I actually don’t like the flavor cedar imparts on my meats and other grilled foods.  It would never occur to me to use cedar in my normal low & slow BBQ smoking so I figure why use it for planking.  Instead I use the same woods I use to smoke with, alder, maple, cherry, apple and oak

Today’s entry for my week-long series on “plank” grilling is pork loin on alder planks.  The alder planks are “Chef Locke Interlocking Planks” from TailgatingPlanks.  The nice thing about these planks is because they are interlocking you have a choice with what size you use.  I really liked these planks.  Unlike some planks these did not have a tendency to curl or bend in the middle part way through the cooking process.  My only caution is to make sure they have the locked together when you soak them.

The process for pork loin is the same as yesterday’s post on cooking chicken on wine vines.  Soak, soak, soak the plank.  Some instructions for planks recommend soaking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  I always soak for a minimum of one hour.  I don’t think you can soak a plank too long.

I took each pork loin and trimmed off any excess pieces of dangling fat and any silver skin that was still attached.   Some people recommend leaving the silver skin on because they feel it adds a layer of fat, but I never see any fat with the silver skin and in my experience leaving it on can lead to a tougher piece of meat when the silver skin starts to shrink.

Once the loins are nicely trimmed rub them with just a little olive oil.  You don’t want them dripping with oil but instead a nice even coating that makes the meat glisten.  Season the loin with your spice/rub mixture of choice and set it aside for a couple of minutes.  I seasoned my loins with Instant Gourmet “Rustic Italiano.”

I like to have my pork loins as close to room temperature as possible so I’m not putting ice-cold mean on the planks.  So, while the meat is sitting remove the planks from the water and towel dry them.

Put your planks in the center of your pre-heated grates and allow the wood to heat up.  When the planks start to smolder slightly and burn on the edges, turn the heat down to medium and quickly put a light layer of oil on the planks.  Put your loins on the planks and close the lid.

Give the pork loins about 20 minutes on the planks and check the temperature.  Have a small water bottle handy to spritz any flare-ups while the lid is open.

Cook the pork loins until they reach an internal temperature of 130 degrees.  DO NOT take the pork loins above 130 degrees or you will end up with shoe leather.

Trust me on this, please.  If you follow these instructions you will end up with moist pork that is properly cooked, not the dried out pieces of pork you get if you cook it to 165 degrees.

When the pork reaches 130 degrees turn you grill up to high and remove the planks.  Quickly sear the pork loins on all sides.  Do this on a grill that’s as hot as you can get it.  Do it quick!  Once you have all sides seared remove the loins to a plate and loosely cover the them with foil.  Let them rest for 20 minutes.

The Cola Balsamic reduction when well with the Italian seasoning I used on the pork loin.  I recommend cooking up the reduction before you even start the pork loin cooking process.  The pork loin cooks fast and it’s easier to keep an eye on the pork loin when you don’t have to worry about stirring the reduction.

The reduction is simple to make.  Pour a bottle of GUS (Grown Up Soda) Dry Cola into a small saucepan.  Using medium heat reduce the cola by one half.  The reason I like to use GUS soda is they are low in sugar.  There are lots of sauces and reductions that use sodas but they are often just to sweet.  By using a low sugar soda you can add sugar and get just the right amount of sweetness.

Once the cola has reduced add the balsamic vinegar to taste.  I added 2 tablespoons.  You want the bite of the vinegar but don’t want it to overpower the cola flavor.  Now add enough palm sugar so that it’s barely sweet.  I use palm sugar in this type of reduction because it melts like brown sugar but gives you a nice caramel flavor profile that compliments the cola and balsamic vinegar.

If the reduction was made the day before, heat it up while your pork loin is resting.  Slice the pork loin, plate it and spoon a little of the reduction over the top.  Serve immediately so it doesn’t cool too much.

