Question about BBQing Pork

Make_My_Day

Wife and I BBQ most of the meat we cook for dinner. Most of the time it comes out reasonably tender, but we bought some loin pork roasts from the local Winn-Dixie and they are really rubbery when cooked. Anyone have any suggestions for preparing them so they come out more tender?

DanChamberlain

Marinade with your favorite. Sear all sides on a really hot grill, reduce temp, and cook to 140 145 degrees with a good meat thermometer, remove from the grill and wrap in foil and let it finish for another 20 minutes in the foil. Slice against the grain. Pork loin should be slightly pink in the middle. Not well done. There is no danger with a pinkish juicy center on a pork loin roast or a port tenderloin. It's when they taste the best. Not medium rare, but slightly pink.

Teach

Are you using an offset smoker? When I BBQ a pork butt I use water-soaked hickory chips for the smoke, on a bed of well-burned charcoal, with no starter fluid whatsoever involved in lighting it. It takes approximately 10-12 hours at a temperature of no more than 275 degrees or so, never over 300. The internal meat temperature when done needs to be about 185-200 at the thickest part of the meat, well away from any bones that might give a false reading. I do an injection marinade consisting of vinegar, water, salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper, as much as the meat will hold, refrigerate overnight, and then allow the meat to come to room temperature before going on the smoker.
Jerry

Make_My_Day

I like to use Sonny's BBQ sauce on the meat. The ingredients should be good for marinating. I've been cooking them to 165-170, so I guess maybe that's why they're tough. I always thought that was the correct temp.

Make_My_Day

Teach wrote: »

Are you using an offset smoker? When I BBQ a pork butt I use water-soaked hickory chips for the smoke, on a bed of well-burned charcoal, with no starter fluid whatsoever involved in lighting it. It takes approximately 10-12 hours at a temperature of no more than 275 degrees or so, never over 300. The internal meat temperature when done needs to be about 185-200 at the thickest part of the meat, well away from any bones that might give a false reading. I do an injection marinade consisting of vinegar, water, salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper, as much as the meat will hold, refrigerate overnight, and then allow the meat to come to room temperature before going on the smoker.
Jerry

I have wanted to get a gas or electric powered smoker that I could add wood chips to for the flavor, but the wife keeps poo-pooing the idea. I might have to do the routine that I sometimes do and just buy the damn thing and worry about the crap later....LOL. Other than that, I could try injecting the marinade, which might work too. Let me ask this question: I have one of those big, commercial style gas grills you buy in Lowes. It has burners on both sides and you can shut off one side if you want. Would it simulate a low-temperature grilling if I put the roast on one side with the burners not lit, and light the ones on the other side not directly under the meat, put a pot of water on the heated side to moderate the humidity in the grill and try it that way, after searing the meat on a hot fire first?

snake284

Make_My_Day wrote: »

Wife and I BBQ most of the meat we cook for dinner. Most of the time it comes out reasonably tender, but we bought some loin pork roasts from the local Winn-Dixie and they are really rubbery when cooked. Anyone have any suggestions for preparing them so they come out more tender?

The only pork I usually BBQ is ribs. Even Wild Hog I usually just BBQ Ribs and use the rest in sausage. But, first of all, how much poundage you talking? If it's like 5 pound chunks you might inject it with some seasoned marinade, then BBQ low and slow for a few ours, depending on total mass and weight. Then wrap that baby in foil pouring some marinade on it before sealing the foil up. Then leave it on the dying coals for about two hours or so, again depending on total mass and weight. That's the way a lot of BBQers around here do brisket. Wrap it with some liquid and leave it for awhile and it makes it get pretty tender.

Jay

Make_My_Day wrote: »

I have wanted to get a gas or electric powered smoker that I could add wood chips to for the flavor, but the wife keeps poo-pooing the idea. I might have to do the routine that I sometimes do and just buy the damn thing and worry about the crap later....LOL. Other than that, I could try injecting the marinade, which might work too. Let me ask this question: I have one of those big, commercial style gas grills you buy in Lowes. It has burners on both sides and you can shut off one side if you want. Would it simulate a low-temperature grilling if I put the roast on one side with the burners not lit, and light the ones on the other side not directly under the meat, put a pot of water on the heated side to moderate the humidity in the grill and try it that way, after searing the meat on a hot fire first?

