BIG Labor Day cook - will post pictures

[Shagdog]

Yep! You overcooked your loin. They need to be cooked to 135-140 internal temperature, tops, then they will rise another 5 on rest. And I agree with cheez, even cooked properly they seem to have a short shelf life before they turn dry...

Looks like you nailed the rest though! Nice cook :thumb:

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Nice Cook

 

[Schmendrick]

Thanks, everyone. Besides slow cooker, is there any way to get the meat of a pork loin as tender and juicy as the meat of a fall-off-the-bone pork rib? I've been trying to do this, and just can't seem to make it happen.

 

[Wampus]

I do have a question to ask my fellow brethren: as you can see here, I cooked up both pork ribs and pork loin.

I marinated both the ribs AND the loin together for 24 hours before the cook.

I rubbed down both the ribs AND the loin with the same rub.

I smoked both the ribs AND the loin at the same time for the same amount of time.

I wrapped both the ribs AND the loin and took them off at the same time.

I sauced both the ribs AND the loin and glued it on.

. . . but when we sliced them, the ribs were flavorful, tender and juicy. But the pork loin was flavorful and dry, dry, DRY!

What did I do wrong??

Ribs need to be cooked longer and to a higher temp to get tender and juicy because of all the connective tissue. Also, the marbled fat helps it from getting dry.

Pork loin, on the other hand, is very lean and only really needs to be cooked to 145-150 to be nice and juicy tender. If you take pork loin to 185 it will be dry.

Thanks, everyone. Besides slow cooker, is there any way to get the meat of a pork loin as tender and juicy as the meat of a fall-off-the-bone pork rib? I've been trying to do this, and just can't seem to make it happen.

I typically do pork loin at a higher temp too, since it doesn't require "low n slow". I like to do mine at 325ish.
I've never brined a pork loin, but as long as you don't take it too far, there's no real need to IMO.
Just cook it until the IT is about 145 and then take it off, rest and slice.


We do pork loin a LOT around here.
Sometimes I butcher them into individual chops, sometimes leave it whole, sometimes I stuff them. All good stuff.

Look at all that juice on the board......

Here's my favorite way to stuff em....TAPENADE...

 

[cowgirl]

It all looks great, nice job!!

 

[pjtexas1]

great looking cook. i find pork loins to be tricky too. cook too hot and they don't take on a lot of smoke flavor and if you don't keep an eye on the IT they will dry out.

 

[El Ropo]

Yeah throwing a hunk of lean meat on top of a hunk of not so lean meat is going to give similar results every time. This is why I don't like to cook loin back ribs anymore. They are leaving a large piece of the loin meat on top of the rib meat, so you get dry ribs. When you see loin backs in the store that say "Extra Meaty!", that means there is half a farking loin sitting on top of them.

IMO, pork loins are perfectly cooked when they get removed from the heat source at 138-140F internal temp. You cooked your loin an hour or more too long.

When I cook one to 138-140 and let it rest for half hour or so to come up to a perfect 145ish, they always turn out great. I can pull it out of the fridge 3 days later, slice off a few pieces, and it's still moist, tender, and full of flavor. I suspect the people talking about them drying out quick are slightly overshooting their final temps.