Morning all....had an experiment that worked pretty well for the first try. I have been making some sausage lately, so had been researching and using curing salt.
So...I wet cured a pork butt and shoulder with salt/sugar/#1/pickling spices. I don't have any pics of the bath, but I brined/cured it for 8 days and then rinsed it and let it sit in a cold water bath in the fridge for 48 hours. It seemed to actually even out the color after the water bath...not sure if that's a thing, but it did it for me.
Then I used a light standard rub that I would use on pork butt for smoking. I kept it light because I knew the butts would be salty...even with the water bath. I was just focused on texture and curing correctly more than flavor for my first try.
Then I smoked it like a butt/shoulder...it's interesting...it took 16.5 hours. Each was around 7-8lbs...normally that takes me 8-10 hours max. I don't know if the curing slowed it down?
Either way...standard smoke...wrapped at 165...pulled at 196 and put in the cooler for about 5 hours knowing the temp would rise to the magic 203. My intention was to pull/shred to get a unique ham...or, at least unique to me.
See attached pics...it smelled like ham, tasted like super moist ham and wasn't too salty. It turned out pretty good for my first try.
Next I'm going to try beef...same process but with Beef shoulder clod...which I also shred with the same process. I love corned beef...so, we will see.
So...I wet cured a pork butt and shoulder with salt/sugar/#1/pickling spices. I don't have any pics of the bath, but I brined/cured it for 8 days and then rinsed it and let it sit in a cold water bath in the fridge for 48 hours. It seemed to actually even out the color after the water bath...not sure if that's a thing, but it did it for me.
Then I used a light standard rub that I would use on pork butt for smoking. I kept it light because I knew the butts would be salty...even with the water bath. I was just focused on texture and curing correctly more than flavor for my first try.
Then I smoked it like a butt/shoulder...it's interesting...it took 16.5 hours. Each was around 7-8lbs...normally that takes me 8-10 hours max. I don't know if the curing slowed it down?
Either way...standard smoke...wrapped at 165...pulled at 196 and put in the cooler for about 5 hours knowing the temp would rise to the magic 203. My intention was to pull/shred to get a unique ham...or, at least unique to me.
See attached pics...it smelled like ham, tasted like super moist ham and wasn't too salty. It turned out pretty good for my first try.
Next I'm going to try beef...same process but with Beef shoulder clod...which I also shred with the same process. I love corned beef...so, we will see.