You can use a gas grill to smoke like you mentioned. I've done it before and it worked OK, but different grills work differently. A temperature probe capable of reading the air temp near the meat is a huge help. The little thermometers they put on the lids of those things don't really help. First, it may or may not be accurate. Second, They are usually toward the top and read a different temperature than what's actually at meat level. Using some foil to block the direct heat from the meat is a good idea too. Put wet wood chips in the middle of a piece of foil and close it up, kinda loose at the top, and put that over the direct heat to produce smoke. After some playing with it, you can get it down pretty well..

Make_My_Day

snake284 wrote: »

The only pork I usually BBQ is ribs. Even Wild Hog I usually just BBQ Ribs and use the rest in sausage. But, first of all, how much poundage you talking? If it's like 5 pound chunks you might inject it with some seasoned marinade, then BBQ low and slow for a few ours, depending on total mass and weight. Then wrap that baby in foil pouring some marinade on it before sealing the foil up. Then leave it on the dying coals for about two hours or so, again depending on total mass and weight. That's the way a lot of BBQers around here do brisket. Wrap it with some liquid and leave it for awhile and it makes it get pretty tender.

I think they were 4-5 pounds to start with, but we cut them down to about 3rds, since it's just the two of us. I usually do wrap the meat up in foil and slather the Sonny's on it before I close it up, and at times I use a Corningware tray underneath that has an undulating surface and that usually produces tender roasts. The ones we have gotten recently seemed unusually tough and we have a few left which is why I asked about trying better methods.

Jay wrote:

You can use a gas grill to smoke like you mentioned. I've done it before and it worked OK, but different grills work differently. A temperature probe capable of reading the air temp near the meat is a huge help. The little thermometers they put on the lids of those things don't really help. First, it may or may not be accurate. Second, They are usually toward the top and read a different temperature than what's actually at meat level. Using some foil to block the direct heat from the meat is a good idea too. Put wet wood chips in the middle of a piece of foil and close it up, kinda loose at the top, and put that over the direct heat to produce smoke. After some playing with it, you can get it down pretty well.

I'm going to try a few things from the various posts and see what happens. If I get good results I will let you all know what happened. Some good information here...thanks

BigDanS

Tenderloin is already tender. It's the reason you don't overcook it, because it has very little fat.

Pink and 150 F. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing under a foil tent. Slice thin.

D

Make_My_Day

BigDanS wrote: »

Tenderloin is already tender. It's the reason you don't overcook it, because it has very little fat.

Pink and 150 F. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing under a foil tent. Slice thin.

D

That makes sense, thanks. I'm going to try a few of these methods.

Teach

Here's the one I have, or something very similar:



The fire is built in the small chamber to the left, and the temperature of the main chamber is controlled by varying the amount of air the firebox gets. I use the built-in thermometer to monitor the main chamber temperature, and an electronic thermometer with a remote probe inserted into the meat. It would be possible to use a 2-burner gas grill with the meat on the "cool" side with a foil pack of wet wood chips near the burner to generate the smoke, as long as the flame could be turned down low enough to avoid getting the enclosed cooking chamber too hot. My gas grill simply won't turn down that low.
Jerry

Make_My_Day

Teach wrote: »

Here's the one I have, or something very similar:

The fire is built in the small chamber to the left, and the temperature of the main chamber is controlled by varying the amount of air the firebox gets. I use the built-in thermometer to monitor the main chamber temperature, and an electronic thermometer with a remote probe inserted into the meat. It would be possible to use a 2-burner gas grill with the meat on the "cool" side with a foil pack of wet wood chips near the burner to generate the smoke, as long as the flame could be turned down low enough to avoid getting the enclosed cooking chamber too hot. My gas grill simply won't turn down that low.
Jerry

I've seen those smokers before. If I got a smoker, I would prefer to get a gas or electric one, because I do all the cooking under the roof of a screened in porch off the kitchen and the smoke from a wood stove would get in the house when I open the doors to go in or out. The BBQ I have has a thermometer mounted in the top of the grill like the one in your picture. If I run all 4 burners at once at the lowest setting they can run at, I get a fairly constant temperature of about 375 degrees at the top of the grill. You said that's too hot for slow cooking, but if I turn two of them off and put the meat on the side of the unlit burners, it just might work.

