pork steaks recipe

Apple Brined Pork Steaks Recipe

Here is a Pork Steak recipe that’s packed with flavor. If you’re not familiar with “pork steak” it’s basically a sliced Boston Butt. I shot a video of this recipe… Most any butcher will slice the pork butt for you just tell them you want it cut into pork steaks. I get them cut about ¾” thick, and an average size butt yields about 9-10 good size pork steaks.
To pack some flavor into these pork steaks I use an “Apple Brine”. Here’s the recipe:
  • 64oz 100% Apple Juice
  • 1 cup Brown Sugar
  • ½ cup Salt
  • ¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 cup The BBQ Rub.
Bring the apple juice and apple cider vinegar to a slow boil and add the brown sugar, salt, and rub. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. I use a 2.5 gallon Hefty brand slider bag to brine the pork steaks. Place the meat into the bag and pour the room temperature brine over it. Be sure to place the bag into a shallow pan or baking dish just in case it leaks. The pork steaks need at least 4 hours in the brine, so put them in the refrigerator or in a cooler on ice. After 4 hours remove the steaks from the brine and allow the excess liquid to drain off. I pat them lightly with a paper towel to remove the moisture. You should be able to tell that the brine has soaked into the meat, the color will be slightly darker.
Next apply a good coating of The BBQ Rub. to the outside and let them sit on the counter for a few minutes while the smoker is coming up to temperature. You want the smoker at 275 degrees for these steaks. I also used apple for smoke to keep the flavor profile going.
Once the smoker is up to temp, put the steaks on the grill. Every 30min give them a flip and keep cooking. The total cook time should be about 1 ½ hours or until an internal temperature of 165-170 degrees is reached.
The pork steaks have a lot of internal fat that needs to break down but don’t worry it will still be really juicy in the end. As soon as the hit the target temperature, pull the steaks off the grill and give them 5-10 minutes to rest. You’re ready to eat at this point!
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Comments 19

  1. Malcom, I have some pork steaks in the brine right now! Gonna grill them when I get home from work, can’t wait! #mouthwatering

    Reply

  2. They turned out pretty good! I say ‘pretty good’ and not AWESOME because I had a flare up from the fat rendering down on to the coal, causing one side of the meat to get quite a bit more char on it than I’d like. I will definitely try this again with a diffuser or water bowl.

    Thanks for a great recipe!

    Reply

  3. Tried the apple brined pork steaks tonight OMG tender. we had 4 butt steaks from our butcher and 3 shoulder steaks from wall mart. The butts took the flavours and smoke and tasted amazing, the flavour didn’t seem to penetrate into the shoulder cuts and were less then superb. Do you know why that is?

    Reply

    1. It’s probably going to come down to the hog it was taken from. It’s amazing how much variance there is between hog to hog – occasionally you’ll get one that just isn’t that great.

      Reply

  4. One of my favorite things to cook. Inexpensive, not terribly difficult, and downright delicious. I follow Malcom’s recipes pretty much exclusively. Also at the top of my list is chuck roasts for pulled beef sandwiches. Oh. My. Goodness. I think that’s what we’ll eat in Heaven. If the houses on either side of Malcom go up for sale, I’m moving in.

    Reply

  7. My buddy and I are cooking together for our families tonight and I forgot to tell him to let the brine cool down before pouring it into the bag with the steaks. Will this make them tough? Any other concerns I should be aware of by having the boiling hot brine hit the cool meat?

    Reply

    2. From my experience. If you don’t allow the water to cool it will turn the outside of the meat grey and it has a different taste. Drop in ice cubes if you are in a time crunch.

      Reply

  9. Tried this two weeks ago, and all I can say is we had no leftovers. Will be making them again this weekend, my question is can I leave these steaks in the brine overnight + hours until cooking or is 4hrs the recommended time?
    Great site love the recipes, thank you.

    Reply

  10. I am putting a pork loin in the brine this evening and plan on throwing it in the smoker in the morning it is a 2 1/2 pound loin going to smoke at 240 hopefully till it if fork tender

    Reply

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