So I decided to smoke a pork loin i found at HEB on sale this past weekend. The following is my recipe. it came out FAN-TAS-TIC!!!
i'll be makine another in the next few weeks and will definately take pictures.
First, i made a brine...
3/4 cup kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
5 bay leaves ground up
2 cups hot water (to dissolve sugar and salt)
3 TBSP peppercorns, slightly crushed.
12 cloves garlic, crushed with side of knife
combine all in bowl, then add 3 cups cold water.
soak pork loin in mixture overnight.
the next morning, i took the pork loin out of the brine, and lightly covered it in my favorite bbq rub.
this part is the key....
cover the entire pork loin with 2 layers of APPLEWOOD SMOKED bacon... this will self baste the pork loin
On my smoker, i got the heat up to 235 degrees. I used pecan wood, with some applewood chunks i had in the beginning.
i placed the pork loin in a circle on a single sheet of aluminum foil on the smoker. i did not open the smoker for 2 hours.
after 2 hours, i opened the smoker and was in awe of the beauty held within
perfectly browned bacon on a lovely piece of pork. i loosely covered the pork at this point on the smoker so it wouldn't be over smoked in flavor.
3 hours later (5 hours total) the internal temp reached 161 degrees, and was done.
Holy Batballs Batman, this thing was amazing. i had company over sunday and was nervous about how it was going to come out. it was FILLED with juices, had a 1/8 inch pink smoke ring, and disappeared within 30 minutes!
I had never thought about smoking a pork loin, but i'll be doing it once a week now. best dang pork i've ever eaten.
like i said, next time, i'm taking pictures!