First smoke

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dennis w

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 23, 2015
3
10
       I recently bought a used Char Broil brand propane smoker from a friend who decided that he wanted an electric smoker. The first time I used it I did a 3lb pork loin just to become familiar with the smoker and how it works. My BIL, who is an experience smoker had given me some tips so I was pretty confident. I mixed up a marinade and soaked the loin in the fridge overnight. I then removed it from the marinade and let it sit out at room temp for about 30-45 minutes to drain.

      My temps fluctuated a bit as I added wood chips and water throughout the process but I was OK with that. After about 3 hrs the internal temp was 171 so I took the loin out, put it on a cookie sheet and tented it with foil to let it rest. After about 20-25 minutes I began slicing the loin. It was beautiful, a nice light pink smoke ring inside, very juicy, I was excited! That is until I got half way down the loin, the opposite end was still very pink and under cooked so I finished it in the oven.

     My BIL and some other friends were discussing how one end cooked perfectly and the other end didn't and could not come up with a logical reason. Any thoughts or tips? Has anyone else had this issue? I plan on smoking a large meatloaf tomorrow for family but don't want it to end up the same way!!!
 
Worst case one end was frozen and the other thawed.  I doubt it though.  It was most likely color variation in the meat due to three different types of myoglobin.  Pork can have a large color variation even in the same cut.  White, brown, and red for example.  I've seen some color variations in loins that have led me to believe it was undercooked, but I knew better due to the way I take internal temps.  Color variation is especially apparent if you see a membrane or seam where the color variation occurs.  I've seen large variations in butts, fewer in loins, but the last loin I cured about a month ago for Canadian Bacon had a noticeable color variation.  Here's a good article.  I've read a better one but I can't find it. 

http://articles.extension.org/pages/27350/cooked-color-in-pork
 
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An interesting article. I have never heard of this before but good to know. I knew the internal temp was fine but it just didn't look right. I will keep this in mind from now on. Thank you sir!
 
 
An interesting article. I have never heard of this before but good to know. I knew the internal temp was fine but it just didn't look right. I will keep this in mind from now on. Thank you sir!
Going along with what Noboundaries said, pork loins have some variation.   A  whole pork loin is about 3 feet long and includes the "ribeye", the "ny strip" and the "sirloin".  What you normally get at the supermarket in cryo packs are 1/2 pork loins.  Some packages will contain the "ribeye" end along with part of the "strip".  Other packages will be the "sirloin" end along with the "strip".

Here's a pic of a whole pork loin:


Right where the "roast" arrow is pointing is where the whole loin is split and each end is packaged.

Bringing all this back to the original post, the meat in the Sirloin end is darker and has a slightly different texture that the Ribeye end does, just as a sirloin and ribeye are different with beef.
 
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