Help with a 5lb Centercut Pork Loin

[cameron13]

Hey Everyone!

Glad to be a part of SMF! Some amazing ideas and topics on here!

I am a newb to smoking, and plan on doing a 5lb centercut pork loin while camping this weekend. I am looking for some advice on how to go about this. I plan on injecting it with some BBQ sauce, and rubbing with a honey BBQ rub, I'm looking for some other ideas. Planning on running pit temp around 225, any ideas on how long it will take? Help a fella out with some other ideas! Thanks in advance!

 

[seenred]

Hi Cameron, and welcome!

Among the best tools a pitmaster can have are good, accurate thrmometers to measure both cooking temperatures and internal meat temperatures.  Many members here, me included, use the Maverick dual probe, remote electronic thermometers.  Tjohnson, another member, sells these at A-Maze-N Products (link at bottom of page).  The key to a successful loin smoke is monitoring the internal temp (IT) of the meat.  Loin is a pretty lean cut of pork, and can be dry if it is overcooked.  You want to shoot for a finished IT of 145-150*, then double wrap the loin in foil and let it rest for about an hour in an ice chest or a warm oven.  The last loin I smoked was not quite as big as yours, and took around 3 hours to finish @ a smoker temp of around 240*.  Just remember that most folks here will advise to cook to a temp rather than a time, and that most time estimates are only a guess because each piece of meat tends to have a mind of its own.

BTW, it looks like this is your first post.  When you have a chance, stop over in the Roll Call Forum, intrduce yourself and tell us a little about you.  It'll give other members a chance to get to know you a little and to give you a proper SMF welcome.

Red

 

[turnandburn]

pretty much exactly what red has said(hehe that rhymed)....anything over 145-150 is just over cooked to me. and theres very little margin for error with a loin because its soo lean. kinda gotta get it right the first time. lol. not very forgiving.

...good luck and lookin forward to some Qview!

 

[daveomak]

Cameron, morning and welcome to the forum.....   Red gave you great advice........  When I do pork loins, I find them a little dry due to lack of fat in them... I wrap with bacon for additional fat and flavor...   When you probe the loin with a clean thermometer probe, wait for a couple hours so you are not injecting surface bacteria into the loin....  Food safety is something we think about all the time....    Enjoy the forum and the long smokey ride..   

Dave