Injecting a pork butt advice??

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ufert

Fire Starter
Original poster
Feb 1, 2014
70
11
East Alton, Illinois
Hey guys I was wondering if injecting a pork butt with apple cider is a good way to go or not?? I have a 5lb butt I am smoking tomorrow in my cajun injector electric smoker. Any suggestions on injecting would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
I have used regular apple juice mixed with my favorite rub with good results.  I would advise against any injections that are too acidic (i.e cider vinegar/italian dressing) because they can make the meat mushy
 
Thanks for the tip about the vinegar, I just went ahead and used apple cider and some of my rub in the injection. Butt has been on since 4:30 am & it's looking good!!
 
remember if you inject, you need to get the internal temp of the meat to at least 140 degrees within 4 hours to help kill any bacteria that you pushed into the meat with the injector....food safety 1st
 
After I posted I realized something... are you going to pull this meat.

If you are going to pull it, don't worry about injecting, save your drippings, tweak the drippings into a finishing sauce (defatting and such) add this to your meat, there really is no need to inject a pulled meat.
 
I used to use apple cider, then I decided it ran out of the meat too easily. I inject many things, but my go-to for pork butt is a mixture of my own BBQ sauce, rub, and apple sauce. The sauce doesn't disappear like the cider does.
 
I would never inject a pork butt you are going to pull. There is nothing worse than smoking for 10+hours and then find you have mushy meat.  As SQUIB said use the drippings after the fact; it has much better flavor.
 
I would inject with juice instead even if I pulled it. If I were to choose Cider, I would strain it so no pulp would clogged my injector or the possibility of leaving residue in the meat. vinegar injection solution is not a bad thing, but use white vinegar. Helps break down connective tissue for fast times and is not as strong taste as cider vinegar.
 
I smoked a butt on Friday. On Thursday night I injected a 7.72# butt with Chris Lilly's 6 Time World Champion Pork Butt Injection and it turned out great.

I defrosted it very slowly (over 1 hour of so), injected it and applied dry rub then wrapped in plastic wrap over night in the fridge.

In the morning I sprinkled more rub on before assembling the WSM.

The juice in the foil was only slightly salty. I add this to the meat after it is pulled. Any sweet sauce added to the meat counters the saltiness immediately. I prefer mine not (BBQ) sauced.
 
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