It's 53˚ and sunny here in the cesspool, er..I mean the Nation's Capital. Figured I'd better capitalize on the weather and drag the Mini WSM over to the park. Doing a teriyaki (ish) pork loin.
My wife found a good deal on a whole pork loin, which the butcher offered to portion and package for her.
Actually a REALLY good deal. I just hope it's not unlucky.
The players: about a cup of soy sauce, about a cup of sugar, a splash of Angostura bitters, a couple TB of dried ginger, a couple TB of lime juice and about a teaspoon of garlic powder.
Also a can of the finest generic diet ginger ale money can buy. And about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes just to give it a little attitude.
Mixed up the marinade, plopped the pork in and decided what the heck, might as well inject it too! It spit back a little at me.
Hit it about every inch. It swelled to about a third bigger than beforehand.
Stay tuned. It's hanging out in the fridge until about 4pm EST. The plan is to fire up the Mini to about 300˚ and take it to 140˚ internal. Should carry over to 145˚ easily. Not too worried about it drying out with all that liquid being injected. While it's resting, I'm gonna reduce the marinade to a syrup, hit it with a pat of butter and call it a sauce.
More in a bit...
Getting the Mini up to temp, or trying to anyway. We of course got a late start, so didn't get to the park until 6:15 or so. By that time it had obviously gotten dark, the temperature had dropped and the wind had kicked up with probably 15 knot swirling gusts. Couldn't get the smoker above 260˚, and for most of the time it was in the 240-250˚ range. One full chimney of Kingsford blue bag and one big (double fist sized) chunk of cherry.
My friend trying to keep warm. The coffee would only stay hot for about 5 minutes after pouring from the thermos.
Meat went on right about 7.
Figured out a novel way to keep the coffee hot. Gave it a nice little hint of smoke too.
About an hour in we dumped the Brussels sprouts on.
Thermapen reading the air temperature. Did I mention it was chilly?
Grabbed a 20 qt stockpot from upstairs in the apartment and built a little fire with some tree limbs the city had cut and piled in the park, but not yet removed. It helped a lot. The pot, however, may be done for.
Just about done.
The bottom side. Had a nice little crust.
Sliced thin for sandwiches. The only issue was the way the teriyaki injection discolored the meat. The flavor was FANTASTIC. Teriyaki was there but not overpowering, same with the smoke. Pork flavor was definitely there.
Wasn't the prettiest with the mangy coloring, but it was good. And ridiculously tender.
Just a little bit of a smoke ring.
My sandwich. The sauce from the reduced marinade turned out well, and you can't see it but it's there under the bun. Tossed the sprouts in it too. I think next time I'll steam the sprouts first and only put them on the smoker for a half hour or so for a little kiss of smoke. The outer leaves got a little tough after an hour and a half on the smoker.
My wife found a good deal on a whole pork loin, which the butcher offered to portion and package for her.
Actually a REALLY good deal. I just hope it's not unlucky.
The players: about a cup of soy sauce, about a cup of sugar, a splash of Angostura bitters, a couple TB of dried ginger, a couple TB of lime juice and about a teaspoon of garlic powder.
Also a can of the finest generic diet ginger ale money can buy. And about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes just to give it a little attitude.
Mixed up the marinade, plopped the pork in and decided what the heck, might as well inject it too! It spit back a little at me.
Hit it about every inch. It swelled to about a third bigger than beforehand.
Stay tuned. It's hanging out in the fridge until about 4pm EST. The plan is to fire up the Mini to about 300˚ and take it to 140˚ internal. Should carry over to 145˚ easily. Not too worried about it drying out with all that liquid being injected. While it's resting, I'm gonna reduce the marinade to a syrup, hit it with a pat of butter and call it a sauce.
More in a bit...
Getting the Mini up to temp, or trying to anyway. We of course got a late start, so didn't get to the park until 6:15 or so. By that time it had obviously gotten dark, the temperature had dropped and the wind had kicked up with probably 15 knot swirling gusts. Couldn't get the smoker above 260˚, and for most of the time it was in the 240-250˚ range. One full chimney of Kingsford blue bag and one big (double fist sized) chunk of cherry.
My friend trying to keep warm. The coffee would only stay hot for about 5 minutes after pouring from the thermos.
Meat went on right about 7.
Figured out a novel way to keep the coffee hot. Gave it a nice little hint of smoke too.
About an hour in we dumped the Brussels sprouts on.
Thermapen reading the air temperature. Did I mention it was chilly?
Grabbed a 20 qt stockpot from upstairs in the apartment and built a little fire with some tree limbs the city had cut and piled in the park, but not yet removed. It helped a lot. The pot, however, may be done for.
Just about done.
The bottom side. Had a nice little crust.
Sliced thin for sandwiches. The only issue was the way the teriyaki injection discolored the meat. The flavor was FANTASTIC. Teriyaki was there but not overpowering, same with the smoke. Pork flavor was definitely there.
Wasn't the prettiest with the mangy coloring, but it was good. And ridiculously tender.
Just a little bit of a smoke ring.
My sandwich. The sauce from the reduced marinade turned out well, and you can't see it but it's there under the bun. Tossed the sprouts in it too. I think next time I'll steam the sprouts first and only put them on the smoker for a half hour or so for a little kiss of smoke. The outer leaves got a little tough after an hour and a half on the smoker.
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