of meat and added a liberal coating of MMR.
- Fired up the PBC with KBB and no wood, let the grate level temperature settle to about 275F. and put the meat on the grate. I'm guessing that was about 9:00.
- Sometime around 1:00, there was a nice looking bark, and the smaller (boneless) piece was about 172F, while the bone-in piece was about 165F.
- Wrapped both pieces with the remainder of the injection plus some more apple juice and some cider vinegar. Took the wrapped meat to just short of 200F, removed the wrap and retained the juice (about 1 cup). Returned the meat to the barrel for about 1/2 hour to re-set the bark and declared the cook done.
- Pulled the bone-in piece (it was excellent, bone slipped out clean, good bark and some smoke ring).
- Chilled and sliced the boneless piece, most slices get a share of the money muscle, so those I sampled were also good.
- Vacuum sealed all in 1 pound or so portions with ~1/3 cup of 50/50 water juice mixture in each.
Rubbed . . .
Cook done . . .
Part Pulled . . .
Money Muscle on left . . .
And Sliced.
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Whoa johnec00, that was a great cook! Congrats to you - well deserved and you get to eat some very tasty pork.Comment
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