Second hot smoke: Boneless pork loin

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lav25

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 28, 2011
81
34
Osaka, Japan
OK, I just started my second ever proper hot smoke.  I've got a 2.5 lb-ish boneless pork loin which I dry rubbed last night with something called "Almighty Spice" from The Meat Guy here in Japan.  It's a mix of, well, there's some rosemary, I think some oregano, salt, garlic, dunno exactly, but it goes well with pork and chicken just as a sprinkle on spice, so I have high hopes.  Put it on last night, wrapped it in clingfilm, and left it in the fridge.

bf4d4936_DSCN2341.jpg


I didn't cure the meat for a couple of reasons, mostly that I want a pork roast not a ham.  As far as health and safety goes, I'm about 90% sure this will be finished in the oven, my little smoker has trouble getting up much heat.

In and ready to go, thin fat cap up:

43e2e638_DSCN2344.jpg


I'm almost 20 minutes now, air temp is 127 (up from 64 degrees outside) and the meat is up to 48 from whatever it came out of the fridge at.  There's really no point in preheating this smoker, as soon as you open it long enough to put in the smoke and food, the temperature goes back pretty close to ambient.  I'm spreadsheeting my temperatures for reference.  I plan to spray it with apple juice and olive oil a couple times, I don't recall exactly whose thread recommended that but it seems worth a try

More later as things progress.

-val
 
8b965ceb_DSCN2345.jpg


About 2 hours in, internal temp is 127, the air in the smoker has been wandering around between 220-230 for the last hour or so (which, apparently, is all this setup can do).  It's been brushed twice with an olive oil/apple juice mix.  @Raptor, we'll see, if it hasn't gotten to 140 in the next hour or so, it's going into the oven.  From what I read, 140 is safe, so I'll probably shoot for a little higher than that, 150-ish, just to be sure.
 
Will do.  It just hit 140 at about 2 hours and 40 minutes.  I'm pretty happy, I didn't think I'd be able to get the air temperature into the 230-230 range, it peaked at one point at 244. 

I think I have a smoker!

-val
 
All done:

bf066547_DSCN2346.jpg


d46e0735_DSCN2347.jpg


Bottom:

6063bf82_DSCN2348.jpg


Cut:

1ca5e00d_DSCN2350.jpg


Served:

f33449e9_DSCN2351.jpg


It stalled for a while at 149, so I pulled it out and wrapped it in foil for 30 minutes as per the advice above (thanks!).  It came out very moist and delicious, but to tell the truth, I think I like my pork done a little bit more, so next time I'm probably going to push on to 160, either in the smoker or the oven.  Still a good first experience.  Chart below of times and temperatures, the gap is where I had to pull everything out to add another smoke wood brick.  The flowerpot works, but it's not very convenient.

bb3bdb00_PorkLoinTempGraph.jpg


Anyway, I'm pretty happy, after my first failure with cheese, I've hit, if not home runs, at least solid base hits for the last four or so smokes.  Onward and upward, or something like that.

-val
 
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 You did great, you pulled  a great smoke in a pot  like a
2b_0060-0710-1813-4011_Evil_Magician_clipart_image.jpg
. it looks good and from what you say it is taste great .

i see you got your new thermometer
thumb1.gif


sayonara
 
Ah, that does look good, and sounds like the smoker did a fine job!

Small to moderate temp swings are common, even with propane smokers, so don't fret over that. The average temp is what really counts in the end. And getting to safe internal temps, of course. Latest guidelines for non-intact whole muscle meats is 41-135* in 4 hours, so you had it nailed in good shape.

You could actually wait to put the probe into the meat, and if it's not injected/stuffed, etc, that will buy you some extra time on the internal temp if the meat is intact whole muscle. With smaller (lighter) cuts, getting up to safe temps is generally not an issue as long as average smoke chamber temps of over 200* can be achieved, and your flower pot rig seems quite able to make it happen.

Smoke on, brother!

Eric
 
You could actually wait to put the probe into the meat, and if it's not injected/stuffed, etc, that will buy you some extra time on the internal temp if the meat is intact whole muscle. 

Eric
Question:  What is the advantage of putting the probe in later?  Does it change how quickly the meat itself heats up (like when you run spikes through a baked potato?)  I thought that it simple recorded the temp, and, given the design of my smoker, I try really hard not to open it up unless I absolutely have to.  A few seconds open can cost me 20-30 degrees of air temperature.

Thanks!
 
You could actually wait to put the probe into the meat, and if it's not injected/stuffed, etc, that will buy you some extra time on the internal temp if the meat is intact whole muscle. 

Eric
Question:  What is the advantage of putting the probe in later?  Does it change how quickly the meat itself heats up (like when you run spikes through a baked potato?)  I thought that it simple recorded the temp, and, given the design of my smoker, I try really hard not to open it up unless I absolutely have to.  A few seconds open can cost me 20-30 degrees of air temperature.

Thanks!
Hi Val,

If you have intact whole muscle meats when cooking low & slow, you don't need to adhere to the danger-zone temp/time guideline of 41-135*/4-hrs to be considered safe to eat. It's just a trick that many of the more experienced smokers have taken advantage of. For fresh/un-cured meats, if you have a cut of meat that you didn't inject with marinade or other solutions, cut into the meat for deboning, or insert a temp probe before pasterizing the surface of the meat (a few hours of hot smoking), then, you don't need to worry about the internal temp/time issue.

Example: if you have a boneless whole pork shoulder, the meat is no longer considered intact whole muscle, as it has been cut into the meat to remove the bone, folded over to hide the bone cavity. Even if a USDA inspected facility and meat was processed this way, there is a chance for bacterial contamination at the site of the cuts in the meat. The more cuts there are, the higher the risk. Ground or tenderized meats are of the highest risk for contamination. These situations are when USDA recommends following the 41-135*/4-hr guideline.

If the meat has not been tampered with in any way (internally), including injections of brine such as with many cuts of pork (cryovac packed) and most poultry (injected and previously frozen)...now, I'm talking about what is available in grocery stores here in the states...but, if it's not tampered with, you can forgo the temp/time guideline.

I do see where it can be a problem for your smoker with dropping temps so much, but it's an option to consider if you thought you may not get through the 41-135* temp range in 4 hours, then you could just leave the meat temp probe out for a couple hours, as long you had intact whole muscle meat to begin with.

If you're buying fresh cuts of meat in Japan, you'd be good to go with that plan, as you'd have intact whole muscle meats.

Eric
 

EDIT: just to clarify, a boneless pork loin is still intact whole muscle meat, as the bone was not removed from the center of the cut of meat, but instead from the outside.
 
Last edited:
OK, thanks, that makes sense now.  As long as I keep my sizes down, it looks like temperature won't be a problem, and I'm not too proud to use the oven when needed. 

More later

-val
 
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