Advice with Smoked Pulled Pork Loin - First Timer

[peppies]

Greetings,

I'm new to smoking meat and have only smoked 3 salmons or so based on advice here on the forum a few months back. I'm using a vertical propane smoker with a water bowl with a lower rack and upper rack.

I have a large lean pork loin (5 inch diameter) and want to make smoked pulled pork and had some questions about the basic steps in doing this.

Am I supposed to brine the loin overnight in a kosher salt / brown sugar liquid like with the salmon? Or do I just put the pork from the fridge straight into the smoker plain? I plan on cutting that top layer of fat off the loin before shredding. Should I cut it off before smoking? Or does the fat layer improve smoking and should be cut off after smoking?

From what I understand, I leave it the smoker until the internal temperature reaches 140-160 degrees. Members here say it goes into a foil and "rests". Does this mean wrapping the pork in tin foil and putting in the fridge? Or wrapping it in tin foil and increasing the temperature to 200 degrees as some members suggested? I don't quite understand the "rest" phase.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[pineywoods]

Do yourself a favor and DON'T try to do pulled pork out of a pork loin it just doesn't have enough fat content to take to pulled pork temps. Marinade or inject it and take it to about 140-145 and foil to rest then slice and enjoy. Get a pork butt to make pulled pork you can enjoy the loin while the butt is smoking

 

[pineywoods]

If you don't want to marinade or inject you can drape some bacon over the top and that will help keep it moist

 

[bdskelly]

Howdy Peppeis 

Pineywoods is correct. For a large piece of pork to be  smoked long enough to be pulled or shredded it take a long slow cook and .... lots of fat.

The loins, while delicious in their own right are not suitable for pulled pork.  

b

 

[timtimmay]

Pineu is right, that's not the right cut for pulling but it can be yummy anyways. Brining is not done with most cuts of land meat. Resting and foiling are a separate techniques. Resting is pulling meat from heat and allowing the outside to complete the heating of the inside. Foiling is a technique to keep moisture while cooking. Most of the smoke flavor is absorbed early in the cook. It's common to foil meat once it's hits 130-140 as is absorbed ask the smoke it's going to so keeping it most is more important than exposing to smoke. Search 3-2-1 in the search bar and you'll find lots of info on foiling ribs.

Good luck and welcome to the obsession! Practice makes perfect so don't get discouraged in the learning process. Usually even the "leaning opportunities" taste good too.

 

[peppies]

Thanks for the kind welcomes and advice, I greatly appreciate it.

I'll try the pork butt or shoulder next time, although I would still like to try smoking this loin anyways. I don't have any special rub or spices, but I do have some orange juice available for marinating it. I want to start with something simple for now. How long does a pork loin/butt need to marinate for? A few hours or overnight? I also have 40 pounds of salt here for brining various smoked foods and some people on the forum here say brining is good for pork loins/butts, so I'm confused...