To brine or not to brine?

[J.K.T.]

I know this has gone back and forth among many but I really dont know if it benefits at all. Mainly I am concerned with pork butt even though I do brine my turkey for some reason also. I guess I need to know if anyone has done both brining and dry rub and noticed a considerable difference. I think the pork has enough fat to keep the meat moist enough without added help from the brine. However I have never had a bad butt after brining.

My typical method for butts.
1.Brine overnight with brown sugar, salt, and spices.
2.Dry in morning and add dry rub.
3.Smoke for 6 hours at 210-230(need to more consistent I know, just read the Minion method) I use mainly mesquite chunks with about 20% apple chips to assist.
Controversial method of.......wrapping butt in foil and cooking for additional 2 hours on smoker or in oven until internal is 205-210.
4. Resting for an hour and pulling.

This is kind of like the lazy mans way of pull pork but the results are always impeccable.

After all this I still cant decide whether or not brining helped I bought a 9 pound butt that I will be smoking on Wednesday so maybe I will cut in half and try one brined and 1 not. Let the judges(family) decide if they can tell a difference. If not then dry rub it is

 

[Lucius]

I had been told there's no reason to brine a butt. That being said, I always felt my pork came out a little on the dry side. So the last time I smoked a butt I brined it. And I thought it was more moist than it usually is. I always put a dry rub on. The dry rub and brining do two completely different things, there's no reason to omit one on behalf of the other.

In the end, it certainly won't hurt to brine it, you just might not find it was worth the effort.

Don't worry about your smoker temperatures too much. It probably won't fluctuate all that much once you get it locked in and frankly, those are pretty low temps. You could easily do 250 degrees for a butt, and even as high as 275 or possibly 300. I usually aim for about 250 just to speed it up (over 225), but 25 degrees in either direction doesn't concern me. There's nothing really wrong with foiling it either. The meat is only going to take on smoke up to a certain temperature, after that it's just about getting the internal temperature up (albeit not too fast). I don't usually foil but if it's taking too long I'll pull it off, foil it, and throw it in the oven at a higher temp. Virtual Weber Bullet also has a recipe for a fast cook brisket involving foiling. I tried it once and it worked well, the rub on the outside was a little moist, but otherwise no problems.

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

I've brined some country style ribs and a loin and I'm not so sure it helped much. The loin is a lot leaner so I thought the brine would help, but it still came out pretty dry. I've had some good luck with pork butts without the brine. Regarding the temp, I tend to smoke my pork at 250, it seems to come out a little more tender in my opinion. Hungry!

 

[YetiDave]

I've yet to try brining anything, does it make that much of a difference?

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

I've yet to try brining anything, does it make that much of a difference?

For poultry, absolutely! It's worth the time for sure

 

[azmark]

I brine a lot more often but depends on what the time frame is. The great thing about brining is that it doesn't take a secret brine mixture but as long as you have salt it is hard not to have a delicious bird or chops.

 

[J.K.T.]

I had been told there's no reason to brine a butt. That being said, I always felt my pork came out a little on the dry side. So the last time I smoked a butt I brined it. And I thought it was more moist than it usually is. I always put a dry rub on. The dry rub and brining do two completely different things, there's no reason to omit one on behalf of the other.

In the end, it certainly won't hurt to brine it, you just might not find it was worth the effort.

Don't worry about your smoker temperatures too much. It probably won't fluctuate all that much once you get it locked in and frankly, those are pretty low temps. You could easily do 250 degrees for a butt, and even as high as 275 or possibly 300. I usually aim for about 250 just to speed it up (over 225), but 25 degrees in either direction doesn't concern me. There's nothing really wrong with foiling it either. The meat is only going to take on smoke up to a certain temperature, after that it's just about getting the internal temperature up (albeit not too fast). I don't usually foil but if it's taking too long I'll pull it off, foil it, and throw it in the oven at a higher temp. Virtual Weber Bullet also has a recipe for a fast cook brisket involving foiling. I tried it once and it worked well, the rub on the outside was a little moist, but otherwise no problems.

That helps clarify things. I really might just be overthinking it. Heck the butt comes out fine everytime so why fix it. I will brine 1 butt Wednesday and cook both the same way to see if there is any different. The reason I like foil is that it does speed the process and keeps all the moisture guaranteeing a moist meat. I have heard injecting can add a nice twist as well. As Justin mentioned...I always brine poultry and alway turn out great. I get more compliments on my fried turkey and turkey breat that have been brined.

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

That helps clarify things. I really might just be overthinking it. Heck the butt comes out fine everytime so why fix it. I will brine 1 butt Wednesday and cook both the same way to see if there is any different. The reason I like foil is that it does speed the process and keeps all the moisture guaranteeing a moist meat. I have heard injecting can add a nice twist as well. As Justin mentioned...I always brine poultry and alway turn out great. I get more compliments on my fried turkey and turkey breat that have been brined.

