[CH] Chiles, BBQ, and Brine

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Hi All --

A little off-topic, but a lot of chiles in the brine....

I brined some pork butts at the end of last week for a couple of days before
smoking them to make Lexington BBQ. It was my first experience with brining
before smoking, and I loved the results. The meat was seasoned all the way
through (read:  spicy) and came out very moist with a super-nice crust. I
made my brine up on the fly and didn't write it down, but here's a good
approximation:

1 pint homemade minced chile vinegar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 can chipotles en adobo
1 bunch cilantro
1 medium white onion
2 Tbls. cayenne powder
4 whole fresh chiles habanero

I pureed all of these in a blender until fully smooth, then poured it over 4
pork butts (approx. 30 lbs. total) that I put into a cooler. I covered with
ice and then added water just until the butts were submerged. In my
basement, with the lid closed on the cooler, this mix stayed cold (below 40
F) for two days without changing the ice. After removing the butts from the
brine, I dried them off, rubbed them generously with red seasoning, and
smoked them for 12 hours at about 200 F. I will add here that you can easily
modify this brine to suit your taste -- the biggest thing here, I think, is
getting the correct proportion of salt and sugar to liquid -- and, as you
can see, this proportion is quite high.

Matt

• Next message: Tony Flynn: "Re: [CH] Bread and butter jalapenos?"
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