Pork loin with hickory, trying out one of those smoker boxes

[BldEagle]

That's how I used to smoke things before I got my MES. However when I grill brats they still take a decent amount of time so I still throw the box on the other side with wood in it to get smoke flavor while grilling. I never seem to have a good carry over temp either. Mine almost always hangs at the pull temp then starts to drop. I don't know if I've ever seen it go up, let alone 5 degrees like a lot of people say. Either way, your cook looks delicious! Congrats!

I'm glad I'm not the only person that has that issue. I think, although I'm probably wrong, it has to do with the thermometer probe. It was in the 40's when I pulled the loin out of the grill, so I thought maybe the wire end of the probe got cold and it averaged with the tip.... blah blah blah, anyway the meat seemed good to me. Thanks for the comment.

 

[lovethemeats]

I own two of them smoke boxes and not a fan of them. I always end up just throwing chunk in on top. Not sure if you want to try that on a propane burner. Pork loin looks awesome. Weber has some alright rubs. I did a chicken in my smoker using Kick'en Chicken. Nice flavor and more heat then you would expect.
Points to you on the loin.

Could have a bad area in the wire. I have issues where the wire is molded into the plug. Have two probes with that problem. You straighten out the wire at the base of the plug and it takes off and works. Well maybe. If you trust them. I just got 2 replacements couple weeks back.

 

[BldEagle]

I own two of them smoke boxes and not a fan of them. I always end up just throwing chunk in on top. Not sure if you want to try that on a propane burner. Pork loin looks awesome. Weber has some alright rubs. I did a chicken in my smoker using Kick'en Chicken. Nice flavor and more heat then you would expect.
Points to you on the loin.

Could have a bad area in the wire. I have issues where the wire is molded into the plug. Have two probes with that problem. You straighten out the wire at the base of the plug and it takes off and works. Well maybe. If you trust them. I just got 2 replacements couple weeks back.

I knew when I got the box that it wasn't going to be as good as using the actually smoker, but I still had higher hopes. It's too bad. I'll try to retain some of the smoke next time I try, maybe that'll be a little better. But I'm not sure when that will be, I'm sticking with the stick burner next time. Weber does have some alright rubs. Probably not going to win any competitions with them, but then again I'm not entering any either.

Thanks for the advice on the probe, I'll be sure to try straightening out the wire. I certainly don't have 100% faith in them, but if it'll help me keep things consistent I'll keep using them. I don't mind learning from mistakes, at least with food the mistakes can still be delicious.

 

[lovethemeats]

My latest unit is a fireboard. You can see the suspect bad ones in the graphs as it runs. But the unit itself is awesome. I think it happens during the building of them. Pinched / smashed wire inside the protective cover.

 

[BldEagle]

Wow, I just checked out those fireboards, very nice! When I can upgrade I'll have to look into something like that.

 

[Meat Man Matt]

I don't have much luck with carryover on loins either. I take mine out at 145, cut into the middle of it and see if there's any sign of pink. I usually end up finishing it off in the over for about 20 minutes. I have a hard time getting the probe right into the middle of it I think
How was the moisture? Did you brine? I found that a brine will help with both flavor and dryness. Actually, I don't do any pork smokes without brining anymore.

Either way, it looks like you did a great job!

 

[BldEagle]

I don't have much luck with carryover on loins either. I take mine out at 145, cut into the middle of it and see if there's any sign of pink. I usually end up finishing it off in the over for about 20 minutes. I have a hard time getting the probe right into the middle of it I think
How was the moisture? Did you brine? I found that a brine will help with both flavor and dryness. Actually, I don't do any pork smokes without brining anymore.

Either way, it looks like you did a great job!

Thanks for the kind words Matt. The moisture and texture was fantastic! I did think about brining, but decided to keep this one really simple and just do a rub. Maybe next time I will do a brine. As far as temp probes go, they sure can be picky sometimes. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford a real nice fancy one.

 

[lovethemeats]

Before I got my fancy one. I used the Mavericks for a really long time. Them and the Thermo Pro's are really good units. Always spot on with temps. Not as costly. Good units. They take some abuse. Just when cleaning the probes is where I would end up damaging it. Maverick is still in use in my house along side my fancy one. Just having a graph and seeing the average temp is nice with the fancy one.

 

[BldEagle]

Before I got my fancy one. I used the Mavericks for a really long time. Them and the Thermo Pro's are really good units. Always spot on with temps. Not as costly. Good units. They take some abuse. Just when cleaning the probes is where I would end up damaging it. Maverick is still in use in my house along side my fancy one. Just having a graph and seeing the average temp is nice with the fancy one.

Those look like some pretty nice setups too. I think I would really like being able to check temps from inside, especially when there's snow on the ground. Thanks for the recommendations!