Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Injection Ideas for Pork Shoulders?

Yeah, I was gonna be anatomically accurate, and identify them as Pork Butts. Then I remembered the maturity level of the site on which I'd be posting this...

So anyway... The local store had bone-in butts for $1.59/lb, so I grabbed a couple, and I'll smoke them Friday night into Saturday on the WSM. Heretofore, I've just seasoned with Stubbs rub, 'n let 'em fly 'til done.

Still, I've seen the fancy folks on TV (back when I had cable) squirt 'em full of proprietary mystery concoctions with syringes. I've even seen a commercial product (from French's, if I'm not mistaken) that had a stout plastic cap with an opening cut at a steep angle, such that it could be used as a syringe.

What say those in the know? What to put in the liquid? How much to make? Will it appreciably alter smoking time? Pictures welcome!

Thanks,

FC

I inject mine with the rub mixture (add to your taste) and apple juice. I then place them in the smoker at 225 degrees for 2 hours per pound or until internal temps reach 190 degrees (for pulled pork).

Whatever you decide to use keep in mind that a little vinegar added to your injection is never a bad thing. Delicious for pulled pork sammies.

So, (Stubbs Rub + apple juice + rice vinegar might) work OK?

FC

Butter, garlic and lemon juice.
Works pretty good in a turkey, too.

No exp. with Stubbs Rub or rice vinegar,however, my rub of choice simmered in a little vegetable oil (many spices are not water soluable so VO sems to work) mixed with some apple cider vinegar works for me.

Like the others have said, your rub, inject a simple brine, and let rest over night. Inject it, cut/poke slits and soak it over night and then rub. Makes little difference. It will be juicy no matter how you do it as long as you don't over cook it.

Just put it into the smoker cold and you will end up with a great smoke ring and delicious meat.

^^^This

I used to dick around with injecting apple juice and rub mixture into it. It really isn't worth the effort IMO.

I don't inject meat that takes as long too cook as pork shoulder.

Possibly injecting bacteria into meat that may take more than 4 hours to get into the safe zone makes me nervous.

Mike.....should we inform????

I have a few different injections they are all winners ...but.....one takes the cake 😇 2 different butts need two different injections ...to see what u like apple juice ,salt with out iodine, butter in the blue squeeze bottle, and a hit of rub, is basic and easy,u can very the juice (but stay away from cherry juice!! 😷. Bacon grease/soyvsauce / mustard in and out >>>Been there done that , thing is u want it a bit on the salty side IMO ...I wash the cryovac pkg with the butt in it and inject right in the pkg /easy/clean and its all in there , remove and rinse before u add the the rub ...I start my butts/porkers at room temp ...192deg foil with a stick of blue bonnet, and a had full of brown sugar seal and drop in a pre heated cooler of the right size...pull it to eat any where's from a hour of set time to 10 hours ....if u did it right ...no one can tell ! .....

Well how did it go ?

The method "anonymously" PM'd to me ( ) worked like a charm!

The temp went higher than I thought it would, and faster: in 2 hours & 40 minutes, it was already around 285 degrees. The meat had gone from 32 to 108 in that time. I closed the vents down from 100% open to 80%. Still, in another 2 hours, the temp was at 290, and the meat was already at 151. This time, I closed the vents down to 20% open, and the temp settled at 225 and stayed there. The meat ended up done (192, as it turned out), in about 9 1/2 hours.

The meat was a tad light on the smoke ring, but had excellent smoke flavor, good bark, and was really juicy. The biggest difference I noticed in this batch was that the meat kept its moisture really well even after shredding and cooling. This is the biggest difference I noticed between brining and injecting. The brined meat I've smoked in the past would often dry out once after it was shredded & allowed to cool.

I did one butt with Stubbs Texas Butter Marinade, and the other with the Chris Lilly recipe that's all over the web. I gave the former to a buddy whose wife is on the mend, and we ate the latter. While I liked the latter a lot, I think I'll have to try the former for myself: the scrapings from the grate were awfully damned good, and the friend and his wife were RAVING about it.

I think there's probably something to having some fat in the injection cocktail: there was none included in the Lilly recipe. My gut tells me that some EVOO would not be out of place in the mix.

Thanks again to all.

FC

A little fat in the injection is never a bad thing. While pork butts have the ideal fat-to-lean ratio that you want in a slow-cooking meat (about 75/25 lean to fat) they do vary from piece to piece and a little extra oil to help lubricate the muscle fibers during cooking is never a bad thing. The extra juiciness you're experiencing from an injected solution is likely due to better salt penetration of the butts vs basic brining which requires a long, slow process of osmosis to draw the salt into the product. By injecting a saline solution into the muscle, you're allowing the salt to penetrate deeper where it holds onto water throughout the cooking process giving you a better piece of meat when all is said and done. Also, allowing the meat to "rest" before cutting or shredding prevents drying out as well.

If you really want to do it up right, grab yourself one of these bad boys and pump 10% of the weight of the meat you are cooking in brine into the sucker and then let it sit in brine as well for 24 hours. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven. That's how I make the Irish-cured bacon for St. Patrick's Day every year where I work.

Butcher BBQ injection.

Enough bushin round the beat, what gives?

Dizzy what with what?

I do a 50/50 injection of Apple juice to Apple Cider vinegar. I do this the day before and coat with a rub. Let sit and soak.

Dr. Pepper with garlic powder

1 Cup Apple Juice
1/2 Cup Peach or Mango Nectar
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tbsp MSG (it makes even water taste good!!)
1 Tbsp Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust ground fine with a pestle and mortar

I also like Butcher BBQ's Pork Injection mixed with peach nectar or Dr. Pepper instead of water.

Never felt the need to have to inject a pork butt