Fast Eddy on Food Network/pork injection Q?

Eddy teaches the brine method at the FEC classes in Ponca City.

Smokin'Okie might know if the recipe is public domain and he can respond to that.

I didn't know you could make long,slow cooked shoulder too moist.

Kinda like they say about women," you can never be too beautiful,too thin,too rich".

I'm merely stating an oft used quote.

"too moist"
I guess I am afraid of the brine turning the inside of the butt into mush...especially if it contains vinegar or something acidic.

Assuming that Eddy's brine is a trade secret, is there a butt/shoulder injection that you could recommend? Do you ever inject butts in a CS?

Well not that I know much about brining ...and I have cooked a couple of contests with FE.

He used to call it his Pickle Solution. It's around somewhere, I'll see if I can find it. It's not a trade secret, they showed the recipe last night (but it's not his competition recipe, just one he used to compete with)

Couple of thoughts:

quote:

too moist

I know it's a serious question, but it's not an issue. Never had someone tell my my stuff was too Moist. LOL

quote:

butt into mush

Common comment about brining, but I've NEVER had a problem with meat turning to mush. If you injected it and let it sit for 3 or 4 days, maybe, but I've injected and let it sit 12 to 24 with no mush issues.

quote:

Ever inject a butt?

Every time I compete.

You can pretty much take any brine and inject it. All you're really doing is getting it in deeper/faster.

Me, I don't think soaking a butt in a brine really helps, it just doesn't get deep enough. I inject my brine. Pork loves salt so it's not an issue.

Take your injection, put in in the pork and let it sit for 4 hours or so, then cook normally.

Injected pork will cook faster also.

Besides FE, here's another Injection by a World Champ, Big Bob Gibson's head cook:

Chris Lilly's Six-time World Championship Pork Shoulder

Recipe By : Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson's
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
For the pork shoulder rub
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
-----------
Pork injection
3/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
------------
1 whole pork shoulder (approximately 16 pounds)
1 bottle Big Bob Gibson Championship Red Sauce (or substitute your favorite BBQ sauce)

Inject pork shoulder evenly with injection solution. Apply a generous amount of rub onto meat. Pat so the rub will adhere. Place in a smoker and cook with indirect heat for 16 hours on 225˚F. Serve with sauce on the side or paint shoulder with sauce the last 20 minutes of cooking. When done, the pork should pull off the bones easily. The internal temperature of the pork should reach 195˚F.

I DVR'd the show, I'll check it to see if this is what he talked about:

Fast Eddy Injection:

It appeared in text on a Food TV show about a contest in Shreveport, LA a few years back.

2 quarts water
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar

Beat you to it Tom

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Beat you to it Tom

Yep,you young kids are quick on your feet.

How are you gettin' all this spare time away from work?

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
How are you gettin' all this spare time away from work?

I'm working from home this week, have 3 monitors going. 2 for work, 1 for BBQ

Man, you guys are good. Thanks for all of your help, fellas. I'll be injecting 2 butts this weekend!

Smokin', you got any Q planned for the UNT game this Saturday?

quote:

Originally posted by JustADude:
Smokin', you got any Q planned for the UNT game this Saturday?

Yeah, still playing with the new FE Controller, so I'll make something. BBQ, a Chimay, HighDef. If I can't be at the game...home is good

Smokin,

Do you inject for comps due to the time requirements or because you generally like the taste better?

Reason for the question is that injections are just about the only thing I haven't got into yet. But, I am plenty curious.

There is a maxim out there that "winners inject and others don't".

Now, I do know a couple cooks that disprove that generalization.

quote:

Originally posted by Lantern:
Smokin,

Do you inject for comps due to the time requirements or because you generally like the taste better?

Reason for the question is that injections are just about the only thing I haven't got into yet. But, I am plenty curious.

I've always wondered the same thing! The board gurus often give the cryptic response "I do that in comp cooks". This begs the question, "Do you do it at home as well?". I'm certainly not knocking you Smokin' and Tom. I just always wonder if I'm missing some method that will produce superior Q.

quote:

Originally posted by Lantern:
Smokin,

Do you inject for comps due to the time requirements or because you generally like the taste better?

Taste better.

Realize, in a BBQ comp, the judges usually only take one bite.

So you want that one bite to be the best bite they've ever had. At home, I inject my pork butts most of the time, about the only time I don't is because I'm lazy...take the butt out, throw on some rub and into the smoker, no trimming either.

For me, except for the portion / bite that has bark on it, the pork "inside" taste like Pork. Think about it. Take a piece, down in the middle. What does it taste like? No with rub, not with bark but by itself.

That's the reason in NC they chop up the whole hog into really small pieces adding in a lot of flavor from the outside.

Pork tastes like Pork. In a competition, if that one bite taste like pork, it'll not get you scoring well.

FYI, in pork this year, pretty consistent with finishing top 5 so guess the judges like my one bite

quote:

winners inject and others don't

Funny Tom, I thought it was winners foil and others don't LOL

I missed that episode...too busy watchin You tube/2007 teen pageant , did anyone see it? Back to the OP...do they plan on showing that episode again?

Just to clarify i wasnt watching the whole teen show, just the q/a from miss S Carolina. I heard she was on local news and was a true sport about it...good for her!

Well dangit Smokin, looks like I'm just going to have to add a step to my pork butt routine!!!!


Now to figure out what concoction to put in and how long before to cook.


Thanks for the response!

quote:

Take your injection, put in in the pork and let it sit for 4 hours or so, then cook normally.

Injected pork will cook faster also.

Smokin -- Just a little OT here but...? I wonder if this is the reason that most of us are doing butts for 2 hrs or more per # and you say yours are only taking 1 hr. Possibility? Just a thought.

Nope. I've NEVER had a butt take 2 hours, in any of my CS's.

A lot of time, (sorry temp is classified) I'll get them done in under an hour per pound. Without I'm usually about 1.25 hours per pound, almost never 1.5 hours per.

Nope, must be the atmospheric density over Oklahoma.

I have an AQ I need to use and this fall, after contests, I'll working on it and a few pics. We'll see what times I get then.

Like Smokin' says,the first bite must grab them.

Also ,the cooks at that level are so good ,and close ,that 0.00001 of a point in 180 could decide the category.

Everyone scraps for every shred,they can think of.

If I am practicing for comps,at home,I try to do it all just like the contest.

Like the others say,If I'm cooking a case,I just load 'em up and close the door.

quote:

Originally posted by IslandQ:
I missed that episode...too busy watchin You tube/2007 teen pageant , did anyone see it? Back to the OP...do they plan on showing that episode again?

I'd keep that hush-hush if I were you.

They will replay it on 10/6/07 @ 2:30 PM ET/PT HERE is the site