Later in the week there you’ll get a couple of recipes for potatoes that will pair very nicely with this dish.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

After the Great Habanero Disaster of 2010 I had to redeem myself.  I purchased a beautiful pasture raised pork loin from the “Whole Paycheck Store” and set out to come up with something special for Sunday Dinner.  I think I did a good job.  The pork loin roast with the brine and seasoning was a perfect match with the mushroom cream sauce.  I also ventured into a new arena for me with fresh pasta instead of dried.  That added a completely different flavor and texture that what I was expecting.

I recently got a resupply of “Dirt” products from Todd’s Dirt and figured it would be a good opportunity give at least two of them a try.  I also smoke roasted some Delicato squash with Dirt.  The recipe and pictures for the squash will post tomorrow.

Dirty Brined Pork Loin

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of bottled/filtered water
• 4 tablespoons Morton’s Kosher Salt
• 4 tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Todd’s Original Dirt

Directions:

Bring half the water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Reduce heat and add salt and brown sugar.  Stir until dissolved.  Add remaining water (the colder the better) and the Todd’s Dirt.  Let cool completely.

Place 3 pound pork loin in a bowl or zip lock bag and add brine.  Cover or seal and place in refrigerator for 24 hours.  Make sure entire pork loin is covered with brine.

After 24 hours remove from brine and rinse well.  Rinse more than you think you need to.  Once well rinsed dry completely.  

Season with additional Todd’s Original Dirt and smoke at 275 to 300 degrees until it reaches 145 degrees internal.  Do not overcook.  Remove from smoker and double wrap in foil.  Wrap in a large towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes.  Carve and serve.

Dirty Portabello Mushroom Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound Portabello mushroom caps, cleaned and gills removed and chopped into large chunks
• 1 tablespoon Todd’s Cajun Dirt
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cups heavy cream (or milk thickened with flour)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan.  Add butter and melt.  Saute mushrooms in olive oil/butter until just starting to sweat.  About 10 minutes.  Stir in Todd’s Cajun Dirt, garlic and shallots. Cook until the garlic and shallots are tender.  Stir in chicken stock and cream.  Heat until mixture starts to bubble.  Reduce heat and simmer until thickened.

Serve with pasta and slices of pork loin.

Green Pork Chili

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds Pork Loin, cut into large chunks
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Black Pepper, course grind
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Cumin See, ground
• 2 bunches green onion
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, roasted
• 16 Tomatillos
• 6 Poblanos Peppers, fire roasted
• 15 Anaheim Peppers, fire roasted
• Serrano Chilies, fire roasted (The Serranos control the heat I used 6 of them.  The more heat you want, the more Serrano Chilies you should add)
• 6 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bunch Cilantro, stems removed
• 64 oz Chicken Broth

Directions:

If you check out Thirdeye’s recipe you’ll notice this is the first major deviation from his recipe. 

I was planning to use pork butt for this, but when I got to the grocery store I found packages of pork loin chunks on sale and thought they would be perfect for the chili.  They worked great.

I wanted some smoke flavor in my pork so I put the pork chunks on the Traeger using the “Smoke” setting.  This gave me plenty of smoke without much heat.  I didn’t want the pork cooked all that much so this option worked well. 

Use some caution when cold smoking because you want the smoke but don’t want to let the pork get out of the “safe zone” while doing it.

The next step was to grind the pork chunks up.  I used my food processor but you could also use a meat grinder.  When the meat is ground up fry it on the stove and drain any fat.

While the pork is smoking get your gas or charcoal grill hot and roast all your peppers.  I sprayed all the peppers with non-stick cooking spray and just placed them directly on the hot grill grates.  I normally rub each pepper with a little olive oil but with this many peppers it was just easier to lay them all out on sheet pans and spray them.

Put them on the grill and watch them start to char.  You want them to get a nice deep brown.  Remove them just before they turn black.  The next step is to either put them all into a plastic bag or lay them out on the sheet trays and cover them in plastic wrap.

By wrapping them in plastic the peppers will steam and then peels will loosen even more.  After they have cooled remove the stems, peels, seeds and veins.

Puree all the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, onions and cilantro in a food processor.  Now you can see why it’s called green chili!

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and cook for a couple of hours.  Just before serving make a slurry with 2 cups of cold water and 1 cup flour.  Use this to thicken the chili.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with cheese and a little dollop of sour cream.

