# Cured smoked boneless pork loin



## tjrr (Mar 20, 2015)

Cured for 5 days, 18 hours in the Smokette with some chunks of very dry cherry and it looked nice enough for a picture or two:













20150320_093128[1].jpg



__ tjrr
__ Mar 20, 2015


















20150320_093349[1].jpg



__ tjrr
__ Mar 20, 2015






Guess I should have greased the rack first, the bottom stuck a bit.


----------



## bmaddox (Mar 20, 2015)

Looks good. I love smoked loin. Curing one is high on my to do list.


----------



## sota d (Mar 20, 2015)

Looks great! I love smoking pork loin, but have never cured one(or anything else). Great job, How'd it turn out? Tender to your liking? Thanks for posting, David.


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 20, 2015)

tjrr said:


> Cured for 5 days, 18 hours in the Smokette with some chunks of very dry cherry and it looked nice enough for a picture or two:
> 
> Guess I should have greased the rack first, the bottom stuck a bit.


Looks good from here, tjrr!!

You lucked out, because that's an awful short time to cure a Pork Loin, and it looks cured all the way to center.

What cure did you use, and how much?

BTW: I see this was your first post. Please go to Roll Call & introduce yourself, so you can be welcomed properly.

Bear


----------



## tjrr (Mar 20, 2015)

Bear,

I don't have much trouble if any getting them cured to the center. Here's why: I make up a curing brine, then pump it into the middle using a Cajun Injector clone. My goal is to have a fairly moist product, so I don't dry cure it. Dry curing would take longer even for a small piece like this. I have dry cured pork loins in the past and have also dry cured the outside with a bit of pumping  for the inside.

A couple tips: 1. When pumping, make up the brine without spices or colored ingredients like molasses. Pump, then add these ingredients to the brine that you use for the outside of the piece. I learned the hard way that the spices or colors leave funny looking streaks on the inside. 

2. I always use sodium erythorbate in curing mixtures. You certainly don't have to but it cures much faster as long as the cure can reach the meat. Plus the color resists fading better in long storage. Supposedly it also protects against nitrosamines if you're worried about that. I'm not particularly.

I can post the recipe for the brine if anybody wants it. This piece was glazed with a bit of molasses, sugar and pepper before smoking, too.


----------



## gary s (Mar 20, 2015)

Nice looking loin, great color


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 21, 2015)

tjrr said:


> Bear,
> 
> I don't have much trouble if any getting them cured to the center. Here's why: I make up a curing brine, then pump it into the middle using a Cajun Injector clone. My goal is to have a fairly moist product, so I don't dry cure it. Dry curing would take longer even for a small piece like this. I have dry cured pork loins in the past and have also dry cured the outside with a bit of pumping  for the inside.
> 
> ...


If you would have mentioned you pumped it too, I wouldn't have questioned the short 5 days of curing.

Bear


----------



## gunkle (Mar 21, 2015)

Looks good. Will have to add that to my "Things to Try list" . At this point it might be shorter to list things not to try...


----------



## gary s (Mar 21, 2015)

I'll be curing my Pork Loin later today, No injection, dry cure only

Gary


----------



## tjrr (Mar 21, 2015)

Bear,

Sorry, no disrespect meant.


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 21, 2015)

tjrr said:


> Bear,
> 
> Sorry, no disrespect meant.


I knew that---No Problem----Keep up the good work!!

Bear


----------



## gary s (Mar 21, 2015)

Got mine rubbed down and in the Fridge

Gary


----------



## disco (Mar 21, 2015)

Nice discussion on the injecting. I loined something. Don't hate me.

Great looking piece of pork, sir.

Disco


----------



## gunkle (Mar 21, 2015)

Disco said:


> Nice discussion on the injecting. I loined something. Don't hate me.
> 
> Great looking piece of pork, sir.
> 
> Disco


Are you trying to Inject some humor into this thread?


