Pork Tenderloin

Pistol Pete · October 15, 2014, 08:19:47 AM

Apple and Pork make a great pairing. That probably came from the old days when pork was served with applesauce to prevent trichinosis. (I think it was a law. My mom did it. That was the equivalent of the law)

I cut a whole pork tenderloin in two. One half was brined in apple juice, salt, and some Grill Mates Applewood rub. With the 2nd half, I eliminated the salt. The next day I rinsed and pat dry the pieces and saw the two muscles of each piece had separated. I took the smaller muscles from each piece and created a 3rd "half". All three pieces were then individually tied into a cylinder shape, each approximately 2 inches in diameter (that's 16 cm in circumference, Canadian) A coating of yellow mustard and a generous rub of Grill Mates Applewood got them ready for the DBS.

The DBS had been heating for over an hour. I wanted to smoke at 225°F but Joe Bradley won't let me. 220 or 230 is your choice! I had put 2 bricks on a tray above and 2 bricks on a tray below where the meat tray was going to be placed. I filled the water pan with hot water. The recipe says it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours (90-120 minutes Canadian) so loaded 6 Apple Bisquettes (followed by 3 Bubba Pucks) Loaded the meat and we were rolling. It took 5 hours to reach an internal of 145°F. Even with the reduced diameter, 5 hours! This is getting old!

You know, you can buy a printer for 100 bucks, but is costs you a fortune in cartridges to run it. Then it struck me. Joe Bradley doesn't make any money on the smoker. He owns the electric company....and the bisquette maker. Genius!

Bottom line on the meat....moist, tender, and oh so good! Of course the rub was "too spicy" for Mrs Lucky so here is my plan: I know she likes Mary's Cherry Rub. I will brine the loins in cherry juice, rub with Annies, smoke with cherry. Trichinosis be damned!

Mrs Lucky thinks I'm a few french fries short of a happy meal. Anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions? Deeply appreciate the guidance.

KyNola · October 15, 2014, 05:23:35 PM

His name isn't Joe, it's Wade. What are you using to monitor the cooking temperature in your tower? 5 hours for a pork tenderloin to reach 145F in a 220-230F environment is excessive in my opinion. Were the bricks on the racks covering the majority of the rack surface? If so you may have trapped the heat underneath the lowest rack of bricks. Assuming you were using the bricks to act as a heat sink, next time try placing them under the V-tray next to the water bowl. They will hold the heat and won't impede the rise of both the heat and the smoke.

Pistol Pete · October 15, 2014, 09:45:55 PM

1. I have the air vent 50% open
2. The bricks were on the 2 1/4" x 8" side so obstruction was minimal. I also had them off to the sides and not directly above or below the meat
3. One probe of my Maverick ET732 was in the meat, the other, attached to the rack directly above the meat.
4. I had the digital smoker set at 240°F the whole time...door was never opened and after 5 hours of cook time the Bradley temp gauge read 211°F and it was as hot as it got.

On Saturday I plan on smoking another tenderloin and some chicken thighs. I will keep accurate records of weights, times, and temps. I realize the pork loins finish at 145°F and the chicken thighs finish at 165°F but we'll see what happens. I will use both the Maverick's probes for the meat and...I dunno, shove my Thermapen probe down the vent? Would you know, with an ambient temperature of 68°F, and an empty chamber, how long should it take to heat the chamber to 230°F? The DBS is on a 20 amp circuit with no other load. Do you know what it draws?

I will move two bricks to below the V Tray and remove the other two. Although I am tempted to lay them flat on the top most tray to perhaps slow down the heat/smoke escaping from the vent, why is having the vent halfway open during smoking so important? Why have it open at all after the smoke stops and the heat continues?

Appreciate the help.

Pete

Pistol Pete · October 15, 2014, 09:57:51 PM

I found a link here to great FAQs in another forum http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?481-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s
posted by Habanero Smoker and Olds. My guess is KyNola is the third amigo. All ya'all will definitely improve my game.

Habanero Smoker · October 16, 2014, 01:45:52 AM

In addition to the information included in the FAQ, if condensation begins to form inside the cabinet, besides causing moisture to leak out the door seal, it will cause the temperature to drop. On the other hand keeping the vent too open can also cause the temperature to drop by allowing too much heat too escape. Some keep their vent wide open, but if you find that running the vent wide open you are having problems getting the temperature you want, try reducing the vent to 3/4 and if you see a temperature increase, try 1/2 open to see if the heat increases more. If it starts to loose heat at 1/2 opening, go back to 3/4 opening.

dave01 · October 16, 2014, 04:11:39 AM

Hi, you said---4. I had the digital smoker set at 240°F the whole time...door was never opened and after 5 hours of cook time the Bradley temp gauge read 211°F and it was as hot as it got. You also said that you had a Maverick probe above the meat rack, what did that say? I wouldn't trust the Bradley gauge.
Just a thought,
Dave

Pistol Pete · October 16, 2014, 05:26:45 AM

Typically the Maverick probe runs 5-10°F lower than the Bradley display. The longer the cook goes on, the higher the temp, the closed they get to each other. Keeping in mind, the Bradley is mounted on the lower portion of the back wall and the Maverick is either in mid-air or attached to a clip, in the center of the upper portion of the smoker. When I don't have anything better to do I am going to try to mount the Maverick probe so it is touching the Bradley....wait a minute...I'm retired...I don't have anything better to do.

Mr Walleye · October 16, 2014, 05:53:05 AM

Hi Pistol Pete

In addition to the information you already have got, the temperature you want to be most interested in measuring should be directly below the meat or the lowest rack with multiple racks of meat. The reason for this is as the meat absorbs the heat it gives off moisture which in turn cools the air. It will always be cooler above the meat than below. You want to measure the temperature that the meat is being exposed to. You want to adjust your temperature based on this.

