I recently bought a Bradley Smoker and haven't had much time to play with it. I followed the directions to prepare it for use, but haven't tried smoking anything. I learned about this website and stopped at the store on the way home. I picked up pork loin and thought I was going to just throw it in and enjoy it later. Now after spending a little time here I'm learning there is a little more to it than that. Not much, but a little more. I've decided I would try the salt/sugar cure Bradley describes. I've figured out I need to make enough that I can submerge the meat in it and I've learned I need to use stainless steel or plastic to contain it all. From there I need all the help I can get!! Do I need to cover it? How long should I keep it in the mixture before I dry it and smoke it? I'm thinking I will try apple first since my wife isn't a big fan of Mesquite(sp?) Planning on hot smoking so we can eat it as soon as it is done. How long should I smoke it? How long should I keep the heat going after the smoke stops? What should my target temp. be? Any help anybody can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome , Glad to have you with us.
This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/pkcdirect/Welcome/BDS6.gif)
Paul
Hi there Huntnfreak and welcome to the Bradley Family. Here is a link for you of The forum's proven and testedrecipes:
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=180
Click on the link and enjoy all these recipe courtesy of some of the world's best and Nicest smokers. All the folks here are willing and able to offer good smoking advice to you just for the asking
I am not a lion expert and I am sure that some of the more experienced folks would be up and around soon to assist you. However, I would like to mention here that you should never use stainless steel anything in the brining process. You should always us, what is referred to in the smoking world by a "NON REACTIVE VESSEL (IE.: pastic or glass)".
HT
Hiya Huntnfreak and welcome to the forum. this might help you.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=91
That recipe is for smoking and grilling later if you want to smoke and eat then you will need to raise your IT
Hi Huntnfreak,
Welcome to the forum.
Since you are making bacon with this loin, I can answer a few questions, but I am not familiar with the Bradley Cures. Stainless steel cookware or bowls are fine to use. Stainless steel is non-reactive to salt.
I generally use a dry cure, and that takes 6 days. Using a wet cure and brining them should take less time, but again I am not familiar with the Bradley cures. Brining will usually take 4 days (if unsure you can go longer), when they feel firm to the touch in all areas they are fully cured. When you place the meat in the brine, you may need to weigh it down by placing a heavy plate on top to keep teh meat fully submerged. You definitely will need to cover it, the environment of the refrigerator is dry, which will cause some brine to evaporate if not covered. You also will want to overhaul it at least every other day, I overhaul daily. In your situation, overhauling means stirring up the brine and repositioning the meat.
After brining you may want to cut a small slice off, pan fry and taste for saltiness. If it is too salty you can soak in cold water.
I generally apply 1:40 - 2:00 hours of smoke, using a cabinet temperature of 225°F until an internal temperature of 142°F - 145°F. That is the temperature I consider fully done. Some take it to 150°F, while others feel safer at 160°F; which I consider both to be too high and dry out the meat.
More detail information on how I cure loins can be found here:
Canadian Bacon (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=311)
But you don't have to cure a loin to smoke it. You can season the meat to your liking, and smoke/cook it from start to finish in the smoker. I found the best cabinet temperature is 225°F.
W E L C O M E to the Forum Huntnfreak!
If you want to just hot smoke the loin, You could just put salt and pepper on it, put it in the smoker for a couple of hours @ 225 with the smoke rolling.
Cook to an internal temperature of 145F or however you like your pork.
Welcome Huntnfreak.
Just in case what FLBR posted isn't 100% clear,
that is smoke for a couple of hours and then continue without smoke till you reach your desired internal temp.
Hi Huntnfreak and welcome to the forum; a real nice bunch of people here.
I like to brine my pork or fowl if possible. Even without, you can go with some simple salt and pepper as FLBR said and only a couple of hours of smoke as Q said. I'd also sprinkle on some ground cumin and a hint of chipotle powder. I use them on almost everything. My target IT is more like 155 before I pull it out and let it rest for a while; 145 is a bit too rare for me with pork.
One thing to learn is that smoking and low and slow cooking takes time and patience. But, if even reasonably well done, the
results are well worth it. I put an 8.1 pound pork butt in 8 PM last night with 4 hours of hickory. I figure I can take it out about 2 PM this afternoon. This is my first one in the OBS. I'll see how it turns out.
Thanks for all the info. I was surprised to see 8 replies since I posted it. Thanks again.
