Another "Hold" Question, Pork Loin?

[mike fitz]

So, I picked up an 8.5 pork loin the other day and planned on smoking it for dinner today. I was figuring on 4-5 hours then "cooler it" 'till dinner so it went into the smoker a little after 10:30 at 225. I had split it in two to make it more manageable and put a probe into each roast.

It started climbing and much to my surprise hit 145 a little more than 2 hours later. Both probes were within a degree or so of each other the whole way and my smoker temp probe showed an average temp of 220-230 the whole time.

I pulled them and double wrapped in heavy duty foil and into the cooler with a couple layers of towels they went.

Of course dinner isn't scheduled until 6:00 or after so now I'm in a bit of a pickle. I know a pork butt after going up to 205 or so will take a good while to get down to any danger zone for temps, but with a loin only going up to about 155 after a rest I don't think I'll have the luxury of just keeping them in the cooler for the next 5 hours.

So, do I pull them out of the cooler and into the fridge after an hour or so of resting then back into the smoker wrapped an hour or two before dinner at a lower temp, lower the smoker to 150 or so and keep them in there for several hours, or something else? I don't want to dry them out but I'm really not sure what the best plan is here. Any suggestions?

Oh, and a little Q view..

PorkLoins.jpg

• mike fitz
• Aug 12, 2012

Smoker.jpg

• mike fitz
• Aug 12, 2012

Thermometers.jpg

• mike fitz
• Aug 12, 2012

 

[jarjarchef]

I am not familar with your smoker. Is it electric or gas? If able to, turn it into a hot holding box. Keep it at 150 and monitor the meat to make sure it stays above 140.

 

[mike fitz]

It's electric, I can set it down to 150 and stick a probe back in to watch it if that's the best option. I figure they'll be OK for the next 45 minutes to an hour in the cooler, so they would be back in the smoker for maybe 3 hours. Holefully since I pulled them at 145 and double wrapped they'll stay moist.
 

 

[rabbithutch]

Put your temp probe back in the loin as it rests in the cooler. You can monitor the IT and know if and when it begins to drop to the point you are concerned.

 

[mike fitz]

They were down to 140 in the cooler, put them back in the smoker tightly wrapped with the probe, they dropped to 138 briefly before staring to climb back up above 140. I'm going to watch until they stabilize in the mid 140's and wait patiently for supper time to arrive. I really didn't figure on them coming up to temp so quickly, too used to butts I guess and never hit the lag time with only going to 145.
 

 

[mike fitz]

Thank you both for the suggestions, They're holding around 147 right now, I'll report back later with the results!

 

[mike fitz]

For the record, although they never got above 148, they seemed a bit dry to me although everyone else raved. No pink left after the several hour hold, plenty of juice left in the foil though. Still fork tender, so it wasn't a total loss. Lesson learned, pork loins cook really fast even at 125-130.

 

[jarjarchef]

Yea that is one down side to pork loin. Not much fat to keep them moist.

Glad to hear the family liked it.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Valuable lesson learned. Think about how many Butts, twice as thick as those loins, get to 140*F in 4 hours or less. That is the Nice thing about Pork Loin. Tenderloins of Pork and Beef, Beef Eye Round Roast and other Beef roasts up to 5-6 inches thick...They can be Smoked and ready for the table in under 3 hours, including the rest time...JJ