Needing a bit of help this morning...

[Caldera]

G'mornign y'all!

Okay guys, I’m looking for some help this morning…and I’m kinda praying that some of y’all are awake and at the keys this early! I’m getting around and about to fire up the Traeger for an early dinner. I have about 6 hours start to finish to get myself and the meat out to my sister’s house…

At the store this week they had a whole boneless pork loin on a crazy good sale so I bought one…it’s about 10 lbs total and I want to cut that about in half to cook now and later. I have search through tons of recipes so far, but almost all of them are for pork tenderloins. And I have done a couple pork tenderloins (small/1-2lb.) before, but I’m not sure that I can follow the same temps/times and end up either with a 10 hour cook or a dried out hunk of pork!

So my main questions are:

1. Any suggestions on how I should cut this down to (2) 5 lb. chunks?
2. Should I cut the 5 lb. for today into 2 smaller pieces?
3. And if I should leave it intact, then some idea on temp/time frame for this cook?

If you’ve got any sort of tips for me they would be welcomed. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Salmonsmoker]

The time to cook is determined by the thickness of the cut, not by how long your loin is. ie: If your loin is 5" in diameter it's 2 1/2" to the center of the loin. That's the "cooking depth" you're working with. The loin could be 20" long and the cooking time would be the same as that same loin cut in half. It's the same as grilling a steak. If it's 2" thick, that's the cook time you'd be dealing with.

 

[Salmonsmoker]

Second part. Obviously, you'll want to cook by IT, an off hand guess on time would be 3-4 hrs.

 

[Caldera]

Salmon - Thank you for your input! And I should have mentioned that I totally get that I need to get it up to the proper IT. What I was after is pit temp, as I don't want to cook too hot, nor too low as it'll take forever to get up to the IT that I need.

This chunk of meat is pretty good sized... Approx 3' length, but at the larger end, it's big enough that I can't put my hands around it and touch...so more "roast" size than like a pre-packed tenderloin size. (And I have no idea if that statement was even helpful!)

 

[Salmonsmoker]

Ah! I didn't spot in your post where you were looking for pit temp. I would cook @ 225F-250F. I know of others that like 275F.

 

[TentHunter]

Boneless pork loins aren't hard to do at all.

The trick is to keep it simple: Keep your seasoning simple, & don't over cook it!

Put it on your smoker at around 250° - 275° and cook it to an I.T. of between 145° - 160°. Let it rest for a good 15 minutes or so before slicing.



My favorite seasoning for pork roasts has become a Maple glaze with seasoned salt & red pepper flakes (enough to keep it interesting, but not really hot).


The maple syrup will allow smoke to adhere to it very nicely, and the play between the slight heat & sweet is incredible!

http://www.pelletsmoking.com/pelletsmoking-com-gallery-10/maple-glazed-smoked-pork-loin-6172/

Every time we do one of these this way it's a big hit.

 

[Caldera]

Thanks Tent! I didn't figure it could be too difficult, but I really, really like the thought of the maple; so that's now definitely on my to-try list!

So far every thing I've tried to cook, I've done my best to stick with the "keep it simple" theory! Today's pork loin was given a good rub with a sweet/smoky seasoning blend, that has just a tiny bit of kick.
I've had it on the smoker at 180 for a couple hours, and it's got a nice color going so far. I just cranked it up to 250 about half an hour ago. I was planning on pulling it at about an IT of 150-ish and then foil wrapping it for transport to my sister's house. (Expecting that it will still raise in temp during transit.)

I definitely don't want to over cook it...as no one likes over cooked pork!