brine curing pork shoulder or butt?

[Kent]

I brined a 5lb piece pork butt with Morton's Tenderquick[salt, sugar, .5%
nitrite
and .5% nitrate] using their recipe on the package. I did cut back a little
on their recipe, which uses 1 cup of Tenderquick per quart of water to make
the brine. Some of that is sugar. I brined the pork in a ziplock bag for
five days in the frig.

After cooking at a low temp on the grill the results were good, but only
good. It had an only slightly "hammy" taste. Has anyone tried this, either
with brisket or with pork?

Thanks in advance,

Kent

[Brian Mailman]

Kent wrote:
> I brined a 5lb piece pork butt with Morton's Tenderquick[salt, sugar,
> .5% nitrite and .5% nitrate] using their recipe on the package. I did
> cut back a little on their recipe, which uses 1 cup of Tenderquick
> per quart of water to make the brine. Some of that is sugar.

I'm not one of the meat guys in this group, but it doesn't seem quite
safe to me to "cut back" on a tested recipe (although it might not
matter for such short term storage). But I always reserve the right to
be wrong....

B/

[Anon]

I have always done loins. They are in essence "ham". Canadian bacon
and Kaseler Rippchen, are the same recipe. In Germany they typically
use birch for smoke. I typically use hickory and sometimes apple. I
also have always used a rub of tender quick (1 Tbsp per pound
+seasonings), not a brine. It pulls moisture from the meat.

I also leave it in the fridge for 5 days per inch of meat thickness to
allow the nitrates to penetrate the meat.

I am not an expert on the subject, just an amateur with a couple of
attempts behind me.

A good site for sausage, smoking and curing by Len Poli:

http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/

You can post to Sausage-List on Yahoo groups (must join first) to ask
additional questions, of more experienced folks. I am subscribed, but
it has been hibernating for a while.

JK

PS: I want to do slab bacon next.