"Shawn Martin" > wrote in message
...
> Kent > wrote:
>> Hello all this Sunday,
>>
>> I brine cured a pork butt with Morton's Tenderquick[salt, sugar, .5%
>> nitrite and .5% nitrate] using their recipe on the package. I did cut
>> back a little. Their recipe uses 1 cup of Tenderquick per quart of
>> water to make the brine. Some of that is sugar. If it's half sugar,
>> their recipe isn't that far off for a higher salt brine. I brined for
>> five days in a ziplock bag in the frig, and smoke-cooked a 5lb chunk
>> of shoulder at 275F for 7 hours to an internal temp of 190F.
>>
>> The results were good, but only good. It had a slightly "hammy"
>> taste. The "ham color" was present through the whole of the meat,
>> suggesting the brine had penetrated the whole shoulder. However much
>> of the seasoned pulled pork taste we all want just wasn't there. I
>> doubt that I will try it again.
>> If anyone has tried this I sure be interested in your comments.
>>
>> Kent
>
> You just made a ham.
>
> I wasn't really trying to make a picnic. I don't think I did. In addition
> to whatever else I didn't do correctly I didn't inject, or spray the pork.
> I was just trying to see what nitrates would do to the usual brine-smoke
> pork-butt food. As a ham, it wouldn't have done too well at the county
> fair.

Cheers,

Kent