Can I thaw a pork butt in a brine?

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engineer68

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 23, 2015
14
11
Looking to smoke a 12lb pork butt for father's day and it is still frozen so I want to start brining it Thursday night for smoking Saturday evening at around 9pm. Does anyone have any information on weather this method will be detrimental or not? Any recommendations?
 
Sure you can but but brining a butt is not necessary. Is it in a cryovac bag? If so, just put it in a cooler with ice water and it will be thawed in a day or so. 
 
I did this very thing last week.  Took out a frozen Butt out of the freezer and set it in a stainless steel pot and made up a brine, poured it over the butt with enough water to cover it up completely. It sat from Saturday until Tuesday night when I pulled it out, seasoned it up and set it back in the fridge overnight. I smoked it yesterday for 16+ hours and just got through eating it for supper tonight.  Most yummy.
 
Yes you can, as long as you are not curing it to make something like Buck Board Bacon. If it's just a flavoring brine there is no problem with no cure you are good to go.
 
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