The design of the Bradley with the element at the rear of the cabinet tends to allow a little more heat to run up the back wall which can influence the temperature readings. Certainly your vent settings play into this as well. Once the meat takes on some heat the temperature differences become much closer together.

I simply close the door on my Maverick probes. I try to mount the cabinet probe in such a fashion that the meat doesn't drip on it but at the same time it is experiencing the same temperature the meat is.

The bottom line is you want to measure and control the temperature the meat is being exposed to as opposed to the temperature coming off the meat at the top.

Mike

Pistol Pete · October 16, 2014, 07:14:17 AM

Thanks Mike. I will position the meat accordingly. I have only used the 6 Rack DBS 4 times (Ribs, Brisket, Chicken Thighs and Legs , Pork Loin) and each time the Oven temp was set high enough that the element never turned off. I can say this, I was way more pleased with the finished product on the last smoke than I was with the first. I owe that to the advise I have gotten from you guys in this forum and the susanminor.org forum. This next smoke will be fully documented and recorded.

dave01 · October 16, 2014, 08:20:06 AM

Hello again Pistol Pete.
I also have the six rack digital. At first I had heat problems also. I did some mods on mine and what was good before became fantastic. In the pic of the mods I did you can see at the top where Auber recommends the probe to be for the plug and play PID. I have removed the vent at the top so it is wide open all the time. The fans are 2 1/2" and the heater is a 900 watt. I pull the drip pan as far forward as I can before closing the door so I have a good 1/4" gap at the back. It lets the heat go right up to the fans and is distributed evenly right away. The system works great if you ever decide to do yours.

Hope this might help a little, Dave

Pistol Pete · October 17, 2014, 10:46:00 AM

I keep thinking its me and not the smoker. You have a heckofa lot more energy than I have! The way I figure it you probably put another $200 bucks into your 6 Rack DBS. Now I can probably find $200 bucks worth of aluminum cans around the yard OR I can make some other modifications. I will no longer smoke in terms of time. I will now smoke in terms of beer... Brisket? Two cases of Shiner. Pork tenderloin? a six pack of Fosters and a Labatts. Chicken? 2 Michelob Ultras and a glass of Chardonnay. A third choice would be just smoke salmon and cheese at low temp. 170°F or bust (32B Canadian)

Here's what troubles me Dave. If temp is a "problem", Joe Bradley would have offered a "solution".("Solution" is a technical term used by the technology companies meaning...its going to co$t) . In other words, I would be able to buy what you did to your machine as an option (Like undercoating and floor mats in a new car) when the new one was purchased.

Maybe my problem isn't time at all. In my second career I traveled every week for darn near 20 years. I went to some big places, but I went to a lot of small places. I never asked the concierge where to eat....I asked the fat guy pushing the cart of dirty towels where to "grease". I found the best places were the ones that had plexiglass separating you and the other side of the counter and they only took cash. Maybe my problem is, my expectations are too high. I need to lower them. The lower your expectations, the fewer your disappointments. Like with women.

tskeeter · October 17, 2014, 05:02:12 PM

Pete, in Bradley land, patience is more of a virtue than in most places. Admittedly, cooking with 500 watts can only be described as an exercise in tenacity. But, we exchange the limited heating capacity for things like a puck feeder that allows you to do overnight smokes, and for the smoke quality that the Bradley delivers. Then, the Bradley leaves us to engineer our own solutions to the challenges inherent in the Bradley design. Isn't that part of the fun? Isn't that why guys take perfectly functional cars and hang all kinds of mods and glitter on them? Because we just are predisposed to leave well enough alone? (There is a bit of Tim Taylor in most of us here.)

As for me, I haven't asked Dad to return the Masterbuilt smoker with the bigger heating element that I passed on to him when I got the Bradley.

Pistol Pete · October 17, 2014, 06:36:52 PM

Amen to your philosophy tskeeter. What I wanted to do was open up the J.C. Whitney catalog and order a chrome tailpipe extension. What Dave01 did was a whole George Barris thing. Patience? I got lots of patience. And I learn from you guys and gals every day. Right now I'm brining 6# of pork tenderloin and I got 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs rubbed up with some Mary's Cherry Rub getting ready to smoke tomorrow

I do have a flaw, but only one.... lack of judgement.

tskeeter · October 17, 2014, 07:03:37 PM

Quote from: Pistol Pete on October 17, 2014, 06:36:52 PM
Amen to your philosophy tskeeter. What I wanted to do was open up the J.C. Whitney catalog and order a chrome tailpipe extension. What Dave01 did was a whole George Barris thing. Patience? I got lots of patience. And I learn from you guys and gals every day. Right now I'm brining 6# of pork tenderloin and I got 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs rubbed up with some Mary's Cherry Rub getting ready to smoke tomorrow

I do have a flaw, but only one.... lack of judgement.

Here, here!

Hey, looks like you like pork tenderloin. If you like Canadian Bacon, check out Habanero Smoker's recipe in Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes at www.susanminor.org. I really like that one. And it was easy for me to do. I understand that the folks who have tired Mallard Whacker's recipe like that one, too.

Salmonsmoker · October 18, 2014, 12:28:55 PM

Quote
Hey, looks like you like pork tenderloin. If you like Canadian Bacon, check out Habanero Smoker's recipe in Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes at www.susanminor.org. I really like that one. And it was easy for me to do. I understand that the folks who have tired Mallard Whacker's recipe like that one, too.

Tried both of them. Yes and yes! I also add grade B maple syrup to my cure. They turn out great.