Brining Pork Shoulder

[PyroBoris]

I'm planning to do pulled pork for this years bonfire night / halloween shenanigans with friends @ chez Boris. Since starting this wonderful smoking lark I have always slapped a dry rub on a pork shoulder, kept it wet with some apple juice and smoked till done. Generally speaking, I have been pleased with the results, but keen to keep trying new methods & techniques.

I have never brined a pork shoulder and can't find anything on this forum about it either (probably have not looked properly, something I am often accused of by milady).

So I was wondering if any of you brined pork shoulders for pulled pork?

[Toby]

nope, its not something that you need to do. with the dry rub and smoke you get all the flavour and bark you will need.

[YetiDave]

Brining will make it taste more like pulled ham. I'm sure it would be nice, but it's really not necessary

[PyroBoris]

Thanks gents, I had not thought of it becoming more like ham!

Time to try some different rubs, any recommendations? I've not ventured beyond Memphis Dust as yet

[dawg]

Thanks gents, I had not thought of it becoming more like ham!

Time to try some different rubs, any recommendations? I've not ventured beyond Memphis Dust as yet

If you have tried the dust I'm suprised you posted this question! Unless there's more than one Memphis dust! If your on the same page then check out dry brining on that site, I totally disagree with everyone saying it's a bad idea. I've only been seriously cooking outdoors since June this year but I've cooked about 20 pork shoulders amongst other stuff, I've dry brined everything with Kosha salt and NEVER had an over salted or even salty cook. Forget about wet brining, half a teaspoon per pound and give it three days if you can. Just remember not to use rubs with salt, there's none in the latest dust recipes. But I wouldn't cook anything now without dry salting first.

[dawg]

And none of my shoulders have tasted like ham....., none...., never, ....ever, lol.

[TakingtheBrisket]

By brined i think he means a wet brine which in this case is the process of making ham whether it's sat in the brining solution or injected over some days. Overnight is a pointless task due to the amount of fat within the shoulder. A dry rub/brine is always used in our case of low n slow

[dawg]

By brined i think he means a wet brine which in this case is the process of making ham whether it's sat in the brining solution or injected over some days. Overnight is a pointless task due to the amount of fat within the shoulder. A dry rub/brine is always used in our case of low n slow

Yes I'm pretty sure your right in that he means wet brining, that's why I said I was surprised he made the post as he may have got the recipe for the dust from the same author that only recommends dry brining and doing it separately from the rub.
I just wanted to make a point that you can brine the pork separately for a few days and get a better tasting joint than if you just put a rub on it. Rubs with salt can't take the Size of meat into account, they either have a set amount of salt or they have a ratio, your probably hardly ever getting enough salt in to make a diff. As I said I have only ever had excellent results with my pork using this method.