Smoked Pork Butt Roast

[Oleg]

Hi Guys,
Had another try to smoke pork.

meat:
3 LB (1350g) of pork butt roast

6hrs brine at room temperature:
1350g water
20g celery juice powder
136g salt (sorry my fault, the intent was to put 65g)
65g sugar

Smoked at 180-190 until IT 145. Took 4 hrs.

Please offer critiques.
The issues I ran into:
1 too salty.
2 celery juice powder happened to be hard to dissolve in room temperature water.
3 you can clearly see red ring and brown color in the middle of smoked pieces. See attached.

The donnes was great! This is exactly how I wanted it.

 

[schlotz]

Not certain I would brine at room temp. 65g of salt is close to 1/4 cup which seems high. I'd cut in half and use 1900 grams (1/2 gal) of water. Try dissolving the celery powder in a small amount of WARM water first.

 

[Oleg]

Not certain I would brine at room temp. 65g of salt is close to 1/4 cup which seems high. I'd cut in half and use 1900 grams (1/2 gal) of water. Try dissolving the celery powder in a small amount of WARM water first.

Thank you Schlotz, What about the brine time? Do you think I will need to add a couple of hours to get to the center of meat? Will brining in the refrigerator add even more time?

 

[browneyesvictim]

Are you trying to "cure" it? Definitely brine in the refrigerator at ~37'. And yes, you should brine longer in my opinion. But you could inject also and shorten that time. I would go minimum of 2 days, longer if you are trying to cure it. Yeah, WAY too much salt.

 

[Oleg]

Are you trying to "cure" it?

Yes, I was trying to cure it to disinfect and get nice color. 2+ days to cure? Oh boy, can I borrow someone's patience for a few days? :)

 

[Bearcarver]

Yes, I was trying to cure it to disinfect and get nice color. 2+ days to cure? Oh boy, can I borrow someone's patience for a few days? :)

To cure a Pork Butt roast, even a small 3 pounder should take at least 10 to 12 days, going by thickness, and that's using Tender Quick Cure. And always in the fridge at about 37°, like BEV mentioned above.

Bear

 

[Oleg]

To cure a Pork Butt roast, even a small 3 pounder should take at least 10 to 12 days,

Hi Bearcarver, what's the reason for such a long time? Is this required to kill the bacteria, get proper flavor, tenderize? I can see it being necessary for true cold smoking but I pass 140F in less than 4hrs.

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi Bearcarver, what's the reason for such a long time? Is this required to kill the bacteria, get proper flavor, tenderize? I can see it being necessary for true cold smoking but I pass 140F in less than 4hrs.

It takes one day for each 1/2" of penetration to get to the center. (1/4" each side)
Butts are about 5" thick, but a small 3 pounder might be only 3" Thick.
My formula is one day for each Half inch of thickness, plus 2 days.
So that would be 6 days (for the 3") plus 2 days = 8 days.
Then I always add another 2 to 3 days to that for safety.

So that makes it 10 or 11 days if it's 3" Thick.

Or 12 to 13 days if it's 4" thick.
Actually I wouldn't do the 4" thick butt without injecting the center, or cutting it in half & cure 2 pieces 2" Thick each.

If you think that's a long time,
My method is less time than some others, who say 7 days per inch, which would make it 21 days for a 3" Thick Butt, and 28 days for a 4" Thick Butt. Now people can see why 7 days per inch is much more than is needed.

I hope this helps.

Bear

 

[Oleg]

It takes one day for each 1/2" of penetration to get to the center. (1/4" each side)

I guess I can assume similar rate for other cuts as well. Going to adjust the next time I smoke.

 

[Bearcarver]

Yes, Like I said, "I go by thickness", whether that be Pork loins (Canadian Bacon), Pork Butt (Buckboard Bacon), Beef Eye Round (Dried Beef), Venison (Venison Dried Beef).
Anything over 3" Thick I cut in half, so I don't have to inject it. (But that's just me)

I'm Smoking a Pork Butt tomorrow (BBB) that I just gave 11 days in cure after splitting it in half.

You can see a bunch of them on this page (Below Link).
The first Group is all cured Meats:

Just click on "Bear's Step by Steps".

Bear

 

[Oleg]

I'm Smoking a Pork Butt tomorrow (BBB) that I just gave 11 days in cure after splitting it in half.

Any chance you could upload a picture of the crosscut when done?

 

[Bearcarver]

Any chance you could upload a picture of the crosscut when done?

Not sure what "Crosscut" you mean.

Bear

 

[smokerjim]

I cured 4- 3lb. Boneless butts a couple weeks ago for bbb, I let them cure for 14 days.

 

[Oleg]

Not sure what "Crosscut" you mean.

I meant a slice where we can see the color inside.

 

[Bearcarver]

I meant a slice where we can see the color inside.

Here's one of a Canadian Bacon Smoke.
The slice laying on top is a slice taken from in between the piece it's laying on top of & the other half behind it. You can see it's pink all the way through, and not brown or gray in the center:

 

[Oleg]

it's pink all the way through, and not brown or gray in the center

Thank you, the color looks spectacular.