Teach

Barbecue without smoke is like "safe sex"- - - -not much fun, and something is definitely lacking in the finished product. It only takes a little smoke to give pulled pork its characteristic flavor, and well-lit charcoal is virtually smoke-free. When I'm not able to stay up all night tending the smoker, I start the meat outside and smoke it for 3-4 hours, then finish it off in the oven at 250 degrees or so until the internal temperature of the meat gets right. My brother does something similar with a big oval crock pot and a Boston butt after doing a short smoke session on the grill. I save the drippings in a stainless steel roasting pan about 2" deep, and pour some of them over the meat after it's shredded (pulled) with a couple of forks after deboning. That prevents too-dry meat that makes every bite get bigger and tougher the more it's chewed. There's very few leftovers when I BBQ a butt or two at the SE Shoot.
Jerry

snake284

Make_My_Day wrote: »

I've seen those smokers before. If I got a smoker, I would prefer to get a gas or electric one, because I do all the cooking under the roof of a screened in porch off the kitchen and the smoke from a wood stove would get in the house when I open the doors to go in or out. The BBQ I have has a thermometer mounted in the top of the grill like the one in your picture. If I run all 4 burners at once at the lowest setting they can run at, I get a fairly constant temperature of about 375 degrees at the top of the grill. You said that's too hot for slow cooking, but if I turn two of them off and put the meat on the side of the unlit burners, it just might work.

As for me, electric or gas is reserved for a grill, not for BBQing. I like the way a real wood BBQ pit drives the smoke into the meat. Electric or gas only tickles it, unles8-s you're talking something like sausage where you'll expose it to the smoke for 8-10 hours.

snake284

cpj wrote: »

BBQ AINT sauce. Period.
You are grilling meat. And putting sauce on it.
Pork tendoin is better suited for roasting, it careful grilling. It's not got the fat content for BBQ.

:agree:

I've dried out some thick pork before trying to BBQ it. But especially a tenderloin. They're dry to start with.

Jay

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Oklahoma-Joe-Longhorn-1-060-sq-in-Smoker/34702957?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=34702957&placement_id=irs-302-m3&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id=Y6QHMQW3e2XIMBleCG_ZCU&category=&client_guid=9313b1f6-28e3-43d3-81ce-fc38d0df2217&customer_id_enc=&config_id=302&parent_item_id=33605961&parent_anchor_item_id=33605961&guid=aa1077c2-69b3-4288-b2b4-2b6d91380a70&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

This is the smoker I have. Works really well. I have a few modifications I want to do to it. Add thermometers at the grill level and weld some flat steel around the doors. The cooking chamber door and fire box door don't seal as well as I'd like.

Always wanted to get a gas smoker. Mainly for the convenience of being able to smoke without having to constantly tend to the smoker. When I do brisket and pork butts, I'm usually up at 4am getting the fire going and getting ready. Takes a good hour to get the smoker warmed up and a good bed of coals started. Like teach said, no panther piss (lighter fluid). I use a propane weed burner to start wood. Sometimes I start lump charcoal in a coal chimney to get a good pile of coals faster. Then poke a piece of wood in there now and then for the rest of the day.

ETA- one thing I like about the smoker I have is the flat part on top of the fire box. Works great for putting a cast iron pot or Dutch oven full of baked beans on while the meats cooking..

bisley

Pork loin is my least favorite cut of meat for smoking. It's great, if you manage to cook it perfectly, but even if you do that, the leftovers dry out and get tougher. The best way to cook it, in my opinion, is to slice it very thin and beat it as flat as possible, then season it, dip it in buttermilk and coat it with bread crumbs, then fry it. My daughter did one once by splitting the whole loin, filling it with apricot jelly, and tying it back together. It was very good. It can be chicken fried, like you might do a regular pork chop, but even then, if you have leftovers, they dry out and get a little bit tougher. I haven't tried the lower temperature, because too many in my family won't eat pork with a red center.

On the other hand, a Boston Butt is one of the best cuts for slow cooking, and can be cooked to 165 degrees and it will be delicious, sliced or pulled. People will reach around a perfectly cooked beef brisket to get to the pork roast, if done correctly.

Make_My_Day

Teach wrote:

Barbecue without smoke is like "safe sex"- - - -not much fun, and something is definitely lacking in the finished product. It only takes a little smoke to give pulled pork its characteristic flavor, and well-lit charcoal is virtually smoke-free.......

