molasses substitute?

Need some help guys. I will be smoking a couple pork butts on Friday. i am thinking about doing one of them using the Alton Brown pork butt brine which states to use molasses. Since I don't have any, I was wondering if there is a substitute? I have regular sugar, light brown sugar, pure maple syrup, light corn syrup and turbinado sugar. If need be, I can always just buy some molasses. Thanks for the advice.

You don't have anything to sub for the flavor of dark molasses. You can mimic light molasses by using your brown sugar or turbinado, using 1.5 times the amount of molasses called for in the recipe, e.g., if the recipe calls for 1 c of molasses then you'd use 1.5 c of either of those sugars. However, I'd suggest purchasing molasses as it is the darker molasses that is most frequently called for in recipes and that you'll not be able to re-create with the items you have available.

Thanks for responding Kevin, I was expecting your response. You really know your stuff. I enjoyed reading your responses regarding "fresh" and "frozen" turkeys, as well as your knowledge on E.coli and how humans can become infected from eating produce.
Now with regards to molasses, there's one more ingredient I have that might be a substitute, Steen's 100% pure cane syrup, what do you think? Thanks again.

Erik

I'm glad you enjoy reading my posts.

I would not use the cane syrup for a couple reasons. First, it's relatively spendy for what it is; and second, you will obtain a bit more in the way of molasses flavor notes from the brown sugar than the syrup (though it will still be light notes and, depending on the other ingredients in the brine, they might be easily lost in the mix).

Save/use the Steen's for spice cakes, to drizzle on grilled banana or grilled pineapple, to mix (a little) into jerk pastes for chicken, for glazes that are fruit-based (especially tropical fruit-based), for making mojitos and the like.