Pork Butt and my "ham injection"... Pork butt is my new go-to ham... seriously good....

[nicefly]

Wow that looks great. Pork butts were on sale, put one in Pops wet cure last night for buckboard bacon.
I have one more to use, hmmm the mind wanders haha.

 

[daveomak]

This looks great. Is there a detailed recipe somewhere? I bought an injector a few years ago, and have not used it. TIA -Joe

If you bought one of those SS injectors with the fat needle filled with holes, they make a big holes in the meat and your injection liquid can run out pretty fast..
I have 3 of those... I use Tony's syringes... they last a long time... Small needle... they work well....

I prefer the syringes that comes with Tony's injectables...

 

[olecrosseyes]

@ daveomak once again you chef, are setting a high bar for me to only gaze at. I've got a pork butt and a fresh uncured ham to give a go on.

Thanks for the heads up on the injector diameters, I have never given it a thought bur I'll take a look into what I have.

What are the smaller diameters (in metric or standard outside) that function well?

 

[DougE]

@ daveomak daveomak once again you chef, are setting a high bar for me to only gaze at.

I haven't done it yet, but as far as hams go, Dave seems to be the guy to follow.

 

[daveomak]

I prefer the syringes that comes with Tony's injectables...

 

[smokinjoe52]

Please comment on the difference between injection and just doing a Pop's brine. In terms of finished product for a pork butt "ham".

 

[GaryHibbert]

I missed your original post--just came back from there now. Even though I have a problem eating fat, I'm sure going to try this with a leaner cut and also with some PP.
Thanks for this, Dave.
Gary

 

[tallbm]

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This is a WINNER !!!!

Yep, I used my go-to ham injection... I do not think this butt was ever frozen... Makes a BIG difference when injection curing.. The difference is definitely noticeable... In picnics also....
typical 10% injection... 14 days in the refer being cured... Light cold water rinse... In the smoker at 100F for about 45 minutes to dry the outside and form a pellicle.. Then a full tray of my 3 dust mix... Twice... each tray smoked for 6 hours... exhaust CLOSED to about 5% open.. Then upped the heat to 145F.. When the internal temp was about 128F, I lowered the heat to 135F... The IT stalled at about 132F so I upped the heat to ~140F.... The internal temp came up to 133-134F.... I held it there for about 4 hours.... (I'm following poultry pasteurizing times + an hour or more, just to insure salmonella death.. I'm too old to get sick) Then pulled it and sliced into it to see how it turned out... Looked pretty good.... The flavor was better than any picnic I've done... I attribute that to all the fat in a butt... Fat is definitely flavor... Moist and tender.... almost fall apart tender...

The reason I tried this butt... I bought a small hunk of ham at the store... I think it was a chunk from a leg... About 5#'s... It was dry and tough... I can make better ham drunk and with my eyes closed...
All they had in the cooler was a butt.... So, now you know...


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That looks great!

I made ham out of cured pork butt for both Thanksgiving and for Christmas. It will be how I go about ham from here on out as well since it's so hard to find a bag leg and they are so large. Just using pork butt/shoulder makes live much easier :)

 

[daveomak]

Please comment on the difference between injection and just doing a Pop's brine. In terms of finished product for a pork butt "ham".

The difference I notice is..... Doing a submerged cure/brine, the water dilutes the meat flavor... The center of the meat may not have all the flavors you put into it...
When injecting, what you put into the injection is what is in there for flavor etc... If you put 0.6 grams of cure#1 in the injection, there is .6 grams inside the meat... And if you inject at about every 1.5" in all directions, it has been evenly distributed throughout the meat...

A butt is too big to submerge cure... The meat should be no more than 2" across for adequate penetration of the ingredients... AND, depending on the size of the molecules of the stuff you added, the penetration will happen at different rates... example: Sugar is a HUGE molecule and is VERY slow to migrate in the meat muscle..

 

[nicefly]

OK, I have an honest question. How is this different than making BBB?

Backstory, I put a butt in a Pops wet cure with all the tasty spices in the cure just about the time
daveomak posted this. Mixed up the wet cure with spices and injected the butt for all it was worth.

So I thought I might change direction and make a ham instead since I just bought a bunch of butts at 97cents/ lb so I can make more bacon if I want (thanks Kroger).

But looking at the OP for smoking time and temps I need guidance on how this is different than making BBB hot smoked?

Serious question. Thanks for any education.
John

 

[thirdeye]

OK, I have an honest question. How is this different than making BBB?

Well, the method is different - dry cure verses an injection-able cure . But beyond that, I think about 60%+ of the difference is the taste, and ~40% is the texture and moistness. HERE is a long thread where I record my results of using Dave's method on a shoulder butt, a shoulder picnic, and also a loin. You need to fast forward through the posts to see all three.

 

[daveomak]

OK, I have an honest question. How is this different than making BBB?

Backstory, I put a butt in a Pops wet cure with all the tasty spices in the cure just about the time
daveomak posted this. Mixed up the wet cure with spices and injected the butt for all it was worth.

So I thought I might change direction and make a ham instead since I just bought a bunch of butts at 97cents/ lb so I can make more bacon if I want (thanks Kroger).

But looking at the OP for smoking time and temps I need guidance on how this is different than making BBB hot smoked?

Serious question. Thanks for any education.
John

It's pasteurized so the meat is barely cooked... Spices don't go well for bacon..
It's not cooked after it's removed from the smoker...
Max. meat temp. 134F.... Max. smoker temp. 145F....
STPP is injected...

 

[olecrosseyes]

Could one of you Chefs please refresh my memory, What does STPP stand for? tyia.

 

[Fueling Around]

Could one of you Chefs please refresh my memory, What does STPP stand for? tyia.

Sodium TriPolyPhosphate
It is a moisture binder. Commonly used in seafood such as shrimp to retain moisture when frozen.

 

[daveomak]

 

[olecrosseyes]

Thanks Chefs!!

 

[thirdeye]

Sodium TriPolyPhosphate
It is a moisture binder. Commonly used in seafood such as shrimp to retain moisture when frozen.

I've been burned a few times when buying fresh and frozen scallops that were dipped in a phosphate solution. Some call them "wet scallops". But always read the ingredients on the bag. The dead giveaway is an almost immediate release of liquid when searing, and browning takes so long it's easy to overcook the scallops. Non-enhanced scallops like these take about 20 seconds per side.

 

[daveomak]

Yep.. All this enhanced stuff leaks like the Titanic... I think it's the same with brine/cure/injected bacon... I bought some store bought the other day and the fry pan filled with liquid and I couldn't get it to crisp up... Soggy bacon... I have forgotten how to cook it, I guess...

 

[thirdeye]

Yep.. All this enhanced stuff leaks like the Titanic... I think it's the same with brine/cure/injected bacon... I bought some store bought the other day and the fry pan filled with liquid and I couldn't get it to crisp up... Soggy bacon... I have forgotten how to cook it, I guess...

Some processors take real liberties with their version of enhancements, and product descriptions too.

I do notice a very slight amount of liquid in a skillet when lightly frying ham cured with your injection cure method. I use a light spray of oil first, and the liquid is not "watery" but has a little viscosity.... I'm guessing it's likely oil residue and liquid that has evaporated during the short cook.

 

[daveomak]

If you pasteurized it at 135 for a few hours, there no need for it to see a frying pan...
I eat them as-is...
But, It can take time for folks to eat very rare pork... and get used to it's texture... Took me awhile... Quite awhile...
Growing up in the 50's, mom burned most meat because trich was still a problem...