Smoked Pork Shoulder: To Brine or not To Brine

Brining will make the meat moister but will have no effect on the flavor.

With that said, brine away.

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Brining will make the meat moister but will have no effect on the flavor.

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See, I was just reading up on it due to the lack of responses -- thanks for yours, btw -- and I read that it can enhance the flavor of turkey but for pork, etc., not so much.

I wonder does it have any impact on the bark, i.e. does it cause it to be crispier?

I wouldn't waste my time brining a shoulder you are going to smoke. I find brining to be more effective on poultry, which tends to dry out. For the flavor, it seems like if you are smoking i wouldn't want to alter the natural smoke flavor.....and pork shoulder strays pretty moist as it is.

A pork shoulder will have enough fat in it to keep it moist as long as you don't let the temp get too high. Like tigre said, I also only brine poultry.

Here is where cheatin' pays off. I don't brine mine, but I do put a rub on the night before, preferably something spicy with no sugar in it. Then I put it in one of those disposable aluminum pans and smoke it around 200-215F for 3 to 4 hours. Now the cheating part, I take it out of the smoker and put a tight aluminum foil cover on the pan and put in a 250F oven for 3 to 4 hours, depending on size.

If it doesn't fall off the bone, keep cooking. But there will be a very nice au juice in the pan to pour over the pork after you chop it up.

A rule of thumb on brining is one cup salt to one gallon of water and have enough to make the meat submerged, keep refrigerated or in an ice chest full of ice and best to do for 24 hours. Then rinse well, pat dry and cook, season, as you would normally. As long as you rinse it the meat will not be salty.

That said, poulty, turkeys especially, are the best to do but any pork is good as well. It really is a time issue and if you have the time to do it then why not? While a butt does have plenty of fat to stay moist if you brine it you will still notice a big difference so I recommend it. As I said it's really a time issue.

Not recommended for lamb or beef. Just pork and poultry. Mostly larger cuts or birds.

Keep this in mind for your Thanksgiving turkey. Some brines call for other seasonings as well as even sugar but I just stick to salt and water. Works well for me and I do it frequently. Not always but as much as I can.

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It really is a time issue and if you have the time to do it then why not? While a butt does have plenty of fat to stay moist if you brine it you will still notice a big difference so I recommend it. As I said it's really a time issue.

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I went ahead and brined it because I had the time and, really, it's easy to do. It was in the brine 12 hours.

The I rubbed it as always and smoked it for 10 hours at 225 to 250. I took it off the smoker, wrapped it in heavy duty foil and then in a towel and put it a cooler to keep.

2 hours later I opened that baby up and it was amazing.

Gave the Direct TV guy working in my neighborhood a sandwich of pulled-pork on a bun w/ homemade coleslaw and just s drizzle of bbq sauce. He came back 30 minutes later wanting to know how I did it and asked me to open a restaurant.

I consider it a success.

For the record, I've smoked five shoulders previously. All came out tender, but this one I almost didn't need to "pull" the pork.

So, to agree completely w/ Martini, if you have the time, brine. I didn't notice an improved taste, but it was as tender as I've ever had while still getting a wonderful bark.

Thanks for the link.

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only down side is when u brine the roast poultry the skin doesn't brown/crispen up like on a turkey but that is it.

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baste the bird with melted butter and sage a few hours before and the skin will krisp like a mofo.

Good lord y'all dug deep to find this thread.

If you dry the poultry completely the skin will brown and crisp as well as any other time. No different than just washing chicken and drying. It has to be very dry though.