Come on back and visit.......bring pics
Welcome to the fun
To brine or not to brine, eather way you go it will be good. I like to cook a loin with a nice rub on the outside, In the smoker at 220 F with 3 hr pecan and cook to an internal temp of 145 F pull out and FTC an hr slice into steaks and enjoy.
Welcome to the forum, you hit the jackpot when you found this forum. Lots of help around here. Post pics if you got'em
A question for OU812. What is FTC??
Foil Towel Cooler
That is a practice the forum uses to "rest" your product when you are at the end of a smoke.
Say you want a finished IT of 190 on a Bst Butt. You can pull it at 180 to 182 and the it will rise during the FTC process.
Some use it longer to hold the warmth of the product till time for eating.
I did a whole sirloin (17 lbs) and I FTC it and left my remote in it and could not believe what the it did.
The theroy is that the heat continues to go toward center of product and cooking it after it is off heat source.
opps sorry OU812 will be gald to answer that.
I'm sure OU will answer; but I'll jump in anyway. ;)
I had the same question when I started out here. The 'F' is wrap it in Foil. The 'T' is then wrap it in an old Towel or two. Make sure the towels are old. I think the foil comes with holes in it. :-\ Then put it in a 'C'ooler for insulation. I'll skip the cooler if I'm only going for an hour or so and just leave it on the counter; I'm an impatient type. Some say 2-3 hours in the cooler makes for good stuff but I haven't tried it yet.
Quote from: Huntnfreak on September 21, 2009, 08:17:49 PM
A question for OU812. What is FTC??
Here is a list of some of the acronyms.
Acronyms (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=766&postcount=9)
What they all said ;D
I am not on here much after 6:00 P.M central time or the weekends cause I live in the middle of know where and they want an arm and leg to put in a dish.
Now to totally confuse you! If your intent is not to make Canadian bacon, but to just moisten up a lean piece of meat, then you don't have to brine for 3 or 4 days - just overnight - and you can add spices for additional flavor. The Loin is a very, lean piece of meat and can dry out if not careful and the overnight brining adds moisture to it. My wife, for some reason, does not like loin, so I seldom do it, but others do.
Habanero Smoker does a few and his advice is usually something like this:
"I generally smoke/cook mine at 225°F. It is best to apply the smoke at the beginning, you will get better smoke penetration, as to just adhesion. I like a mild smoke flavor on pork loin, so I generally go with 2 hours of pecan; though apple, maple or even hickory works well. I can't give a time frame, due to many variable it could be 4 - 6 hours. Also the length of time will also depend on what your target internal temperature will be. I don't like over cooked pork, so I go to an internal temperature of 142°F - 145°F."
Some go for an IT of 150-155 while others drape bacon over it to baste it in bacon grease as it cooks.
One warning though. The brined loin, even though not really "cured" will have a kinda hammy taste and texture. If you don't want that, skip the brining.
For a spicier outcome - you might try WTS's method:
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7477.0
Thanks for that info. I see I have a lot to learn! My first pork loin is sitting in brine as I am writing this. I can't wait to get it in the smoker and see how it turns out. Everyone has been a big help. Thanks again.
It's official, I've smoked for the first time. All seems to have gone well although I have a few things to mention. First, I was limited on time today, so at 6 hrs. and 10 minutes I had to pull it. I was shooting for an internal temp of 150-155. I reached 140 for 5 minutes. It peaked at 145, but came back down and held at 140. I had some augratin's going in the oven, so I put my pork loin in with the spuds until they are done.(in the oven now.) I was able to keep my temp. very constant while I was smoking. Since this was my first time, I cut the smoke at just over 4 hours to see how it worked after that. After stopping the smoke, I had a real hard time keeping the temp right. I had the damper at 3/4 the whole time I had smoke. After that, it was all over the place. Can somebody answer this. I would like to be able to regulate the temp. with the damper instead of moving the digital temp up and down to get the temp back where it belongs. Here is the question: If I open the damper wide open, will it help raise the temp or lower it? In a wood stove opening the damper allows more air, therefore creates more heat. The Bradley is electric though, so am I letting more heat out by opening it further when there is no smoke?
How large was your temperature swing? I've seen 20 deg on my DBS but it really won't hurt on this type of smoking. My kitchen oven has a larger temp swing than my Bradley when I set it at 220 deg. You do want to keep that damper open. The temp is being controlled by the thermostat with the vent open or closed.
Hi Huntinfreak, I'm not an expert, so ...
