Brined a pork SHoulder,

in for the warm nap

ready to come out after 14 hours.

out for a 30 minute rest

and after the carnage.

Help me understand. What was added by the brine? 14 hrs at 225 and you have amazing pulled pork without the extra steps. Just asking.

Brine was

Gallon of water

1.5 Tablespoon Cure 1
1/2 C sea salt
1.5 C sugar
1.5 C brown Sugar

I added a bit of Molasses and some garlic powder.

The time was long as it was getting done far sooner than I wanted so about 6.5 hours in I lowered temp to 180° for a few hours then back to 225°

I do the same brine on pork butts for about 3 weeks and smoke for pulled ham, it is a nice change from the same ole pulled pork. I did pulled ham and pulled pork for my customer appreciation day at work and everyone loved the ham.

Interesting. I'd like to try.

So this is the pulled ham, correct?

Final IT was 175, which is lower than typical pulled pork pulling temp, so does this pull?

Can Tenderquick be used in place of cure #1?

I went to 175° because I was slicing it. But yes if you took it to the 200-205° internal range you would pull/shred it. I do butts for about 3 weeks.

You will want to inject the cure into the thick parts and a lot in and around the bone.

As for tenderquick I think it is 1C to 4 cups water. I wouldn't be adding any extra salt, I have never used it in a brine so I could be wrong. I like it to make canadian bacon and such with a dry cure, but when I brine I use cure 1 so I can adjust my salt content.

quote:

in the garage fridge for about 6.5 week

6.5 hours, right?

quote:

Originally posted by pigisgood:

quote:

in the garage fridge for about 6.5 week

6.5 hours, right?

No it was 6.5 weeks, it takes time for the cure to do it's work. 3-4 would have been sufficient but I decided to leave it in there and make it for Christmas.

So it sounds like you cured a ham. As was stated, Making a brine or injection from Cure #1 requires more concentration than your ratio. At proper concentration, a pork shoulder submerged in the brine would not take that long. It may become mushy if submerged too long.

How did it turn out. Next time, you can inject around the bone and especially the hocks and dry rub the outside, it'll be done in a couple of weeks.

yes cured to make a picnic ham. it turned out very good I would rather use a bit less cure and a bit more time. This was the longest I have left one in for. Normally 3-4 weeks if good I just decided to save it and do it for Christmas.

The link you have posted, is that you, those are some nice looking pigs you have.

Yes, thanks, that's our farm.

I usually dry cure mine, but have limited myself to just doing whole boneless ham muscles (top, bottom, eye of round.)

It works out pretty good. This current time, I got a few pieces with a couple of grey spots in the center, indicating the cure did not penetrate. I should have left it under cure a bit longer than my 15 days, as I usually go for 4 weeks or so. My goal in curing ham is deli meat. I judge my success by moisture loss during curing, and have been able to loose 37 percent so far. This intensifies the flavor and make the ham texture perfect on our pigs. The bacon is really good like this.

I'm having a slicing party tomorrow, for all the bacon and hams from two larger pigs is finally finished. Here's a shot of the bacon hanging. You can tell this was a home butcher job by the way I hacked up the meat.