southchild

Whole, boneless pork loin is a succulent, and expensive, piece of meat. Fortunately, I caught the whole 4-5 pound loins on sale recently and have a baked and smoked recipe to share.

Baked pork loin
Take a 1.5-2 pound chunk of pork loin and place in a small casserole or bread pan. Liberally cover the top and sides with

• prepared yellow mustard
• brown sugar

Bake in a 375 degree oven for approximately one hour or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees in the thickest part. Let cool and slice. This is so tender and flavorful that you’ll want to cook another as a backup.

Smoked pork loin
First, make a rub paste to thoroughly coat the loin. This recipe is enough for 3 pounds of loin:

• 3 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more for heat)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup prepared, yellow mustard
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons white wine
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch

Mix all the ingredients together into a paste. Smother the loin(s) with this paste and let marinade in a closed container in the refrigerator. Longer is better.

Smoke in a grill or smoker using either charcoal or your favorite wood chips. Cook over indirect heat to avoid burning at 250 – 300 degrees. Baste the meat with the marinade while turning every 15 minutes or so. Cook until a meat thermometer registers 160-165 degrees. Make plenty — you’ll need it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2005 at 10:00 am and is filed under cooking, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.