I have prepared pork loin in different fashions, but I had never attempted to smoke it, don’t ask me why. Since the missus is taking a brief staycation for the Labor Day, she asked me for ribs and I found out that rather than having the tradition couple racks of baby ribs in the freezer, we were down to one. Next to it was the pork loin and I went “hmmm, why not?”
The trick for a good pork loin lies in the injection. Mine is rather simple: half a stick of butter, a heaping tablespoon of granulated garlic, a teaspoon of salt, and a heaping tablespoon of black pepper. Microwave all that and start abusing the loin like you were a bad guy in a horror movie and you have the dumb blond chick as victim.
The butter injection will ooze out some. Let it fall in the tray and cool off. when no more oozing occurs and the butter is not napalm, use it to rub the loin all over till you feel you are in a cheap porn movie. We finish with the rub combination of our liking which in my case is salt, granulated garlic, McCormick Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon Seasoning and this time and as requested my the missus, a bunch of black pepper.
I smoked it for the first hour around 200 with wet hickory chunks and the wrapped it for another hour. It was just plain paranoia that made me check the internal temperature after 2 hours and found out it was more than ready.
The picture does not do justice, but I was too hungry to get the good camera so you get smartphone pic.
The butter does wonders inside keeping it moist and tender. I will probably do more stabby-stabby with the injector next time
I’ve only smoked one once and I didn’t use any marinade tricks. It was too dry. I said that was the last time, so maybe I’ll get one and try your method.
They’ve bred the pigs to produce leaner meat and that makes the tenderloin too lean. It needs more fat like that butter. Another thing about pigs is that they don’t produce saturated fat, they just store it if it’s in their diet. So most of what you get in pork is polyunsaturated fat, which is crap. Cows are different and can make saturated fat from what they eat.
Chef here. 21 years in the game. Want to have perfect moist pork every time? BRINE! Especially if you plan on smoking. When you finally try it, be prepared to be mad. Cause you realize how easy it is, and how every dry chop you’ve ever eaten never had to be that way
Brine, pat the loin dry with a paper towel, then rub with your preferred dry rub and olive oil. High heat, 375 ish, for 10 or 15 minutes to seal it up. 220 for an hour and a half, 2 if its really big. Cover and let rest a half hour. Omit the brine and stretch the time to all day for pork shoulder/butt for pulled pork.
What I’ve done with a loin fixed in other ways(haven’t smoked one yet) was to brine it overnight, seems to really help with keeping the meat moist
Mighty tasty sounding toothsome delicacy. Ordered us a meat syringe so my family can try this dish. Like to try it on a turkey. Darn shoot up some big taters and bake those guys up. Or a nice beef roast.
Thanks, appreciate you sharing your recipe.