New Member Loins,RIBS, and Fatties CINCH

[cinch]

Been Lurking for awhile but the Fatties drew me to the site over the winter. I am new to smoking meat been at it for about 2 years now.

I have been doing alot of bonless pork loins, season them and leave them in the fridge for 24 hours then to the Traeger smoker at about 120 degrees for 10 to 12 hours. I pull them off at 140 degrees no more then rest them for about 1/2 hour slice and serve.
Fatties smoke for 3 hours at 120 degrees and then bring to 160 degrees center temps pull off rest for 1/2 hour and serve everyone loves the fatties it seems as they are different and a nice change.
Ribs I like to pull off the silver lining on the baby backs rib side and then season put in fridge for 24 hours smoke for 6 hours at 120 degrees then bake 200degrees in a sealed container with apple juice for 2 hours then back in the smoker to help dry them alittle for about 1 to 2 hours. Add BBQ sauce if you like them wet or serve dry and they are really tender and I have been extremly happy with them.
I am from western Iowa and have alot to learn so keep bringing the ideas to SMF as I will keep on keeping on. Thanks everyone for you suggestions and recepies

Cinch

 

[txbbqman]

Welcome to the family cinch

 

[fired up]

Welcome aboard!

 

[m1tanker78]

Welcome to SMF Cinch. You know what we're made of so it's no secret you'll enjoy this place.

Tom

 

[mikey]

Hello Cinch & welcome to smf. I'm just curious about how you get the pork loin(s) past 140 degrees in a max of 4 hrs with a smoker temp of 120 degrees?

Maybe I'm confused, but I know the 140 in 4 hr rule comes in to play with poultry and I also follow that with pork. Any comments from the rest of the members?

 

[irishteabear]

Welcome to SMF. Glad you joined us. There's tons of great info and lots of great people to learn from.

Those temps you're smoking at are not safe. Meat should not be kept between 40 and 140 for more than 4 hours. It's called a danger zone for a good reason. You're risking food poisoning.

 

[rio_grande]

You may not live long cooking at 120 deg,, but welcom however short your stay may be...
Jeff

 

[fire it up]

Make sure your smoker is above 120, that is wayyyyyy too low to safely cook meat. Even though it may raise above the danger zone I imagine they sit in the danger zone (between 40 and 140) and that is the prefect temperature for bacteria to thrive. The smoke does help but cooking at that low of a temp is kind of dangerous, especially with pork.
Now a big misconception is that you MUST cook pork to well done for it to be safe to eat but truth is with standards and technology today you can safely cook a porkchop or loin medium-rare or medium would be best. Only thing with that is that the best way to make sure your hog is of good quality is to know your butcher, know the farmer that raised the hog, make sure it is free roam and not confined among cages of other swine because that increases the risk of disease.
Many people still refuse to cook pork anything but well simply out of fear and the fact that everysingle one of us was most likely raised being told that you don't want the pork underdone or it will make you sick. So untrue. I'm not saying to go out to your local store, pick up some pork and eat it raw out of the package, but if it comes from a good source and you know it is fresh then there is nothing better than a medium cook chop or steak.
Although that obviously doesn't work the same with butts and the likes, since they need the low and slow to break down fats you wouldn't want that, but a loin or any other pork (or chicken) should never be held in the danger zone for such a long time.

 

[cinch]

Hello Cinch & welcome to smf. I'm just curious about how you get the pork loin(s) past 140 degrees in a max of 4 hrs with a smoker temp of 120 degrees?

Maybe I'm confused, but I know the 140 in 4 hr rule comes in to play with poultry and I also follow that with pork. Any comments from the rest of the members?
__________________
Mikey I am smoking for 10 to 12 hours in the summer the loin will be at 140 degrees no problem when it is cold say 10 degrees F. outside then at times I have to bump up temp to 250 degrees for a hour or so to finish off the loin to 140.

Hey Rio Grande I have put a temp guage in the smoker a couple of times and it usually shows in that 120 to 130 range. Smoked 25 + loins no problems so far still breathing and EATING!!

Cinch

 

[cinch]

Only thing with that is that the best way to make sure your hog is of good quality is to know your butcher, know the farmer that raised the hog, make sure it is free roam and not confined among cages of other swine because that increases the risk of disease.

Smoke Blower, just so you know I live in Ia and just in the last 3 years have been the one in charge of raising 500,000 + head of market hogs in the so called cages you talk about. Now I know why you handle is smoke blower because you make statments you know nothing about. The pork raised in the US is the safest pork in the world from disease!! ( What disease you are talking about would be anyones guess) If you want to bash a industry then do it on some elses thread because I am proud to go and buy meat in any store in the US and feed my family meat with the USDA label on it. I have traveled to Russia and many other countries and believe me the US meat is the safest in the world period.

Little sensitive on meat quality
Cinch

 

[bassman]

Gee, glad you got all the info you needed from here!

 

[fire it up]

Whoah cinch!
Sorry if I offended you (which I obviously did) but that wasn't my intent.
One thing I wanted to try and make clear is that you know the true quality of the hog. I wouldn't feel safe at all going to my local Acme and buying one of the Acme brand chops and eating it med-rare, now if I knoew the hog was riased, butchered and packaged in a proper and safe manner then that would be different but just because it is USDA certified does not mean that it is 100% safe to eat at a lower temp.
I would feel terrible if I suggested that ALL pork would be safe to eat at a med-rare temp but not only are there certain legalities about that how could I know what and where their pork came from?
Let's try and keep things civil here, just trying to offer up some good information that I thought could be helpful. If I offended you then again, I apologize, but there was no need to get in such an uproar.
Gonna go fire one up now fellas,
Good smoke and good love.

