Yesterday I smoked a pork loin of which there were cuts (chops) and the rest was pulled. I cut the beast in half and took the chops from the center of both pieces so the meat would be the same size.
I used the same rub that has been tried and true for flavor and did nothing unusual or different on this smoke, except that it got put off an extra day due to my schedule getting changed. Gotta love that.
So all things being equal to most every other loin smoke. One half of the loin was tender and very pullable. The other half was more tough and grainy. Much more difficult to pull.
I know the first thing somebody is going to say is that my thermometers are off.. yep exactly two degrees from each other and have been checked for acuracy. So I know where my thermometers run. I pulled the meat out of the smoker at 200º and 198º on the other half.
Keep in mind I'm not posting this to ask what I did wrong. I don't believe I did anything wrong. I post this so that the newer smokers aren't standing around scratching the ol' thinker when it happens to them.
Sometimes you don't do anything wrong, sometimes it's in the nature of the beast to be difficult to deal with. In grade school it was refered to as "doesn't play well with others". Well only one of my loin twins played well, the other was just difficult and should have been ground up into sausage.
Overall the smoke went well. It was a 9 1/2hrs for an 8.8 lb loin with a short stall at 151º, then on up to 165º. I foiled the loins and sent them on up to the 198º - 200º point. Pulled em out and let them rest for 1 1/2 hrs before working with them.
The chops came out at an internal temp of 160º and were very good. No problems with them.
So the point is, if you know your equipment, use tried and true methods, and things still aren't what you think they should have been. It isn't always that you did something wrong. Even the same piece of meat can throw you a curve ball.
Keep Smokin
I used the same rub that has been tried and true for flavor and did nothing unusual or different on this smoke, except that it got put off an extra day due to my schedule getting changed. Gotta love that.
So all things being equal to most every other loin smoke. One half of the loin was tender and very pullable. The other half was more tough and grainy. Much more difficult to pull.
I know the first thing somebody is going to say is that my thermometers are off.. yep exactly two degrees from each other and have been checked for acuracy. So I know where my thermometers run. I pulled the meat out of the smoker at 200º and 198º on the other half.
Keep in mind I'm not posting this to ask what I did wrong. I don't believe I did anything wrong. I post this so that the newer smokers aren't standing around scratching the ol' thinker when it happens to them.
Sometimes you don't do anything wrong, sometimes it's in the nature of the beast to be difficult to deal with. In grade school it was refered to as "doesn't play well with others". Well only one of my loin twins played well, the other was just difficult and should have been ground up into sausage.
Overall the smoke went well. It was a 9 1/2hrs for an 8.8 lb loin with a short stall at 151º, then on up to 165º. I foiled the loins and sent them on up to the 198º - 200º point. Pulled em out and let them rest for 1 1/2 hrs before working with them.
The chops came out at an internal temp of 160º and were very good. No problems with them.
So the point is, if you know your equipment, use tried and true methods, and things still aren't what you think they should have been. It isn't always that you did something wrong. Even the same piece of meat can throw you a curve ball.
Keep Smokin
