First Pork Loin

travis442 · February 21, 2011, 06:25:34 PM

Well I cooked my first pork loin on the smoker a two weeks ago and it turned out pretty well. I wrapped it in bacon and then let it smoke for 2.5 - 3 hours and then let it cook for another 1 - 1.5 hours.

Wasn't too dry and had an excellent flavor, about the only seasoning that I used was some Head Country.....

I have some more pictures and some of the other stuff I cooked over on my blog.....

http://travishatfield.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/trying-out-the-new-smoker/

One thing I need to do is find me a good meat thermometer I just haven't been able to decide on what one I want to get.

I'm in the process of building a stand for it and as soon as I'm finished I'll post up some pics.

Quarlow · February 21, 2011, 06:55:37 PM

Looks awesome Travis. One thing I do with pork loins is cut it open sort of butterfly like to about 3/4" thick. Then I make a stuffing out of packaged stuffing and add chopped dried apricots, pecans, canned mandrin orange slices and an assortment of spice and other things. Then I stuff and roll the loin and tie it, then smoke it for 1.5 hrs and cook till done. It goes over real well and they keep asking for it too. I coould try to find my posts on this if you are interested.

travis442 · February 21, 2011, 07:05:08 PM

Quote from: Quarlow on February 21, 2011, 06:55:37 PM
Looks awesome Travis. One thing I do with pork loins is cut it open sort of butterfly like to about 3/4" thick. Then I make a stuffing out of packaged stuffing and add chopped dried apricots, pecans, canned mandrin orange slices and an assortment of spice and other things. Then I stuff and roll the loin and tie it, then smoke it for 1.5 hrs and cook till done. It goes over real well and they keep asking for it too. I coould try to find my posts on this if you are interested.

Yeah that would be great, sounds really good.

In hindsight with this pork loin being as big as it was I could have probably cut it in half and it wouldn't have taken quite so long to cook. It still turned out good though and everybody really enjoyed it.

muebe · February 21, 2011, 08:56:40 PM

Nice bacon weave ;D Was that thing stuffed with anything? You gotta stuff a pork loin. The last one I had was smoked and had spinach and cheese stuffed in it...it was good!

travis442 · February 22, 2011, 06:21:34 AM

I honestly don't think the thought of stuff it had ever crossed my mind.

I'm trying to picture how I would go about stuff it, are you just cutting it down the center and then tying it closed after stuffing?

Tenpoint5 · February 22, 2011, 06:32:00 AM

Travis cut about a 1/2 slit across the long end and continue cutting as your roll the loin away from the knife. Then when you wrap it back up it will be a pinwheel.

travis442 · February 22, 2011, 07:40:04 AM

That makes sense, I have another one in the freezer that I will have to try that on.

Now I'll just have to decide what exactly I want to try stuffing it with.

muebe · February 22, 2011, 08:29:46 AM

Why don't you try stuffing it with spinach,celery,mushrooms,onions,swiss cheese, and garlic ;D I hollowed mine out with a knife down the middle and stuffed it like a tube then tied the ends with butchers twine. I took it to a IT of 140(meat not stuffing).

Quarlow · February 22, 2011, 08:52:00 PM

Here is a link to my stuffed pork loin.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=3263.msg131096#msg131096

Quarlow · February 22, 2011, 08:55:26 PM

Oh if you do this either leave the wild rice out or cook it first before you add it to the stuffing. And I left the mandrin orange out also.

travis442 · February 23, 2011, 01:24:35 PM

Both of those stuffing options look really good, I guess you could probably stuff it with just about whatever you wanted to.

I would be tempted to try a combination of the two and use the spinach, cheese, some cooked wild rice and maybe some of the stuffing.

I'm not a huge fan of onions and celery so not sure how much I would enjoy that.

BuyLowSellHigh · February 23, 2011, 02:26:25 PM

Here's a link to a stuffed pork loin I did last year. Frankly, I don't recommend the stuffing with Feta cheese - it was an experiment for an ICB. But, it does show how/explain a fairly straightforward way to cut and stuff a loin. I like the prosciutto layer between the loin and the rest of the stuffing, but it surely isn't necessary - just cut, lay it out, season/stuff, fold it up, and then tie it.