The Perfect Pork Loin

The recipe feature for this week is a perfectly cooked Pork Loin. The best part about it is that I didn’t actually cook this; my daughter did!

If anyone reading this likes to cook and has younger kids, I really recommend getting them involved. Not only is it a great life skill, but by showing your kids how much fun it is to make their own food, you encourage creativity and help them learn flavors and grow their own palate.

This recipe started when my daughter wanted to do the Kid’s Que at the Minnesota in May BBQ competition, and the meat of choice for the kids was a Compart Duroc Pork Loin. The rules are that the kids are encouraged to do as much work as they can, but parents can help with things like handling the fire and knife work if the child isn’t comfortable.

The pork loin is a very lean piece of meat from closer to the spine of the pig. Because it is lean, it can overcook and dry out very easily. Pieces of leaner meat, like the loin, are a great example of a piece of meat you can pull off a few degrees shy of the ideal cook temp and let it carry over. Carry over is what happens to a piece of meat when you take it off the pit, and you can see the internal temperature continue to rise for a few minutes after coming off the pit. Usually, the higher the cook temp, the more it will carry over.

Seasoning was very simple with this one. A light base layer of Lovely Jubbly BBQ’s The Everything all-purpose seasoning and a solid layer of the And Then Some BBQ rub as well for color and flavor. We used the Masterbuilt GS 1050 for this cook and loaded it with The Good Charcoal lump charcoal, and cherry wood chunks from Smokey Woods BBQ.

Pork’s ideal minimum temperature is 140 degrees, so if you pull it at 135, it will carry over to above 140, and it will come out snow white and glistening inside (exactly what you want). We cooked this at 275, so it carried over until about 143-144 before the temp started to even out. This cook took just a little less than an hour, and we let it rest for about 15- 20 minutes. Given that she came in first, we know how it turned out. ( I’m dad, I’m allowed to brag.) We gave the loin a simple glaze of Blues Hog Champions Blend sauce and set the sauce for about 5-10 minutes so it was tacked up.

Trust me, this recipe is a keeper. I have never bit into a piece of pork that was as soft as this before. I ended up making it into a sandwich with a slice of Muenster cheese, and it was absolutely to die for.

Ingredients:

1 pork loin, 3-4 pounds.
Lovely Jubbly BBQ’s The Everything all-purpose seasoning
Lovely Jubbly BBQ’s And Then Some BBQ rub
Blues Hog Champions Blend BBQ sauce

Recipe:

Trim/ score the exterior fat of the loin, as rub will not penetrate fat.
Season with The Everything on all sides of the loin
Set up smoker for 275 degrees
Season liberally with the And Then Some on all sides of the loin.
Place on the smoker and let cook until 135 degrees internal
Once at 135 degrees, sauce with the Blues Hog Champions Blend and put back on for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is tacky
Pull the loin off and let it rest for 15-20 minutes
Slice to desired thickness and enjoy!

Don’t forget to check out http://www.lovelyjubblybbq.com for our signature rubs and even more great BBQ products and accessories! Our rubs are also exclusively in store at Ava’s a posh boutique in Watertown, WI, if you just can’t wait for shipping!

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As always, keep cookin’ and Lovely Jubbly!