Smithfield Pork Loin

[Dukera]

The Kroger stores around me sell pre-packaged pork loin with a wet brine and bacon bits prewrapped. They seem to be 1.5 lbs maybe a bit more. Did one earlier this month - June 9th. Lit the PBC with a smaller amount of charcoal in the cooker and only lit 20 briquets off to start the fire. Had a small piece of apple and another of cherry wood for the smoke. I did not salt the loin as I figured it was salted in the brine, but I did use the Last Meal Rib Rub from this site. Lit the PBC at 115 with an ambient temp of 93 (yea Dallas after all...). Set up my temp control fan for 250 smoke temp. Reached that by 2. The pork loin took 1 hour and 20 minutes to hit 145. I pulled and tested it in several spots all were 145 or a bit higher. Put into an aluminum pan wrapped in towels and into my cooler for 2 hour hold. These are pretty brainless to do as all they need is some wood smoke and a little time to reach medium rare temp, but they are really good at dinner time. So if you happen to see one in the store give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Russ

[Smoker_Boy]

I have seen these at my Kroger and have always wondered about them.
May have to try one soon.

[Finster]

We have similar in my area, only Hatfield brand. Haven’t seen a bacon one, but they do come in maybe a half dozen different flavors. They freeze well so I would load up whenever I saw a sale. Even in today’s financial climate, I can find them for $5 or $6 each. Maybe not the best per pound price, but with a couple of sides, hard to beat feeding a family of 4 for $10 or so. I have Cooked them on my barrel a few times, but mostly do them indirect, with a quick sear at the end, on the kettle.
Good eating for short money!!

[klflowers]

Pictures? Did this really happen?

[carolts]

These go on BOGO at Publix from time to time. I keep them in the freezer until needed. Have cooked them on the PK, the gasser, and sliced into medallions and pan seared. Usually serve it with a salad of some sort and make sandwiches or fried rice with the leftovers. There are several flavors of these.

[jfmorris]

You sure we are talking pork loin and not tenderloin at that size? At my Kroger, they sometimes sell half pork loins that weight about 5 pounds. A pork loin is about 4-5 inches in diameter. A tenderloin is more like 1.5 to 2 inches and diameter, and is usually sold in a 2 pack that ways 1.5 to 2 pounds?

I guess it could be a half of a half of a pork loin....

[LA Pork Butt]

I was wondering the same thing. I was looking for a price per pound as a possible indicator. Here in Dallas the loins go on sale for $1.99 a pound.

[fzxdoc]

The ones that I've seen in our local grocery stores are pork tenderloins, jfmorris . I'm not certain that I've ever seen a pork loin itself prepped like that.

I bit on the temptation only once, and the Smithfield seasoned pork tenderloin was soooo salty! I hadn't even thought to check the salt content. That was the last time I did (or didn't do) that!

K.

[Dukera]

Yea is probably was a tenderloin now that I think about it. I'll recheck next time in Kroger. Sorry for the confusion.
Russ

[Smoker_Boy]

Confusion is the normal state of mind around here.

[Murdy]

When we were remodeling our kitchen (DIY so it took far too long), we ate countless of those pre-marinated pork tenderloins cooked in a toaster oven -- they came out pretty good.

[HawkerXP]

Thanks for the writeup.

[Michael_in_TX]

It is wild how ever professional chefs inadvertently misname the two. Famed Mexican cuisine chef Rick Bayless even made the mistake in a video last week! He pulls out what is clearly a center-cut pork loin, but calls it tenderloin. (He correctly refers to it as loin for the rest of the video.)