Pork loin experiment with Qview

[radio]

Not long ago I decided to experiment with a pork loin cooked to the pulled pork stage and it came out awesome!  So good in fact that I have one in the smoke right now.  Snagged a "Memphis Dust" recipe off the web to use this time around and like the way it smells.  Microwave dried some of our fresh Rosemary to put in the blend, slathered that puppy in yellow mustard, dusted it and let 'er set for about an hour while the ECB came up to temp.

Always had to struggle with the ECB getting hot enough until I found this site.  I drilled several holes in the edge of the pan for coals and set it in the bottom of the smoker instead of in the rack.  Before I had to run the dampers wide open and it still wouldn't keep the chunk charcoal going like it should.  This morning after the changes I made, she got up to 300° in record time, so I'm running with the bottom dampers completely closed and she's at about 240°

On the last Loin I pulled it after about 4 hours in the smoke, put it in a disposable aluminum pan with a cup and a half of apple juice, covered it tightly and finished it in the oven at 350°.  Instead of shredding it, I sliced it like a regular loin and reserved the drippings for a gravy.  For the gravy i added about 3 cups of leftover coffee from that morning to the drippings and made a roux with butter and flour to thicken the gravy.   This reminded me of a super tender, cut it with your fork beef roast with gravy, but of course tasted like pork

Before

loin1.jpg

• radio
• Aug 1, 2013

Decided to  butter and season some potatoes and throw them in as well.  Sprinkled a bit of Kosher salt on 'em then just a touch of the Memphis Dust for good measure.  Don't have any idea how they will come out

loin2.jpg

• radio
• Aug 1, 2013

After about 20 minutes you can see some color on the foiled potatoes

loin3.jpg

• radio
• Aug 1, 2013

I'll try to get some pics this afternoon when she comes out of the oven

 

[mdboatbum]

That's pretty cool! Any idea what the IT was when it was finished? I might try this next time we go visit the in-laws. I like pork loin at 145˚, but they're from a generation that still gets pretty freaked out by pink pork. I usually just avoid pork loin altogether with them, because when I take it past 160˚ I always dry it out.

 

[radio]

That's pretty cool! Any idea what the IT was when it was finished? I might try this next time we go visit the in-laws. I like pork loin at 145˚, but they're from a generation that still gets pretty freaked out by pink pork. I usually just avoid pork loin altogether with them, because when I take it past 160˚ I always dry it out.

thanks.  I didn't check the IT, but the loin was the tenderness of pulled pork, so I'm guessing 200° or a bit over.  Loins don't have very much fat, especially the rolled ones I buy at Sam's Club, so I was worried it be too dry.  The Apple juice and covering tightly with foil kept it pretty moist, plus a good shot of the gravy on the top helped a lot.  The gravy was the big surprise for me.  There were just enough drippings combined with the apple juice it had quite a sweet flavor, so I added the leftover coffee to cut the sweetness and it absolutely rocked!

 

[radio]

4 hours in the smoke and at 140° IT.  Going in the oven for 2 hours at 350° to finish it.  Someone drank all the Apple juice

  I live about 10 miles from the nearest store, so after a few choice words I grabbed a Sprite and poured  in about half a can.  I wanted to duplicate the last loin as close as possible, but you know what they say about well laid plans

loin4.jpg

• radio
• Aug 1, 2013

 

[zaksblaklabel]

That looks killer. Never thought of smoking a loin as I figured it would come out dry but may have to give this a shot.

 

[webowabo]

Looking good. Cant wait for the finished product! Thanks for sharing and for a newer technique to a popular cut.

 

[radio]

Thanks guys.  Was running late to take all the goodies to the in laws place for dinner, so didn't get a shot of it before it disappeared.  It looked basically the same, except shrunk it by about 1/4. 

4 hours in the smoker and two hours in the oven at 350° got it to just a tad over 200° internal temperature.  It had a good smoke ring and the new rub recipe tasted great!  The fresh dried Rosemary was very subtle, but went very well with the other ingredients in the rub.

Substituting the Sprite for Apple juice wasn't bad, but didn't like the gravy as well as last time with AJ

I did take a quick snap of the Cherry cobbler though.  This is the kind where you mix up the batter, then spoon the fruit on top and as it rises it covers the fruit.  Yummy, yummy, yummy!  The Mother in law and Sis in law couldn't get over how good everything tasted as they never had Loin fixed this way.  Guess we could call it Pork Loin A La PP ( for pulled pork;-)

Can't wait to get a decent smoker I don't have to baby sit

cobbler1.jpg

• radio
• Aug 1, 2013