Not having a smoker is why I'm kind of uninformed about them, but I did want something I don't have to watch all the time except for an occasional temp check. If I got electric or gas I would get the wood chips and use your suggestion about wetting them for the cooking process.

cpj wrote:

BBQ AINT sauce. Period. You are grilling meat. And putting sauce on it.

I understand, it's just that we like the taste of the Sonny's sauce on pork, and we're just trying to figure out how to make it tender. We also prefer the loin because it is the white pork, which we prefer over the darker cuts. I have no idea what the butts are like. If they are white meat, I would be willing to buy it.

snake284 wrote:

As for me, electric or gas is reserved for a grill, not for BBQing. I like the way a real wood BBQ pit drives the smoke into the meat.....

I want the convenience of the gas or elec. I'm really looking for a way to make it tender. As I said in my original post, I usually have better success with having them come out tender, but these roasts I got from winn-dixie come out very dry and tough. I'll be using some of the posted methods in the future and see what works out for the best. I want to try and stay with the white meat cuts if possible.

DoctorWho

Make_My_Day wrote: »

Not having a smoker is why I'm kind of uninformed about them, but I did want something I don't have to watch all the time except for an occasional temp check. If I got electric or gas I would get the wood chips and use your suggestion about wetting them for the cooking process.


I understand, it's just that we like the taste of the Sonny's sauce on pork, and we're just trying to figure out how to make it tender. We also prefer the loin because it is the white pork, which we prefer over the darker cuts. I have no idea what the butts are like. If they are white meat, I would be willing to buy it.

I want the convenience of the gas or elec. I'm really looking for a way to make it tender. As I said in my original post, I usually have better success with having them come out tender, but these roasts I got from winn-dixie come out very dry and tough. I'll be using some of the posted methods in the future and see what works out for the best. I want to try and stay with the white meat cuts if possible.

Oh poo, a smoker does NOT kick up that much smoke !

I cook lots of pork loin I buy on sale for $1.69 a pound, and it cooks up tender unless you BOIL it or some other equally poor cooking method, forget gas smokers, if you need to or want to cheat, get an electric smoker as it uses wood chips to make the smoke and adds flavor to the meat.

However, the best smokers use charcoal and wood chips NO STARTER FLUID EVER !!!!

Here is a nice smoker


You can extend the chimney to direct the smoke high up and way from living areas.

Teach

It's possible to make a dry rub that incorporates liquid smoke, but it's easy to overdo it with that stuff and make the meat bitter. A double handful of hickory chips soaked to the point of being waterlogged, wrapped in a couple of layers of foil and placed near the heat source, plus a Coke can full of water placed on the cool side of the grill, will add enough smoky flavor to the meat to make you throw rocks at any commercial BBQ sauce. We use a sauce Mary's grandfather helped develop for the BBQ pits around Cairo Illinois back in the 1920's. It's heavy on vinegar and cayenne pepper, simmered with a flour thickener. It adds some flavor without overpowering the taste of the meat.

http://shop.cairobbq.net/

Here's a do it yourself recipe:

http://4taus.com/Cairo_Style_Barbecue_Sauce.html

Jerry

Jermanator

Pork loins? We just cut them into chops and grill them. Trichinosis is killed at 137 degrees, so if you round up to 145, you are golden. No need to cook it any more done than that.

BBQ-- Pork shoulder/pork butt/Boston butt roast (all the same cut). Low and slow either in the smoker or the smoker/oven technique. The long cooking breaks down and geletanizes the connective tissue.

The equivalent cuts on a cow is basically pork loin= top sirloin and pork shoulder= chuck. Pork loin is for fast/high heat and the shoulder is low and slow.

Make_My_Day

Teach wrote: »

It's possible to make a dry rub that incorporates liquid smoke, but it's easy to overdo it with that stuff and make the meat bitter. A double handful of hickory chips soaked to the point of being waterlogged, wrapped in a couple of layers of foil and placed near the heat source, plus a Coke can full of water placed on the cool side of the grill, will add enough smoky flavor to the meat to make you throw rocks at any commercial BBQ sauce. We use a sauce Mary's grandfather helped develop for the BBQ pits around Cairo Illinois back in the 1920's. It's heavy on vinegar and cayenne pepper, simmered with a flour thickener. It adds some flavor without overpowering the taste of the meat.
http://shop.cairobbq.net/ Here's a do it yourself recipe: http://4taus.com/Cairo_Style_Barbecue_Sauce.html
Jerry

Thanks for the tips and links. All this is great information and I will use these techniques the next time we make pork.

