Any thoughts on what I did wrong with a pork loin? Prep was rubbing with olive oil and then putting on rub. Hung on PBC and pulled when it hit 145. Rested for 15 minutes with foil over the pan, cut and ate.
I could tell when cutting that it was going to be a bit tough, but I don't eat a ton of pork so I wasn's sure if that was normal. Leftovers are very chewy. Nice flavor and fragrance though.
Could have been the cut. I cooked a brined turkey breast recently and pulled it at 160. It was kind of dry and it shouldn't have been as I did everything correctly. One time I pulled a rotisserie turkey that was well over 180 and it was juicy as all get-out, even a few days later leftover.
Hey Spooky. I've never actually done a tenderloin, but looking at your prep photos...is that some silverskin still on the loin? Did you take that off before rubbing? The sivlerskin (fascia) can have a huge effect on mouthfeel.
Just an idea. Those with more experience with this cut can chime in. You may want to give a little more info if available, for example:
-How long did it take, and/or how hot was your PBC during the cook if you measured it?
-Did you dry- or wet-brine it?
i don't know much about PBC cooking but did you hang it? is it possible it was 145 on one side and closer to 170 on the other because it's closer to the fire? the only reason i ask because that picture of the final result in the pan looks like a caveman club so one end looks a bit more cooked/shriveled than the other and in the before picture they look about the same size.
Thanks for the responses...to address some of the questions:
- I hung it, but oddly. It was too long for the PBC so I hung both sides, the tenderloin made a bit of U in the barrel. This didn't seem detrimental, although next time I'd measure and if need be cut it in half and hang both halves
- I think the caveman club is a trick of the angle of the photo, neither side shrank more than the other
- I didn't have temps for the barrel as at the time I only had 2 probes and one was in this, the other in some chicken on the other rebar
- I didn't think that was silverskin on the loin, but fat, so I left it on for the cook. I did a lot of reading here and elsewhere where it seemed many left the silverskin on anyway. One thing to note, even cutting all around a cut piece, so removing the top and bottom of the loin, the meat was still chewy. If only one side was chewy I think I'd go along with it may have been silverskin after all, but this was all the meat.
- No brine, just a coating of olive oil and then a dry rub
- I didn't time this cook unfortunately, but it was likely around an hour, no longer than an hour and a half for sure.
Maybe it was just this piece of meat, I will try another one at some point in time I guess.
Do try it again, but I concur with NickinAZ that your internal temp was a bit high. I pull mine at about 138-140, then let it rest on a sheetpan with a foil tent over it for 10 minutes or so before slicing into medallions. Even when I buy my tenderloins from supermarkets in my area (MI), these come out succulent and beautifully smoked every time. I dry-brine with kosher salt about 30 minutes prior to hanging in the PBC, then I use a light coating of EVOO and grind up pepper and rosemary (dried), rub that in, maybe a little extra salt, and let 'em rip.
I recently tried pre-cooking a tenderloin sous vide to 130, then hung it in a hot PBC (just cooked some chickens earlier) for 10-15 minutes until the meat was at 140F internal. Although the texture was good, it just wasn't as juicy, and not enough smoke for my family's tastes. I'll never do that again; PBC, all the way!
EDIT: Oh, also, I've had varied luck with freezing pork tenderloins. Most of the time, I'm not happy with the final product. AND, if your supplier cryo-seals the meat, great, but watch those dates. Some supermarkets tend to sell those meats for as long as legally possible, because they stay fresh-looking longer. I try to be pretty picky about those packs, and tend to stay away from them unless I know the store has really fast turnover on the stock (like a Costco would).
Last edited by abandonedbrain; June 8, 2017, 05:13 PM.
Reason: Added info on cryoseal
Pork loin is not forgiving. In pork country (IA), we tend to either stuff 'em or slice 'em before cooking. We heathens treat them like yardbirds. Brine (wet or dry) and some high heat for a short time. The loin is done when it's a light pink inside. I run my insulated log burner over 500F on those occasions.
I feel your pain. Got a pellet pooper 2 weeks ago and pork has been my nemesis ever since. Everything but pork, fine.
Tonight, finally success. I had never used a wet brine before, but I did tonight. Among the best pork chops I have ever grilled
I also watched a video today about injecting the loin with soda/pop/coke (whatever they call it where you live) based concoctions. Have to admit they looked wonderful and produced some nice looking medallions. Thanks to this site I now know brining, marinating or injections help the pork to stay moist. Good luck.
I think pork tenderloin is very tough to smoke. It was a tenderloin, right? Not a whole loin? Even loins are problematic at PBC temps. I always cook pork loin and tenderloin on my BGE at high temps -- 350 or higher. There's just not enough fat on them to take advantage of the smoking process, IMHO.
That's my experience too. With the loin you can do a variation on the reverse sear to keep it moist: 225 cook temp to 135-140 IT, then a very quick very hot sear.
I've never cooked a pork tenderloin on my PBC I've always cooked them bacon wrapped in my pellet pooper or pk grill w/ temps running around 350 ish till pork IT hits 135 to 140. But your loin is about the biggest one I've seen & maybe that affected the outcome.
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