I turned my first pork butt into ham in March with Pop's brine. I also have made Canadian bacon 3-4 times with the brine and wanted to see how the bacon brine would taste with a pork butt instead of using pork loin. I pulled the butts out of the brine last night after 16 days.
The brine looked liked like beef broth and was not slimy or cloudy.
I asked the bakery in Sam's Club for frosting buckets 3 times and that was the charm. The lady gave me 3 of these tall narrow buckets. I had to cut about 2" off the top so it would fit in the refrigerator. I think 4 butts would fit if my shelf would hold it.
(Still need to work on the tying.) Rinsed them off and dabbed with paper towels.
Test fried some of the corners and high spots. Tasted like good ham and salt was perfect. I left the butts uncovered in the refrigerator overnight but did not get much of a pellicle. I started my smoker at 100 at 5AM to dry them off and will turn up at 6 so the smoke starts. Going to use black cherry hunks.
More to follow later today.
The brine looked liked like beef broth and was not slimy or cloudy.
I asked the bakery in Sam's Club for frosting buckets 3 times and that was the charm. The lady gave me 3 of these tall narrow buckets. I had to cut about 2" off the top so it would fit in the refrigerator. I think 4 butts would fit if my shelf would hold it.
(Still need to work on the tying.) Rinsed them off and dabbed with paper towels.
Test fried some of the corners and high spots. Tasted like good ham and salt was perfect. I left the butts uncovered in the refrigerator overnight but did not get much of a pellicle. I started my smoker at 100 at 5AM to dry them off and will turn up at 6 so the smoke starts. Going to use black cherry hunks.
More to follow later today.
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