Please let us know what you find out. Its an interesting study to be sure

 

[Dmoney]

Great conversation here gentleman. Just make sure when you are brining, that you do it to a "non-enhanced" meat. Read the label and make sure that the label dosen't say "enhanced with a 15% solution of stock, and etc...." if you brine those they come out wayyyyyy too salty IMO"....happy BBQing....

 

[Rushman2112]

I'm a recent convert to brining - although I have only tried it on roasting chucks so far. We don't eat pork at home as the missus is a Muslim which means that's off the radar sadly, and we don't have access to a BBQ living in an apartment so I can't really contribute on the BBQ front.

That said, I would definitely say that brining a chicken overnight in just a simple brine solution of salt and sugar makes such a huge difference to the meat and depth of flavour it is quite astonishing.

 

[aceinyerface]

I think that once you clearly define what brining is and the characteristics of different cuts of meat, you can make your own call.

From what I understand (not being a professional chef, and so on and so forth, standard humble disclaimer)

Brining adds moisture to meat by using salinity and whatever osmosis thing with that. Someone can look up the specifics if they want to get that deep.

Lean cuts of meat tend to have a thin window between cooked but moist and dry . Fatty meats or cuts with connective tissue (which at 200deg over several hours melts into gelatin) tend to handle lengthy cooking times because the natural fats and gelatin keep the meat moist.

With those two pieces of information you can see that brining lean meats adds moisture, giving a bigger window between cooked but moist and dry.

On something like a whole chicken, which has both lean breasts and fatty thighs, usually it is hard to get the thighs done without drying out the breast. If you brine it, the breast can be cooked longer without drying out to give time for the thighs to be done.

On something like boston butt, there is a lot of fat and connective tissue, do you need to add more moisture? I guess it is up to you. I don't, and mine comes out great every time.

Brisket, depends on the cut, usually there is more fat in the tip, less in the flat. Do you separate them or brine the whole? Good question. I have had some dry flat brisket before, maybe so.

 

[gorgehiker]

The only thing I have Brined is salmon, i always brine my fish, then dry rub it, comes out great.....least thats what the wife and kiddo say. Got to do some ribs and a butt soon....going to watch this close now.

 

[aceinyerface]

Ribs have a lot of fat and connective tissue, but they are easy to test on, you could split a rack and brine half to see for yourself.

 

[Dr. Leaky]

Maybe I haven't done it right, but I have always been put off by the textural changes that brining creates. It's like giving everything the mouth feel of ham - not necessarily bad, but different enough that it's not what I was looking for.

 

[Jim]

Maybe I haven't done it right, but I have always been put off by the textural changes that brining creates. It's like giving everything the mouth feel of ham - not necessarily bad, but different enough that it's not what I was looking for.

You can avoid this "Curing" on a butt by brining for 8-12 hours only. Ribs are to small to avoid this in a wet brine.

 

[YetiDave]

I must give this a go. Might try something more Thai/Vietnamese style (I'm obsessed with mastering those cuisines)... Pork ribs brined and include some fish sauce, garlic and brown sugar? Or chicken brined in the same way, but add coconut milk, fish sauce, garlic and coriander.... The downside is I live with vegetarians. I'm going to be huge!

 

[Pete_T]

I recognize that recipe, I've made it a few times myself.

I think brining is a good idea with certain cuts of meat-- chicken, pork chops and pork butts all benefit from it, especially chicken. Most beef benefits from being salted and allowed to sit for half and hour or so, which is kind of the same thing, as the salt is taken up by the meat. The meat nowadays is pretty bland and needs all the help it can get.

The only time that I dont recommend brining chicken is when your going to be making something like chicken fingers. Or at least be careful with it. I've had breading slide off of the cooked chicken b/c it was too moist.

 

[Lucius]

Most beef benefits from being salted and allowed to sit for half and hour or so, which is kind of the same thing, as the salt is taken up by the meat. The meat nowadays is pretty bland and needs all the help it can get.

Eh, I don't see how that's possible. Letting salt sit on meat that long is going to draw moisture out...

 

[YetiDave]

Eh, I don't see how that's possible. Letting salt sit on meat that long is going to draw moisture out...

I use the same technique on steaks - creates a great crust on the outside and keeps the inside juicy. I usually smash garlic and rock salt and paste it all over and let it sit for 45 minutes. Then wash off and dry the meat and cook to your liking

 

[Pete_T]

Eh, I don't see how that's possible. Letting salt sit on meat that long is going to draw moisture out...

Yeah, it draws moisture out at first. Then you have a layer of heavily salted liquid on the outside of your steak, similar to a brine. The liquid gets reabsorbed by the meat, drawing the salt in.