 

[mikey]

I am new to smoking meat been at it for about 2 years now.

Which is it, you're new or you've been at it for about 2 years now ?

 

[ronp]

Either I am missing something or I just don't understand something. 120 - 130 is the perfect temp for breeding the bad things.

But welcome anyway.

 

[cinch]

Hey Mikey, I have been smoking for about 2 years but when I read some of the other threads and many of them smoking almost all of their lives or even 8 to 10 years a just figured 2 years makes me a newbie.

I take the Traeger smoker with me on weekends as the kids rodeo alot on weekends. Nothing like smoke over the campground to bring people around and we love to share our meals with others. I am always suprised when people say they do not care for smoked meats as they are licking thier fingers and looking for more!! I now just need to figure out that dutch oven for desserts or just take time to try it out.

Best Wishes
Cinch

 

[cinch]

Hey Smoke Blower

Smoke Blower I am really sensitive to meat quality but believe me from many years experince in the livestock field free range can be suspect. I to like to buy from a local locker but most all of the time they are just buying meat from the large retailers and breaking it down for sale. It is very difficult for a local locker to butcher and sell meat(Not saying they can't). The meat has to be USDA inspected and it is difficult to get inspecters to small lockers and on top of that they need to have special equipment and very contolled enviroments to be able to sell meat to the public.

I thought I would give a little info on one of the diseases that I know can be a problem for humans eating pork. Or the one our parents were always worried about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis
Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork and wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. There are eight Trichinella species; five species are encapsulated and three are non-encapsulated. [1] Only three Trichinella species are known to cause Trichinosis: T. spiralis, T. nativa, and T. britovi. [1] The few cases in the United States are mostly the result of eating undercooked game, bear meat, or home reared pigs. It is most common in the developing world and where pigs are commonly fed raw garbage.

No offense taken at this point and I really do appreciate the conversation on the SMF.

Also I always fire up my smoker to 350 to 400 degrees before smoking any meat so I feel that I have killed the bacteria that could be present. I will though check the temps again and see if I can't raise to 140 degrees if all feel that it would be safer as I do not need anyone getting sick for sure!!

Thanks everyone
Cinch

 

[rio_grande]

When you talk about 120 are you refering to your smoker temp or the temp of your meat?

I am confused at this point, because if you are running the smoker at 120 deg your meat will never make 160, it cannot happen.

I suspect something is being mis written or mis read here.

As for my prior comments eat what you want but my faimly gets the meat done properly to 140 within 4 ish hours cause I like keeping them around. I won't talk no more...

You are welcome here and I am not an ass hole, I just read your post as a recipe to make someone really sick. No problem for smoking for 15+ hours, but 120 deg will never get you to temp. As for going to 500 to begin with that is great practice for killing bacteria in your smoker and I do it (to 350) as well, but that does nothing for the bacteria brough tin on the food.


Don't get ticked off and don't run away,,, lets get this squared away so you continue to do this for a long time.

 

[elde]

That kills the bacteria in the smoker, not any bacteria present in or on the meat.

D.

 

[alx]

Welcome.The super low and real slow is just a shock for most folk-myself included.Do you have pics of the 10-12 hour loin at 120.I was always under assumption that low temps broke down connective tissue and fat-and loin is awfuly lean.I make jerky at these temps, but you seem satisfied and thats what matters.Welcome again.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

OK..........I was at first quite reluctant to reply, but I do wish to welcome you to the forum, cinch. And after great lengths of thought, decided to go ahead with this:

Tons of great info, recipes and advice are here for those willing to seek it. All offered willingly by folks in the know. We share experiences and knowledge openly. We are like a second family here, if you let us be that. I'm by no means an expert, and in hopes of keeping of my humbleness, I will never claim to be an expert. I will say I have experience, as limited as it will seem to some others here, or elsewhere. But with my experience, I too have gained knowledge. We all have experience in some areas, good, bad or otherwise...mistakes help you to learn just as well as the things that work out great, and we all make boo-boo's from time to time.

As far as cooking chamber/grate temps are concerned, even I learned here that 185* to 200* for ribs, butts and the like is way too low to safely cook the meat. 225* will get you there, no problem, unless it's a really thick/large piece. I too, cooked (REALLY) low and slow. There is no point in taking risks when it comes to anyone's health. Yea, I got away with it for several years...I'm not willing try it anymore, though. I choose not to take the risk.

The 120* smoker temperature, I am assuming is not a typo error, as you have repeated posts here and have not corrected that text on this thread. I can only say this: it is physically impossible to achieve an internal meat temp higher than the chamber/grate temp (without a chemical reaction of some type). Let's get that straight here and now. And yes, that would be a looooonnnnnnnnnggggggggg smoke...any un-cured piece of meat would never cook at that temp. That's about where a cured (virginia) country ham is finish smoked, after a cold initial smoke, and months of dry curing prior to smoking. 120* may be a good intermediate smoke temp for (cured) beef jerky, prior to the drying stage.

Not stirring up a pot here, just trying to explain that the folks that posted above aren't jerking you around. With all due respect to each of them, they may seem a bit disturbed by your thread statements. I too, was speech-less, at first.

I think I'd just kick back, loosen up my shirt, and let the forum threads and it's members educate you. I was pleasantly surprised at what I learned here, once I was really willing to let it happen. I just started reading any topic that seemed interesting. It will really broaden your perspective on this beloved hobby...for some here, it's a way of life. We don't smoke our food 'cause it's an easy way to cook...we smoke it 'cause it's just so darn good!

Above all else, remember this: the only dumb question is the one you didn't ask, OK?

Again, welcome to the forum! Enjoy your time here.

Eric