This is an awesome chili.  I’m sure going to make it again, next time I’ll season and smoke the pork a little differently so it has more color and a firmer texture.  I might play around a little with some different green peppers too.

One of the first events I had the pleasure of participating in was the Char-Broil Celebrity Grill-Off.  The contest featured several local Memphis radio and television personalities who were paired up with one of Char-Broils guest chefs.  The participants were:

• Steve Conley, Host of “Conley & Karen” on Classic Hits 94.1 WKQK
• Jay Young, Host of “The Young and Elder Show” on Kix 106 WGKX
• Earle Augustus, Host of “Love Songs” on Soul Classics 103.5 WRBO
• Ernie Freeman, Anchor of Fox 13’s Good Morning Memphis
• Joey Sulipeck, Chief Meteorologist at Fox 13 Weather Authority

I was teamed up with Jay Young for the cooking contest.  Each team was given about 3 pounds pork loin and two Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill for cook their meat.  The idea was to cut a couple of nice chops from the loin and grill those while smoke roasting the rest of the loin.

The first step was to meet and get our pork plans all laid out.  Jay came prepared with his own secret seasoning mix and it sure had a “kick” to it.

Here Jay and I are prepping the pork.  I’m getting chops ready while Jay gives the loin a little spritz with his pineapple mixture.  Check out the loin stuffed with a Johnsonville Cheddar and Jalapeno Bratwurst.  This technique helps to keep the loin from drying out and provides a nice flavor on the inside of the loin.

One aspect of being a Char-Broil Guest Chef was being able to put aside my deep seeded shyness to do commentary on the various cooking events taking place at the Char-Broil exhibit.

I also had a chance to combine my “serious look” with my best Vanna White imitation.

Checking the temperature of the pork loin with my trusty Red Thermapen.  Everyone knows that the RED Thermapen is the fastest and most accurate of all Thermapens.  In my opinion an instant read thermometer is one of the most important tools an outdoor cooking enthusiast can own.

Took the pork loin out at 145 degrees and let it rest for 10 minutes.  It was perfect.  And check out how great it looks with the brat in the middle.  You can read more about this technique in a previous post I did on the Internally Self-basting Pork Loin.

And last, and certainly best is the picture of Jay Young, Kyshel Tew and myself with the $250.00 check we won for Special Olympics by winning 2nd Place in the grilling contest.

Ingredients:

• 2 Gallons of water
• 2 cups Kosher Salt
• 2 cups Brown Sugar (the darker the better as far as I’m concerned)
• 1/2 cup Tone’s Rosemary Garlic Seasoning

Instructions:

Heat the water in a non-reactive, stainless steel or anodized, pan on the stove.  When water is hot add salt and sugar to the water and stir until desolved.  Once the sugar and salt has disolved and the mixture has cooled to almost room temperature add the Rosemary Garlic Seasoning.  Stir and let the whole mixture cool to at least room temperature.

In another non-reactive container, a zip lock bag works well, cover your chicken, turkey or pork loin in the brine and refrigerate.  Use the guidelines below for how long to brine.

  When the brining is complete make sure you rinse the meat well otherwise the salt taste will be overpowering and your meat will possibly be inedible.

Give it a try.  Thanksgiving is coming up and if you’re cooking your turkey outdoors then brining it is a good idea.

 Brining Times:

• Whole Chicken (4 lbs):  4 to 8 hours
• Whole Turkey:  24 hours
• Whole Pork Loins:  6 to 8 hours

Nice little center cut pork loin with a nice sear on high heat.  Moved it to indirect with some guava wood.

Nice and slow until internal reached 155 degrees.

Some nice little guava smoke on the kettle

Used Wolfe Original Rub and then when it reached 135 degrees started glazing with a new sauce I picked up.

Glazed and almost ready…

Check out the close-up. Bits of chipotle and bacon. What better to go on a pork loin.

Now for the internally self basting part. Stuffed the pork loin with a couple of mild italian sausage. Man, did that make for a juicy and flavorful bite of pork…

Dang this was good…