As HS said, keep the damper open. In my early OBS days, almost a month ago now :) I thought the same as you; close the vent to keep the heat in. It doesn't work. You'll get a moisture build up in the cabinet and it might even lower the temp. Now I always smoke with the vent wide open.
By "cutting the smoke" I assume you mean you turned the SG off. That will take 150 watts out of the equation. You'd have to increase the power to the cabinet heater power to make up for that. If I intend to smoke for 4 hours, I'll add the required number of bisquettes and set the range timer when I start. If I decide I want more smoke, I'll add the required number of bisquettes. If not, I'll flick the last used bisquette into the bowl and leave the SG on. Then, I don't have to adjust anything.
Controlling the temperature by using the vent, depend on what you are smoking/cooking. With high moisture foods such as poutry with skin, or picnic shoulders with skin; widening the opeining of the vent in the early stages of the smoke will help the smoker maintain higher temperatures. In the last stages of this type of cooking you can close the vent after a great deal of moisture has evaporated.
Most other foods such as loins, butts, brisket etc; widening the vent opening will lower the cabinet temperature.
Here is a simple guide to using the vent opening to get you started.
Vent Openings (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22)
Alright!! Fixed.
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 24, 2009, 01:51:37 AM
Controlling the temperature by using the vent, depend on what you are smoking/cooking. With high moisture foods such as poutry with skin, or picnic shoulders with skin; widening the opeining of the vent in the early stages of the smoke will help the smoker maintain higher temperatures. In the last stages of this type of cooking you can close the vent after a great deal of moisture has evaporated.
Most other foods such as loins, butts, brisket etc; widening the vent opening will lower the cabinet temperature.
Here is a simple guide to using the vent opening to get you started.
(http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22)
ok, maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet but I don't see the link... although when I hit quote I see it ???
So.... just in case it's not just me... here is the link Hab's is linking to http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22
Quote from: deb415611 on September 24, 2009, 04:23:51 AM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 24, 2009, 01:51:37 AM
Controlling the temperature by using the vent, depend on what you are smoking/cooking. With high moisture foods such as poutry with skin, or picnic shoulders with skin; widening the opeining of the vent in the early stages of the smoke will help the smoker maintain higher temperatures. In the last stages of this type of cooking you can close the vent after a great deal of moisture has evaporated.
Most other foods such as loins, butts, brisket etc; widening the vent opening will lower the cabinet temperature.
Here is a simple guide to using the vent opening to get you started.
(http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22)
ok, maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet but I don't see the link... although when I hit quote I see it ???
So.... just in case it's not just me... here is the link Hab's is linking to http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22
I guess I didn't have enough coffee prior to posting. :)
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 24, 2009, 01:21:52 PM
Quote from: deb415611 on September 24, 2009, 04:23:51 AM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 24, 2009, 01:51:37 AM
Controlling the temperature by using the vent, depend on what you are smoking/cooking. With high moisture foods such as poutry with skin, or picnic shoulders with skin; widening the opeining of the vent in the early stages of the smoke will help the smoker maintain higher temperatures. In the last stages of this type of cooking you can close the vent after a great deal of moisture has evaporated.
Most other foods such as loins, butts, brisket etc; widening the vent opening will lower the cabinet temperature.
Here is a simple guide to using the vent opening to get you started.
(http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22)
ok, maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet but I don't see the link... although when I hit quote I see it ???
So.... just in case it's not just me... here is the link Hab's is linking to http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22
I guess I didn't have enough coffee prior to posting. :)
Habs, it's strange because if you hit the quote button the link is there. I tried to copy it and it did not show up on my post either. It's invisible
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 24, 2009, 01:51:37 AM
Controlling the temperature by using the vent, depend on what you are smoking/cooking. With high moisture foods such as poutry with skin, or picnic shoulders with skin; widening the opeining of the vent in the early stages of the smoke will help the smoker maintain higher temperatures. In the last stages of this type of cooking you can close the vent after a great deal of moisture has evaporated.
Most other foods such as loins, butts, brisket etc; widening the vent opening will lower the cabinet temperature.
Here is a simple guide to using the vent opening to get you started.
www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=780&postcount=22
Here's a little fix for it. Don't ask me why but it worked.
I found out what the problem is. That morning for some reason the forum was giving me problems. When I posted, I must have accidently deleted part of the post and part of the link, there should have been "Vent Openings[/url]" at the end of the link. But usually if that is left off the link is still displayed. Strange!!