----------



## disco (Mar 21, 2015)

gunkle said:


> Are you trying to Inject some humor into this thread?


At the risk of hijacking the thread








Only if there is a cure for that.


----------



## cbtengr (Apr 19, 2015)

Your loin looks great, I have one in the fridge now that I wish to do. I would appreciate your recipe and also more detail on the injecting part of the process. Thank you!!


----------



## reinhard (Apr 19, 2015)

Ya that loin looks great!!  We got a sale on them here at 1.99 per pound.  Putting one in the brine myself [Pop's brine] later today.  Reinhard


----------



## tjrr (Apr 19, 2015)

Here's the recipe I used:

Mild Cure for pork or beef

For each 2 lb of meat, mix together:

3.25 oz water

.16 oz sodium tripolyphosphate

.08 oz pink curing salt

.015 oz sodium erythorbate

.67 oz salt

.95 oz fructose

until dissolved.

Place the meat in a close-fitting deep container. I use a plastic steam-table pan that's a little wider than big pork loins or eyes of round and roughly as long as my smoker racks.

Inject as much of the solution as possible using a Cajun Injector or the like. I poke in a couple of times at each end and once or twice downward in the middle. By then there's usually solution running out the holes in the meat. Pour any remaining solution into the container. Drizzle over:

.2 oz (1 tsp) molasses

Cure for several days (3 or 4 days is probably about the minimum, a couple weeks the max.) Turn over the meat every day or so, as there probably won't be enough solution to completely cover the meat.

Before smoking, if you like, shake on some coarse ground white or black pepper or a mix of pepper, red pepper flakes, allspice and a bit of cloves. Smoke with your choice of wood (I like apple or cherry) at 150F for 12 to 16 hours, then turn the heat up to 200F until the meat is at least 156F internal temperature. It's then ready to eat either hot or cold. If I don't serve hot off the smoker, I bake at 300F for 1.5 to 2 hours. I think they taste even better that way than straight from the smoker. And you can make a few and refrigerate or freeze. They keep really well.

Some recipe substitutions and notes:

Phosphate: You can leave this out if you don't have it or are opposed to its use. It does keep some additional moistness in after the long smoking.

Erythorbate: Ditto re leaving out. I nearly always use it in cured meats because it cures faster, somewhat prevents color fading and supposedly reduces nitrosamine formation.

Fructose: Fructose is sweeter than regular sugar and I think has a bit lighter taste. I call this my "Mild Cure" recipe because it's not very salty and quite sweet. Substituting an equal amount of regular sugar will still be pretty sweet. Using an equal weight of dextrose gives more of what I'd consider an average ham sweetness but still a fair amount of body. That's all pretty subjective. Try fructose if you can get it. I bet you'll be favorably impressed.

Injecting: I advise never injecting mixtures with molasses, soy sauce or powdered spices. The brown colors and powders don't disperse well through the meat and make what I think is an ugly slice. If you want to use those ingredients, put them on the outside of the meat either during curing or during cooking.

Hope this is of value...


----------



## cbtengr (Apr 20, 2015)

Thank you!


----------



## oldschoolbbq (Apr 20, 2015)

Nice looking Loin. Did curing it change the flavor ? What temp. was the IMT ?


----------



## b-one (Apr 20, 2015)

Looks great,nice work!


----------



## tjrr (Apr 21, 2015)

Yes, this type of cure creates a sweet ham-like flavor. Target temperature was 156-160, this may have gotten a bit warmer.


----------



## Bearcarver (Apr 21, 2015)

tjrr said:


> Yes, this type of cure creates a sweet ham-like flavor. Target temperature was 156-160, this may have gotten a bit warmer.


Any particular reason you target 156° to 160°?

