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

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.

Next time lose the tenderquick, and substitute coarse salt. (Kosher is
good)

Sodium nitrate is what gives it the ham flavor, and color.

The good news is that the leftovers need no refrigeration ;-)

"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

Kent > wrote:

> "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.

If you didn't make ham, then you ****ed it up. Because that's what
ham is - brined pork with nitrites. Yes technically to be called
ham it must be front he hind leg, but that has nothing to do with
the end result - taste.

And why did you go out of your way to indent your ****ing response?
Learn how to quote (or in this case, NOT quote).

Dumbass.

-sw

>
> If you didn't make ham, then you ****ed it up. Because that's what
> ham is - brined pork with nitrites. Yes technically to be called
> ham it must be front he hind leg, but that has nothing to do with
> the end result - taste.
>
> And why did you go out of your way to indent your ****ing response?
> Learn how to quote (or in this case, NOT quote).
>
> Dumbass.
>
> -sw
>
>
Did you mean picnic?
From refdesk.com
pic·nic (pknk) n.
A smoked section of pork foreleg and shoulder."
Also from refdesk.com
"ham (hm) n.
1. The thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a hog.
2. A cut of meat from the thigh of a hog."

Kent

"Denny Wheeler" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:00:37 -0700, "Kent" > wrote:
>
>>>
>>> If you didn't make ham, then you ****ed it up. Because that's what
>>> ham is - brined pork with nitrites. Yes technically to be called
>>> ham it must be front he hind leg, but that has nothing to do with
>>> the end result - taste.
>>>
>>>
>>Did you mean picnic?
>>From refdesk.com
>>pic·nic (pknk) n.
>>A smoked section of pork foreleg and shoulder."
>>Also from refdesk.com
>>"ham (hm) n.
>>1. The thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a hog.
>>2. A cut of meat from the thigh of a hog."
>
> No, he meant ham. Note the 4th word on the last Swertz line above.
> refdesk.com doesn't impress me much.
> That foreleg cut was a picnic before it was smoked. Still was, after.
>
> See this page:
> http://www.askthemeatman.com/hog_cut...tive_chart.htm
>
> The butt (iirc) you cured was still a butt after curing. However--cut
> some of it off, serve it to a person who didn't see whence it came,
> and they'll say "ham." (Well, unless it's 'Prof' de la Paz, who'll
> say 'salmon' [gratuitous Heinlein reference])
>
>
> "Every single religion that has a monotheistic god
> winds up persecuting someone else."
> -Philip Pullman
> --
> -denny-
> (not as curmudgeonly as I useta be)

The word "ham" has nothing to do with curing. It only refers to the thigh of
the pig.

"Nunya Bidnits" > wrote in message
...
> Sqwertz wrote:
>> Kent > wrote:
>
> %<--------------
>
>>>> 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.
>>
>> If you didn't make ham, then you ****ed it up. Because that's what
>> ham is - brined pork with nitrites. Yes technically to be called
>> ham it must be front he hind leg, but that has nothing to do with
>> the end result - taste.
>>
>> And why did you go out of your way to indent your ****ing response?
>> Learn how to quote (or in this case, NOT quote).
>>
>> Dumbass.
>>
>> -sw
>
> http://www.jibjab.com/view/128361
>
> ;-)
That's Wertz!