Rudy's pork loin recipe?

[atomicsmoke]

I ate recently at Rudy's in Texas. Among other meats i had smoked pork loin.

It was awesome....the best loin i ever tasted.

Very tender, moist and thickest smoke ring i've seen. Being thin sliced i guess helped the "tenderness".

Now here is the pickle: it didn't look cured. It had the withe-ish colour the uncured cooked loin has. But the texture was hammy...

Anyone knows how they do it?

 

[zippy12]

Rick Bayless episode uses salt to give ham taste... he salted pork for 1/2 a day.

https://www.rickbayless.com/al-pastor-always-and-forever/

 

[atomicsmoke]

The loin didnt have ham taste....just ham texture.

 

[motocrash]

tallbm might have some insight since he is a fellow Rudy's fiend.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Likely brined or injected (phosphate maybe?)then cooked to no more 140°F. Low and Slow with the high moisture content would give the extra thick ring. The low IT is what ham gets cooked to. So basically. you do everything you do to a ham except adding cure...JJ

 

[zwiller]

LOL JJ beat me to it but +1. Never had Rudy's but what you describe sounds alot like what injecting/brining with salt (and maybe phosphate) would do. Salt tightens things up and phosphate holds the moisture. Curing doesn't affect texture as far as I know, it's the salt. That said, the Texans are well known for being purists, so possibly just a real long salty brine just like ham but no cure.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Likely brined or injected (phosphate maybe?)then cooked to no more 140°F. Low and Slow with the high moisture content would give the extra thick ring. The low IT is what ham gets cooked to. So basically. you do everything you do to a ham except adding cure...JJ

I thought phosphate too...feels to good to be just salt

 

[atomicsmoke]

So what do you think guys? how much salt and for how long to brine?

 

[tallbm]

I ate recently at Rudy's in Texas. Among other meats i had smoked pork loin.

It was awesome....the best loin i ever tasted.

Very tender, moist and thickest smoke ring i've seen. Being thin sliced i guess helped the "tenderness".

Now here is the pickle: it didn't look cured. It had the withe-ish colour the uncured cooked loin has. But the texture was hammy...

Anyone knows how they do it?

Yeah Rudy's definitely brines it and I'm pretty sure they do not smoke to a temp beyond 145F IT. Phosphates may be involved but I'm not sure and I have yet to play with phosphates.

Rudy's does get their pork loin right like 90% of the food they make.
What is baffling is how they get something like porkloin done well (and just about everything else) BUT the sausage they bring in is freaking HORRIBLE!!!!!! I can't believe they actually serve that stuff. Their sausage is worse than what I imagine a criminally insane super-max prison cafeteria would produce! :confused:

I hope you left with a bottle or two of their BBQ Sause, it is my favorite and the best I've had anywhere!
Hopefully we can get this sorted out for you and you can be producing good pork loin on your own :)

 

[zwiller]

If it were me and injecting I'd try 1% salt and .05% phosphate but lots of guys like 2% salt. Inject, give it a day or so rest and pellicle. There could other players here: sugar, water, juice, etc but I try to nail salt first. 1% is subtle/not lunchmeat salty and will allow the use of rub.

I defer to CheffJJ on the food safety of brining a long time without cure but IIRC whole muscle is considered sterile and if smoked/cooked to proper IT you are safe provide proper brine temp and can get away with a longer time than many suspect. 2" loin would need 5 days per the 1/4" rule but I would take it 7-10 myself. What I am fuzzy on is how much salt is required as a preservative and how long it can go sans cure. I recall Pops saying WITH cure he'd go as long as a month...

 

[motocrash]

Between @pops6927 and chef jimmyj and with some firsthand taste buds "on the ground" @tallbm,this will be figured out soon....I hope - because I wanna try making it.
Always looking for something new to do with loin as it's cheap/plentiful here.

 

[tallbm]

Between @pops6927 and chef jimmyj and with some firsthand taste buds "on the ground" @tallbm,this will be figured out soon....I hope - because I wanna try making it.
Always looking for something new to do with loin as it's cheap/plentiful here.

I've eaten tons of pork loin in my time but a while back I smoked my first bit of it.
I took a 10 pound loin and cut it up in to 2 inch thick chops or maybe a little thicker.
I saved half for butterflying and grilling, which is out of this world with SPOG and grilling to 140-145F IT!!!

