Pork Butt Injection - Mojo Marinade

taylorb

Has anyone injected Mojo Marinade into a Butt prior to cooking?  My concern is the effect of the citric acid in the meat for 12+ hours, and if it makes the meat mushy - like pineapple to chicken.

lkapigian

I’ve done it on Butts and Whole Hog , delicious 

fishlessman

ive done 24 hr marinades with mojo and didnt notice much difference in texture.  i dont inject prior to cooking anymore, i inject  in the egg between 170 and 180f internal temps. way less messy and more stays in the meat

this is the recipe i use except i double the garlic and fix the dipping sauce with more lime when serving, i also leave the pull in big pieces to drag thru the sauce

Pork, Butt, Lechon Asado, Mojo, WDAN, Cuban

As I mentioned during the December holidays, I did a low 'n slow pork butt called Lechon Asado for New Years' Eve. Oh yeah, baby! If you are looking for yet another excuse to do L&S pork butt, but want it different than traditional Carolina pull, try this! My guests loved it and I actually liked it too (I'm my own worst critic).While this is a Cuban Christmas Eve roast-a-whole-pig thing, I approximated it by doing a 9.5 lb pork butt on the egg.


INGREDIENTS:
Marinade (do it for 24 hrs)
12-15 Cloves as many as you're willing to mince) cloves garlic
1 Tbs kosher salt
2 tsp cumin (ground)
2 tsp oregano (dried)
1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbs olive oil
It would be best if you can do this in a food processor and get it to turn out like a thick salad dressing...I was lazy and just hand-blended it all in a bowl...but it seemed to work just fine.
After 12- 24 hrs of marinating, egg the pig indirectly at a dome temp of 250-ish until meat internal temp is 200 -- just like you're doing a pull. My 9.5 lb butt needed a little over 20 hrs. I used some peach wood in the lump intead of doing my normal hic
The meat had a decidedly different flavor than the normal fair and was further differentiated by the Mojo sauce:
MOJO SAUCE
1 cup olive oil
12 cloves garlic (sliced thin)
1 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
ground black pepper to taste (~1 tsp)




Procedure:
1 Simmer all this in a sauce pan for about 20 minutes or so. Serve as a side dip for the pork.
2 Embellishments:
3 The meat is different than traditional pull, but not overwhelmingly so. The mojo does it right, but as someone mentioned when I first posted my intention of doing this cook, traditional Carolina vinegar sauce would be absolutely outstanding with this meat (refer to legendary Elder Ward documentation).
4 If you're looking for a different kind of pull, try this! The Cuban thing was a smash hit at my Anglo house. Black beans and rice were a perfect complement, not to mention the music!

caliking

You should be fine. I was at a pig roast recently, and the piggy had been injected with mojo criollo. It was outstanding. Pineapple, papaya etc. are  a different story because of the action of enzymes they contain.


I came across this bit a few days ago. Nerdy, interesting read about the effect of acid on meat :


https://www.seriouseats.com/the-science-of-yogurt-marinades

The Cen-Tex Smoker

If the acid is not from fresh fruit, it tends to be way less active. Same with bromelain (like in pineapple) Canned pineapple juice will not turn meat to mush but fresh certainly will. If you are buying a marinade off the shelf, I would imagine it would be just fine. If you are shooting fresh lime or pineapple juice in there, I would be concerned about citric acid and bromelain making the meat mushy over long periods of time. I may be wrong about that; just going by what I know those substances do to meat left to marinate too long in the fridge. . 

RyanStl

I had to look up mojo. Looks good, but wouldn't that be difficult to inject?

taylorb

RyanStl said:

I had to look up mojo. Looks good, but wouldn't that be difficult to inject?

Off the shelf at the grocery store

lkapigian

taylorb said:

RyanStl said:

I had to look up mojo. Looks good, but wouldn't that be difficult to inject?

Off the shelf at the grocery store

My go to