10 Solid Pounds of Pork Loin in 4 hours!

[Skipystu]

OK I just finally got clear weather to use my new OBS and my wife insisted I cook her fav from my charcoal smoker - huge hunk of pork loin.   ;D

The loin was 10 pounds +/- and I cut it in half so I have two fat pieces at about 5 pounds each. On my old smoker I was looking at between 7-9 hours of cooking. So I setup my OBS in a location with no direct sun and no wind. Got the heat to 220-230F and left it there. Closed the top to just let a little smoke out and the cords for my thermometers.   :-\

4 hours later I have one at 164F and the other at 158F! How is that possible!?! Are they cooked!? Well I know the answer to that one! But still how can an OBS cook food in half - HALF - the time my charcoal smoker does?!  :'(

I have two pork picnics at 10 pounds each I was going to throw in later this week but now I am not sure when to put them in! Every recipe and time I have cooked one they take about 9 hours and two takes about 12-14 hours. With the way the loin cooked I should only allow for 6 or 7 hours?

Any ideas?  ???

Thanks!
  ;)

[hillbillysmoker]

I did two pieces of tenderloin total about 7 1/2lbs in my OBS two weeks ago. Tower temp 200 and according to my notes internal temp hit 157 in 4 hours, so my results are close to yours.  Keep in mind size does matter and the amount of surface also affects length of time.

[Skipystu]

Hey HillB .. How long did you have the smoke going? and what wood flavor did you use?

I had a mix of Hickory, Special Blend, and ended it with one Maple - meant to end it with a two but the whole cooking was over before the wood was all thru!

Thanks for the comparison.

[Wildcat]

Hi Skipystu!  I think you had the temp too high.  I generally have a box temp of about 10F to 20F degrees higher than I want my meat temp to reach.  Low and slow is better for the tender and juicy result.  Also, if using more than 1 rack, you should rotate positons up and down and front to back to maintain an even cook for both racks.  Be sure not to close your vent too much.  If smoke and/or moisture backs up into the smoke generator, you will eventually have generator problems.  That stuff gets real sticky.

[coyote]

Low and slow....and let it breathe  =  Perfection ;)

                                           Coyote

                                                                 

[Habanero Smoker]

When I first did pork loin, I cut it in half and had the same experience that you did. Two wide temperatures variance in the different pieces of meat, and I knew the differences weren't cause by the location of the meat. Surprisingly, the smaller diameter end took longer to get up to temp. Jaeger explained that pork loin has a few different muscles so that would account for the two pieces cooking differently.

As far as pork loin, for myself I don't like to take the internal temperature over 150°F. Since it is a lean meat, I smoke/cook around the same temperature you did; if your cabinet temperatures were accurate. I don't like too much smoke on pork loin, so I only apply 2 hours of maple. I also tie the loin with butcher's string every 2-3 inches so that it will hold it's shape and cook more evenly.

[manxman]

As far as pork loin, for myself I don't like to take the internal temperature over 150°F.

I agree, as long as the temperature exceeds 137F for a sufficient period of time to kill trichinae etc I try to keep the temp to no more than 150F as HS says. Personnally I aim for 145F ish!  ;)

Important thing is to have an accurate thermometer, most food advisors/food agencies tend to play safe and quote 150 - 165F to allow for innaccurate thermometers etc which I bet are pretty common place!!  ::)

In reality with proper food handling and an accurate thermometer it is safe to go lower IMHO.

[Skipystu]

Hey All,

Thanks for the input .. it did come out a little dry! I will try 150 or so next time. As well I used way too much smoke either between the amounts of pucks or the vent was not open enough.

I have not had much experience with Maple, I used mostly hickory but I have ordered a box of Maple for the pork picnics I am going to make this weekend. I think I just need to use less wood for everything going forward until I have more experience.


Has anyone tried putting a piece of charcoal on the burner to try and get some charcoal flavor? I was thinking I might put one on the burner by hand to get that grilled flavor. Any ideas?

Thanks again for the help ... I will lower the cooking temp a little and lower my meat temp goals.

[manxman]

Be sure not to close your vent too much.  If smoke and/or moisture backs up into the smoke generator, you will eventually have generator problems.  That stuff gets real sticky.

Good advice, vent needs to be at least a third to a half open, perhaps a bit more if doing chicken. Any less and you could be causing problems for yourself.  :)

Can't say I can recollect any mention here on the forum of putting charcoal on the BS heater, think if I was after a bit of charcoal grilled flavour in anything I was doing in the BS I would finish food off for a short while on the grill rather than trying to introduce charcoal into the BS IMHO.

[Wildcat]

I agree 100 percent with manxman.  It only takes a couple of minutes on the grill to get the flavor.  That is how I like to do chicken legs and wings - Cook in the smoker until almost done, slap some of Iceman's sauce on them, then onto the charcoal grill to finish.

[Skipystu]

Yeah it sounds good in theory but when one has to get the charcoal grill going it can take a while and the cost of cooking runs up. Unless I was to cook a whole lotta food at once!

I do have a gas grill .. any chance that would work?

Thanks

[hillbillysmoker]

Hi Skipystu, To answer your questions I used a tower temperature of 200 and the loins reached 157 internal temperature when I took them off at 4 hours.  I used apple for this particular smoke but have used various other flavors in the past.

[Habanero Smoker]

I like your idea about the charcoal; but because the heating plate doesn't get that hot the charcoal would have to stay on the plate for awhile. Maybe placing one charcoal bisquette on the burning after the last puck has been spent and leaving it on for a while may work. I just may try that the next time I do some chicken.

[Skipystu]

Hey Habenero - that is what I was thinking .. do a 2 hours of smoke and then check it every 30 or so mins to add a charcoal brick. I would hope, hope mind you, add enough charcoal flavor to be noticed. It doesn't need to be over powering but enough to cut out the grilling step.

[Skipystu]

Ok so now I have 2, 9-pound pork picnics bone-in that I want to make some pulled pork with. I know they are not the best choice cuts for it but that is what I could find.

I was thinking using maple with some apple at the end. How long should I expect the OBS to take cooking these at about 225f? I am not sure how long I should smoke for since my pork loin was done in half the time!

Thanks all