The other half I did NOT butterfly and I brined them with a salt water brined for 24 hours. I then patted dry, seasoned (no salt) and then smoked to an it of 145F and they were awesome!!! One thing though I had to turn down the smoker temp to 190F from 225F or else they would have cooked to 145F in like an hour or so. I was able to drag the smoke out to 3 hours for plenty of smoke flavor but had to lower the smoker temp and keep an eye on it hahaha :D

 

[chef jimmyj]

Injection is the method of choice for a consistent and speedy result.
On brine safety. Cure is NOT a magic bullet that makes brine extra safe. Nitrite is deadly or inhibits a limited a limited number of bacteria. It kills Botulinum and Listeria bacteria but just inhibits Salmonella. The Work Horse in brine is Salt. 2% of the combined weight of meat and water will work the fastest. Run a taste test in 7 days but I think 14 days should get the job done. I have no idea how fast Phosphate penetrates so I go back to, get an Injector and guarantee all is perfect and safe...JJ

 

[motocrash]

I've eaten tons of pork loin in my time but a while back I smoked my first bit of it.
I took a 10 pound loin and cut it up in to 2 inch thick chops or maybe a little thicker.
I saved half for butterflying and grilling, which is out of this world with SPOG and grilling to 140-145F IT!!!

The other half I did NOT butterfly and I brined them with a salt water brined for 24 hours. I then patted dry, seasoned (no salt) and then smoked to an it of 145F and they were awesome!!! One thing though I had to turn down the smoker temp to 190F from 225F or else they would have cooked to 145F in like an hour or so. I was able to drag the smoke out to 3 hours for plenty of smoke flavor but had to lower the smoker temp and keep an eye on it hahaha :D

Sounds like what I did with some premium chops.Brine definitely rules.Any idea What Rudy's might add whilst brining?

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/fat-chops.270335/

 

[atomicsmoke]

Injection is the method of choice for a consistent and speedy result.
On brine safety. Cure is NOT a magic bullet that makes brine extra safe. Nitrite is deadly or inhibits a limited a limited number of bacteria. It kills Botulinum and Listeria bacteria but just inhibits Salmonella. The Work Horse in brine is Salt. 2% of the combined weight of meat and water will work the fastest. Run a taste test in 7 days but I think 14 days should get the job done. I have no idea how fast Phosphate penetrates so I go back to, get an Injector and guarantee all is perfect and safe...JJ

Chef Jimmy
2% is too much for our taste. How low can I go while staying safe?

 

[atomicsmoke]

Yeah Rudy's definitely brines it and I'm pretty sure they do not smoke to a temp beyond 145F IT. Phosphates may be involved but I'm not sure and I have yet to play with phosphates.

Rudy's does get their pork loin right like 90% of the food they make.
What is baffling is how they get something like porkloin done well (and just about everything else) BUT the sausage they bring in is freaking HORRIBLE!!!!!! I can't believe they actually serve that stuff. Their sausage is worse than what I imagine a criminally insane super-max prison cafeteria would produce! :confused:

I hope you left with a bottle or two of their BBQ Sause, it is my favorite and the best I've had anywhere!
Hopefully we can get this sorted out for you and you can be producing good pork loin on your own :)

I agree - their sausage sucks. When i went there in July they were out of sausage...was disapointed. When i went again i tried the jalapeno sausage....diisapointed again - for different reasons.
No, i didnt pick up a bottle of tbeir bbq sauce - i don't use the stuff. But from what my dinner companions were telling me it was awesome.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Common sense says pull the loin out at 140-145. But the one i had at Rudy's seemed "well done"- no pink other than the smoke ring.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Common sense says pull the loin out at 140-145. But the one i had at Rudy's seemed "well done"- no pink other than the smoke ring.

At 145 with a 15-20 minute rest, the pork will carryover to 150-155. There is no pink at these temps.

Atomicsmoke, Pop's brine is 1 cup Table Salt in 1 Gallon water. 10oz / 128oz = 7.8%

Pop's Low Salt 1/2 cup TS in 1 gal... 5 / 128 = 3.9%

1/4 cup TS ( 1/2 cup Diamond Crystal) in 1 gallon... 2.5 / 128 = 2% salt water only...

Below 2%, weight of the meat plus the water, you don't have a Brine that can be used without injection. And franky, I hesitate to brine soak only, below the 3.9%, water weight only!
If 2% salt is too strong, go lower but you MUST INJECT and smoke within 2-3 days, just like marinated meat...JJ

 

[zwiller]

Well done, tender, and moist screams phosphate to me. Also, sugar does a remarkable job counteracting saltiness. 2% salt with no sugar might seem too much but with an equal amount of sugar or more (Pop's is 2x) is much different.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Well done, tender, and moist screams phosphate to me. Also, sugar does a remarkable job counteracting saltiness. 2% salt with no sugar might seem too much but with an equal amount of sugar or more (Pop's is 2x) is much different.

I thought the same: phosphate. I am not gonna use it anyway...will try the long brine approach.