Bear


----------



## tjrr (Apr 21, 2015)

At that temp it's officially fully cooked and ready to eat (at least that's how I remember the regulations.) Of course it'd be plenty safe at around 140, especially considering how long it's cooked. I've not tried rarer cured pork. A higher temp seems to dry it out more and become a bit too falling apart for neat slicing. On the other hand, I'm far less fussy about overshooting temperature on this type of meat than I would be on sausages.

If baked later, I usually cook it to pretty well done.


----------



## Bearcarver (Apr 21, 2015)

tjrr said:


> At that temp it's officially fully cooked and ready to eat (at least that's how I remember the regulations.) Of course it'd be plenty safe at around 140, especially considering how long it's cooked. I've not tried rarer cured pork. A higher temp seems to dry it out more and become a bit too falling apart for neat slicing. On the other hand, I'm far less fussy about overshooting temperature on this type of meat than I would be on sausages.
> 
> If baked later, I usually cook it to pretty well done.


That's why I wondered. It is now officially fully cooked at 145°. And it doesn't need later cooking once it's been to 145°.

About 4 years ago, the USDA changed their safe to eat Pork internal temperature from the old 160° to their new 145°. I like to take mine to between 145° and 150°, because when we used to take it to 160° like the old rule said, I found it quite Dry.

So According to USDA, 145° IT is safe & recommended.

Bear


----------



## tjrr (Apr 21, 2015)

I just looked once again at the table on page 128 of my Marinaski book (The Art of Making Fermented Sausages.) That's the table of temperature/time combinations for a given reduction of Salmonella bacteria. Actually I was incorrect, the right value in the table for an instantaneous holding time is 158F. However, using any sort of smoker processing method, the hold time at temperature is going to be a few seconds at least, so a lower temperature could be considered safe. After looking at this again, I don't see a citation for the table's source. I always assumed it was a USDA standard. But the date isn't mentioned. I've had the book for at least 4 years, so if there's been a change recently...In any event, I think the 145F standard you refer to is a consumer standard where there's quite a bit of overkill for bad thermometers, rounding error, etc. FoodSafety.gov gives a 3 minute holding period for pork.

On page 127, the Marianskis suggest that these temperatures are appropriate for destruction of E. Coli, listeria, etc. as well. They say that trichinae are killed at 137F.

On page 129, they cite the old standard for poultry, 160F for uncured and 155F for cured poultry products. Apparently that standard changed in 2001 to a time/temperature table similar to the one cited but with slightly higher temperatures. There are also slight differences in the tables according to the fat content of the poultry product.

Anyway, that's a long bunch of blather to explain my rationale. I really haven't tried cooking whole muscle cured pork, other than homemade bacon that was intended to be fried, lower than the high 150's or 160. Personally I don't find juiciness an issue at those temperatures, others may have different tastes and opinions. As for safety, I suspect that if it's cooked to 145 in a smoker it'll be at that temperature for at least 4 minutes, which meets the requirements of the table I use. This go-round I had no concern about trichinosis as the raw pork spent 8 months in my deepfreeze. For what it's worth, I do smoke salami and Lebanon bolo to only 140F for 12 minutes. I once did some Lebanon bolo to 135F and held for 40 minutes, hated the texture, just not firm enough.

OK, enough. The main reason is I just hadn't tried it and have been satisfied with the results I'm getting.


----------



## Bearcarver (Apr 22, 2015)

Current recommendations:

[h3]Safe Internal Temperatures[/h3]
www.foodsafety.gov

Meat Safety
•Roasting Chart
•Storage Times


Beef:

145°F

Poultry:

165°F

Pork:

145°F

And I take my Sausage products to 160° IT.

Bear


----------



## hoity toit (Aug 9, 2016)

gary s said:


> I'll be curing my Pork Loin later today, No injection, dry cure only
> 
> Gary


got 2 loins and 2 tenderloins out of the cure today, gonna be rubbing with garlic n pepper, some with powdered Worcestershire, and pepper,,be doing a hickory or apple smoke on them tomorrow.8/9/2016

HT


----------

