So Saturday caught your OA crack team in the lab pursuing truth through experiential data.
As I explained in Part 1 of this post we wanted to discover a better way to distribute the flavor through our pork butt. Mat had the idea that brining the shoulder would get a more thorough distribution of salt and, ultimately, flavor.
Turns out that the Brine did indeed give us a much nicer flavor. It also turns out that the hardest part of smoking meat continues to be making yourself avoid drinking too much. What was supposed to be a modest day in the sun with the smoker, possibly some freelance work being taken care of on the side, turned into a a night that ended somewhere between 4-6am with the kitchen being tarred and feathered as we attempted and failed miserably to make chocolate bacon pretzels.
Posts were abandoned, plans aborted, but, as always, lessons were learned.
So, yes, brine your butt for 12 hours before prepping with your rub. Let that rub sit for another 10-24 hours. Pull your butt out of the fridge about 2 hours before you smoke to bring it to room temp and not shock the meat and you should be golden.
The next experiment is going to be injecting water, butter and rub (what we use for our mop as well) into the pig in mulitple places. I can’t wait to see how this effects the flavor.