Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion

JM4CY

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Did a wedding rehearsal last night. Citrus brined porkloin, brisket, and Dutch’s baked beans. Got a ton of rave reviews!! The beans were the big hit. Had people from Texas here for the wedding and they said they were some of the best beans they ever had. Had a bottle of Jimmy’s BBQ Pit sauce (Battle’s Sauce) in an unmarked bottle and told people to use it on the pork. Bottle didn’t last but 15 minutes. Two thirteen pound briskets and two eighth pound pork loins.

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I’ve got a big loin I need to smoke in the next day or two. Any suggestions on a brine? I’ve decided my old go to needs to be pitched and try something new.
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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I’ve got a big loin I need to smoke in the next day or two. Any suggestions on a brine? I’ve decided my old go to needs to be pitched and try something new.
Man I never brine or inject pork loin. Low and slow at 225 for 3 hours and you are golden. I do loins on my Weber kettle tailgating and people go nuts for it. Indirect heat and throw some apple wood chunks in there.
 

cycloner29

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I’ve got a big loin I need to smoke in the next day or two. Any suggestions on a brine? I’ve decided my old go to needs to be pitched and try something new.

The citrus brine has ACV, sugar, water, garlic, rosemary, salt, one lemon, and one orange. Brined for 24 hours. I did cut back on the rosemary and garlic a tad bit. I’ve done this recipe a few times. Really gives pork loin another flavor. Smoked for around 3 hour and hit 143 temp wise. Briskets were wrapped in foil and in the cooler with towels for 6 hours and they were still almost too hot to handle.

 
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tm3308

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I am a person who really does NOT like meatloaf (probably cuz I don't particularly care for ketchup). I follow a pit master on YouTube & he links his recipes to his website (I included the video below). I have a LOT of hamburger and ground pork sausage & I decided to make this guy's smoked meatloaf (a no-ketchup recipe). It was FANTASTIC!! The only variance from his recipe is that I did not have any specialty worcestershire sauce. I used plain old BBQ sauce as a substitute. I ended up loving this more than any pork fatty or smoked sausage I have done.

Meat Church, Heath Riles and Malcom Reed are the main guys I follow. They're all fantastic resources.
 

JM4CY

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Man I never brine or inject pork loin. Low and slow at 225 for 3 hours and you are golden. I do loins on my Weber kettle tailgating and people go nuts for it. Indirect heat and throw some apple wood chunks in there.
Generally what I do as well. Or throw some rub on it the night before which seems to just be a waste, honestly.
 
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exCYtable

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Where is a good place to buy pork butt? Or a good brand? I bought one a Hormel one at HyVee this weekend and it was pretty trash. I'd rather pay more for a good piece of meat I'm investing half a day into.
 

JP4CY

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Where is a good place to buy pork butt? Or a good brand? I bought one a Hormel one at HyVee this weekend and it was pretty trash. I'd rather pay more for a good piece of meat I'm investing half a day into.
I've always had very good luck with Sam's and Costco meats.
 

MLawrence

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I use foil or foil pans for everything. IMO parchment paper is overrated.
Couldn't disagree more. I'll use foil if I need to cheat the clock a bit, but butcher paper strikes the perfect balance between foil and no wrap, IMO. I get to preserve some moisture without losing all of my bark.

I find myself going back and forth on this. The last brisket I made I used foil. I do about 24 hour cooking process for my brisket. I smoke it till I get the color I want on the outside and then wrap it to finish it in the oven. Then hot hold it in the oven on the lowest setting until 2 hours before I serve it where it rest in a cooler during that time.

The first few times I did this process, I used butcher paper, and I felt like the bark was too dried out. This last time I used foil and the bark was better. I think the steaming process is helping soften outside bark while it’s still in the oven, but I don’t think it has a mushy texture.
 
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