![]() For better injector sauce dispersion, let the meat rest for an hour after injecting and before grilling or barbecuing. ![]() Strain out solids through a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter. Unless you own a needle with wide openings, avoid coarsely ground spices or similar ingredients that would clog the system.Use low-sodium broth when assembling injection sauces.Lubricate the rubber or silicone gasket on the end of the plunger with a little vegetable oil before using.A tall but narrow jar, such as the kind that holds pickled banana peppers or jalapenos, holds about two cups and works well. Once you mix the ingredients for your injector sauce, place it in a deep slender vessel to facilitate drawing the liquid into syringe.Here are some additional tips for injecting: What Should You Inject?Īs for the target, good candidates include large cuts of meat like whole hogs, hams, and pork shoulders, whole turkeys and chickens, briskets, shoulder clod, etc., plus intrinsically dry meats like pork loin, lamb leg, beef round roast, and double thick pork chops. (Try my recipe for Honey-Cured, Hickory-Smoked Shoulder Ham which recently appeared in the New York Times.) Inject part of the brine deep into the ham in a row of holes following the leg bone. Injecting is a great way to accelerate the brining process with hams. (Warm the latter in a saucepan of simmering water, so they flow easily.) For a touch of sweetness add fruit juice or molasses or honey. So what should you inject with your injector? The shortlist includes broth or stock, melted butter, cognac or whiskey, hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce or soy sauce, or a combination of these ingredients. Continue injecting until the liquid begins leaking from the holes, indicating the meat cannot hold any more. To minimize the number of holes you put in the meat, angle the needle in two or three directions using the same entry hole. (A quick plunge may send streams of injector sauce squirting in the opposite direction.) Withdraw the needle gradually. Plunge the needle deep in the meat, then depress the plunger slowly and steadily. Work over a rimmed baking sheet or other container with sides. Make sure the perforations are fully submerged in the sauce.) Pull the plunger back to fill the syringe with liquid. (Some needles are closed at the end but have holes along the sides. To use an injector, fully depress the plunger and insert the needle in the injector sauce. Dick Marinade Brine Injector, feature several feet of tubing with a terminal valve on one end that can be submerged in a large container of injector liquid. Some look like pressure sprayers, holding 2 to 2.5 gallons. If smoking 150-pound hogs is your deal, spring for a commercial injector system to save time and hand fatigue. You get four different oversize needles (large, small, slanted, multi-hole), plus a handy carrying case. The injector itself comes with a pistol-grip handle and a ratchet plunger designed to shoot even thick liquids deep into the meat. One of the coolest injectors I’ve used is the SpitJack Magnum Meat Injector Gun, sold by the folks who developed the SpitJack whole hog rotisserie. There are many types of Injectors like this stainless steel one from Cave Tools. For thicker flavoring mixtures (like pesto or jerk seasoning), invest in a wide mouth injector-often sold with a metal spike for making deep holes in the meat into which you inject your spice paste. Use them for injecting broth, melted butter, and/or other liquid seasonings. The syringe (plastic or stainless steel) typically comes with a 2- to 4-ounce capacity-enough for most barbecue projects. Many injectors look like oversize hypodermic needles. Injecting, however, delivers flavor to the center of the food in seconds with the push of a plunger. Brining and curing solutions can reach the center, but require days or weeks to do so (a process that takes up real estate in your refrigerator.) While they add flavor, marinades penetrate only a few millimeters into the meat. Spice pastes, glazes, and most dry rubs simply sit on the meat’s surface. Think of injecting as marinating from the inside out. Afraid of needles? Don’t let that deter you from the benefits of injecting.Īs the barbecue pros know, injecting is the most efficient way to add flavor and moisture to smoked, barbecued, or grilled meats.
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