Alton Brown's Brined Pulled Pork


 
R

Rita Y

TVWBB Emerald Member
PULLED PORK in a FLOWERPOT SMOKER, ALTON BROWN
Makes 8–10 servings.
User Rating: 5 Stars
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 13 hours
Cook Time: 11 hours

BRINE:
8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses
12 ounces pickling salt
2 quarts bottled water

6–8 pound Boston butt

RUB:
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
1 teaspoon whole coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon paprika

Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6-quart Lexan (Cambro) bucket. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely sub-merged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.

Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex gloves during the application.

Preheat (AB’s flowerpot) smoker to 210 degrees F. Place butt in smoker and cook for 10–12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork.

Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing as desired.

Alton Brown’s Terra Cotta pot smoker: 1) hot plate, 2) large terra cotta pots - weave hot pot cord through bottom hole, and 3) stand pot onto any level type feet: fancy planter feet, bricks, wood 2X4 pieces, or even rocks, 4) heavy-duty pan to hold smoke accelerant, 5) round terra cotta type bowl to serve as lid, 6) standard replacement thermometer for a grill – place in hole of round pot once inverted.

Source: Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, Show: Good Eats, July 7, 2005, Episode (EA1G04): "Q"; http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cooking/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_23019,00.html
 
Let me know how it comes out... sounds good. Sometimes when I try Alton's recipes they don't taste as good as they look when he cooks them on TV.
 
I have made this recipe twice on my old Brinkman smoker, and it tastes awesome
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Anybody know what's the equivalent of 12 ounces of pickling salt to regular table salt? Thanks.

Erik
 
Erik, these are the salt conversions that I have in my notes. Alton probably calls for pickling salt because it is a "purer" product; it doesn't contain any of the anti-caking ingredients that regular table salt has.

SALT CONVERSION CHART

For brining, you could use the same amount of table salt as pickling salt.
------------------------------------
1 cup Morton Canning and Pickling Salt = 10.16 oz, 288 g (1 tablespoon = 18 g)
1 cup table salt = 10.0 oz, 283 g (1 tablespooon = 17.7 g)
1 cup Morton kosher salt = 7.7 oz, 218 g (1 tablespoon = 13.6 g)
1 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt = 5.0 oz, 142 g (1 tablespoon = 8.9 g)
------------------------------------

1 cup (10.0 oz) table salt
... = 1 1/2 cups (10.0 oz) Morton kosher salt
... = 2 cups (10.0 oz) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
... = 15.7 tablespoons (10.0 oz) pickling salt

1 tablespoon table salt
... = 1 1/2 tablespoons Morton kosher salt
... = 2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt

1 pound salt
... = 1.6 cups table salt
... = 1.57 cups pickling salt
... = 2.1 cups Morton kosher salt
... = 3.2 cups Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Rita
 
Pickling salt is easier to dissolve without heating the water, so I do like to use it for brines and curing solutions.

One thing I would do differently than AB's recipe is to give the pork about 12 hours to air dry in the frig or a good 30-40 minutes in front of a fan on high speed to dry it out a bit before you apply the rub and put it on the smoker. You'll get a bit of a pellicle on the exterior and that will help the smoke to adhere better.
 
Great, thanks a lot guys. I imagine I can probably put some kosher salt in a spice grinder and basically have pickling salt. Anybody disagree? Thanks.

Erik
 
You can certainly do that, but it isn't necessary to grind kosher salt for a brine. What I do when brining with kosher salt is bring a portion of the water to a boil, add the salt, sugar if using, and any whole spices that would benefit from some flavor extraction and then stir to make sure the salt/sugar is dissolved. Then allow that to cool and combine with the rest of the liquid, then chill to ~40 degrees and add the meat.
 
I have whipped out 2 of these pork butts for my first 2 smokes on my WSM, and it is still some of the best pulled pork I have ever eaten, and the in-laws agree.


No sauce needed on this baby
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Jeff, how long do you brine it for? I have read somewhere that 12 hours makes the pork too salty. Do you agree? Do you add additional rub to the meat while you pull it apart? Thanks.

Erik
 
No mention on anything about adding wood to the process or a drip pan. I would think using some apple chunks and the drip pan would help
 
Ryan, IMO, other than being well seasoned with salt, I really couldn't taste a difference. I would definitely make it again due to the overall ease of the recipe, however next time I will probably skip the molasses which I felt added nothing to the flavor.

Erik
 
I have done it, IN the flower pot. I built his flowerpot smoker which is what led me to get the WSM...that is what my WSM replaced is the flower pot smoker.....

It was GREAT.

Now, I like a dolt added in too much raw rub at the end to it had a rawish flavor to it, but it turned out great.

I would recommend any recipe Alton writes. Good stuff all around.

In my world there is the "Old Testiment" (Mastering the Art of French cooking by Julia Childs), the "New Testiment" (Cooks Illustrated) and the Prophets, like Alton Brown.

Try it...it's good.
 
Originally posted by Erik G:
I would definitely make it again due to the overall ease of the recipe, however next time I will probably skip the molasses which I felt added nothing to the flavor.
Erik
Click to expand...
Erik, This suggestion is a little pricey but instead of the moleasses (which I don't care for, I always use Sourghum in place of the moleasses) you could use pure maple syrup. I would cut the water and salt in half and just do it in a 2 gal zip bag with as much of the air removed as possible. Then just put that in a bucket and fill the bucket/container with water. The force of the water will keep the small amount of brine against the meat.
 
Originally posted by Bryan S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Erik G:
I would definitely make it again due to the overall ease of the recipe, however next time I will probably skip the molasses which I felt added nothing to the flavor.
Erik
Click to expand...
Erik, This suggestion is a little pricey but instead of the moleasses (which I don't care for, I always use Sourghum in place of the moleasses) you could use pure maple syrup. I would cut the water and salt in half and just do it in a 2 gal zip bag with as much of the air removed as possible. Then just put that in a bucket and fill the bucket/container with water. The force of the water will keep the small amount of brine against the meat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the assistance. Have you tried your suggestion? After thinking about it, I would probably avoid the alton brown brine, however if you have tried your suggestion with success then I would definitely give that a whirl.

Erik
 
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