CPJ wrote:

Pork is pork is pork. The meats the same color, it just varies in fat content.

I have bought pork loins where the meat is a mixture of brown and white in the same roast. There's definitely a difference in color and taste between the two.

Teach

Boston butt/pork shoulder is the same cut of meat, just different ends. It's thick and fatty, and is definitely a less-desirable cut than pork loin. The slow smoking at low temperature converts the fat into its own basting medium, which keeps it from drying out while cooking. I like to save the drippings in a roaster pan, but some more traditional methods allow the fat to drip off and add to the smoky taste as it carmelizes on the grill or drips onto the coals. Commercial cookers use multiple metal racks that revolve slowly on a set of chain drives, and the fat drips onto the cuts of meat below to bathe the meat in its own juices. Those BBQ pits are designed for cooking hundreds of pounds of meat at one session. Just driving by a commercial pit makes some folks salivate to the point they have to drop in and buy some meat.
Jerry

bisley

Make_My_Day wrote: »

I have bought pork loins where the meat is a mixture of brown and white in the same roast. There's definitely a difference in color and taste between the two.

That may be due to the presence of blood and the 'age' of the meat, since butchering. A feral hog that has been kept on ice for a few days, draining the bloody water off every day, will often look just like top quality store-bought pork, and often tastes like it, too. The presence of more blood in the meat gives it the 'wild' taste that some complain about (in my opinion).

bisley

Teach wrote: »

..I like to save the drippings in a roaster pan, but some more traditional methods allow the fat to drip off and add to the smoky taste as it carmelizes on the grill or drips onto the coals...

Me, too. I add a little liquid and thicken it with corn starch, for gravy. Pork roast is too good, sliced, to shred into pulled pork, so I slice it and put gravy on it, just like a good beef roast.

Make_My_Day

Teach wrote: »

Boston butt/pork shoulder is the same cut of meat, just different ends. It's thick and fatty, and is definitely a less-desirable cut than pork loin. The slow smoking at low temperature converts the fat into its own basting medium, which keeps it from drying out while cooking. I like to save the drippings in a roaster pan, but some more traditional methods allow the fat to drip off and add to the smoky taste as it carmelizes on the grill or drips onto the coals. Commercial cookers use multiple metal racks that revolve slowly on a set of chain drives, and the fat drips onto the cuts of meat below to bathe the meat in its own juices. Those BBQ pits are designed for cooking hundreds of pounds of meat at one session. Just driving by a commercial pit makes some folks salivate to the point they have to drop in and buy some meat.
Jerry

Yeah, that happens to me every time I pass some local guy on the side of the road cooking BBQ.

Make_My_Day

bisley wrote: »

That may be due to the presence of blood and the 'age' of the meat, since butchering. A feral hog that has been kept on ice for a few days, draining the bloody water off every day, will often look just like top quality store-bought pork, and often tastes like it, too. The presence of more blood in the meat gives it the 'wild' taste that some complain about (in my opinion).

I guess that's why there is white and dark meat in the same roast.....seems logical to me.

DoctorWho

Make_My_Day wrote: »

I guess that's why there is white and dark meat in the same roast.....seems logical to me.

Is that what they call "marbled" ???

I remember some rather good pork shoulder prepared according to Puertorican seasoning, pretty good with rice !

HAWKEN

I have a gas grill, a smoker like Teach's and an electric. No matter, I season and marinade the pork, wrap it in a double wrap of heavy duty aluminum foil, then slow cook it. Then for the last 2 hours, take it out of the foil and brown on all sides. Fall apart delicious.........robin :applause:

Make_My_Day

HAWKEN wrote: »

I have a gas grill, a smoker like Teach's and an electric. No matter, I season and marinade the pork, wrap it in a double wrap of heavy duty aluminum foil, then slow cook it. Then for the last 2 hours, take it out of the foil and brown on all sides. Fall apart delicious.........robin :applause:

Do you use the Loin cut or some other for that?

Varmintmist

pork loin on the grill

http://bbqu.net/season3/311_4.html