Manor Vail Lodge Pork Butt Brine Recipe

A platter of pulled pork with cole slaw and buns

Manor Vail Lodge Pork Butt Brine Recipe

Seared and roasted until savory and delicious, this is the most melt in your mouth, tender, remarkable tasting pulled pork.

Course Main Course Pork

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Brine 1

Servings

Calories 384kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

Ingredients

10 pounds pork shoulder roast 2-5 pound roasts or 1 8 - 10 pound pork shoulder roast, bone in or boneless
2 gallons water
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt Mortons or Diamond Crystal
12 Tablespoon black pepper or 6 tablespoons whole peppercorns
6 cinnamon sticks
8 teaspoons sage dried
2 carrots cut into chunks
1 onion peeled and cut into wedges
2 stalks celery cut into chunks
8 bay leaves
2 oranges washed and cut into wedges
2 limes washed and cut into wedges
2 lemons washed and cut into wedges
24 hamburger buns or 3 packages of slider buns

Instructions

Add all brine ingredients to a large soup kettle. I used my canning pot.
Bring the brine mixture to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand until liquid is at room temperature. This will take oven an hour. NOTE: you place the meat in the hot brine, it will toughen. When the brine has cooled, add the pork, refrigerate and let cure for 24 hours.
The next morning preheat oven to 225 degrees. Ladle about 4 cups of the brine in the bottom of the roaster pan. A turkey roaster works great here. The seasoned brine will create a flavorful steam bath.
Sear the roast (s) on each side. Place roasts on the roasting rack, cover with heavy duty foil and bake 10 hours.
Shred meat as soon as it is cool enough to touch. While shredding, remove any of the chunks of fat that didn't render off. Once the pork is shredded, If you'd like, add a scoop of the drippings from the roasting pan to the shredded pork. It will add flavor and moisture.

Notes

If you don't have a skillet large enough to easily sear that pork roast, fire up that grill. Just heat it to 450 degrees, pat the pork roast dry, add some dry rub or seasoning (if using) and use the grill to sear each side of the pork shoulder. It will save you from kitchen cleanup and you won't have to deal with the smoke from the stove-top sear. Then place it in your roasting pan and finish in the oven at 225 degrees for 10 hours.

Can you freeze pulled pork? Just store portions in a freezer safe container. Zip Lock freezer bags, or a vacuum sealer work good because you can press the air out of the container before freezing. This will prevent freezer burn.

Toppings For Pulled Pork Sandwiches or Sliders

Sweet and spicy pickles, are a simple pulled pork topping idea. Sweet and spicy makes a great flavor combo with the savory pork.
Always a favorite and classic topping is Cole Slaw. I like this recipe from Bobby Flay that he uses on his Slaw Burgers.
Seems I always have a jar of pepporoncini in the fridge. Throw a few slices on top of pulled pork sliders for a WOW flavor combo. It makes absolutely delicious little sandwiches.
Chow Chow: I pick up a few jars of Colorado made chow chow at our farmer's market towards the end of the season. Keep a stash of this sweet, salty, spicy condiment to top pulled pork sandwiches. It's divine.

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