Over-smoked pork loin question

[AndrewSwenson]

I've been lurking here for too long, it's about time I finally made a post.

Recently I cooked a 5 lb pork loin @ 250*F on my performer, until about 140*F.

My setup was:

- charcoal basket on left
- waterpan in the middle on the grate
- Pork loin all the way on the right on the grate

I used 4 medium pieces of apple wood for smoke. I was amazed at how smokey the meat tasted, almost inedible. This was the first time I had smoked a lean cut of meat like pork loin. I usually do pork butts and ribs.

The only thing I can think of is that the leaner cuts of meat absorb the smoke much more heavily. Is that a general rule?

If I did this again, I would use about 1 - 2 pieces.

 

[Bob Sample]

Andrew how long was the loin on for? I usually do mine with one lump of hickory and 1 lump of apple. I cook hotter also so mine wouldn't be on as long as yours.

One thing you can do with over smoked meat is leave it for a day or 2 in the fridge and the smoke flavour will mellow out. Of course you need a plan B for dinner then.

 

[AndrewSwenson]

I wanna say anywhere between an hour and a half - 2 hours.

 

[Jerry P.]

The only thing I can think of is that the leaner cuts of meat absorb the smoke much more heavily. Is that a general rule?

Need to bust this myth. Meat does not absorb smoke. Smoke particles cling to the outside of the meat. In any event, yeah, you probably used too much wood.

 

[Paul K]

'Leaness' has nothing to do with it; as the others have stated it was probably too much wood. Pork loin doesn't need to cook low and slow. Its structure is not like a butt or shoulder with heavy connective tissue that needs to break down. Longer cooks of lean meats generally just result in drier meat. Pork loin, chicken and fish take on smoke flavor more readily than other meats and due to their more subtle flavor the smoke is easily detected. It's an issue most of us discover early on

.

Paul

 

[Matt Sanders]

Hey, Andrew. Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you were cooking offset on a kettle?

Was the top vent open, closed, or somewhere in between? If it was closed or too closed, and you had a lot of white, billowing smoke for a while, then creosote might have formed on the meat, which causes a bitter flavor and comes from oversmoking.

You want to keep that top vent as open as you can, and try to control temp with the bottom vents.

 

[j biesinger]

Need to bust this myth. Meat does not absorb smoke. Smoke particles cling to the outside of the meat.

If it was closed or too closed, and you had a lot of white, billowing smoke for a while, then creosote might have formed on the meat, which causes a bitter flavor and comes from oversmoking.

Jerry and Matt are right on.

lean or fat is not the issue. it was most likely too much wood. If the smoke had a bitter taste, there's a couple of adjustments you can make:

1) make sure wood is burning cleanly, not white smoke
2) bury wood beneath coals so gases from wood burn more completely as they pass through hot layer
3) make sure meat is reasonably dry before smoking, creosote sticks to moisture

I ended up oversmoking some pork tenderloin. I figured since it was to be a relatively short cook, I'd load it up with a lot of wood. It was too much.

 

[Matt Sanders]

2) bury wood beneath coals so gases from wood burn more completely as they pass through hot layer

J, I'd never heard that before. Thanks for the tip.

 

[j biesinger]

I'd never heard that before.

I don't remember where I read/heard about it, but I think Jim Minion somehow made the connection. It had to do with farmers burning brush and top down vs bottom up fires. When farmers build a brush fire and throw more on top, the fire creates a lot of air pollution. If they would instead finish building the pile before they light the top and let the pile burn down, the burn would be cleaner.

I've tried it by burying wood in my minion so it burns as the fire moves down the pile. It results in a much reduced wood flavor. I'm back to tossing a few chunks on top of the pile after the minion start.

 

[Barry McCorkle]

I grilled a pork loin for Christmas dinner last year using my kettle. It only took 1 - 2 hours over direct heat. I don't have a thermometer for the kettle, so I estimate the temp was in the 300 - 350 range. As the above poster stated, you do not need to cook lean meats low and slow.

IMHO, the boneless pork loin is the most underated, best tasting and low priced lean white meat that can be bought. It's going to be our new Christmas dinner tradition.