Spiessbraten - Very Cool, May Need to Try Again
 

Had seen this on Steven Raichlen's season 3 of Primal Grill and it looked intriguing (don't ban me, he does some off stuff on occasion but overall some interesting recipe ideas). Basically a pork loin butterflied, filled with onion, garlic, salt, and pepper, then tied with twine. The meat looked really cool on the spit turning the “wrong” way between side charcoal baskets on the weber kettle. By “wrong” I meant the meat was on the spit so lengthwise it was perpendicular to the rod vs. how you’d think it would be done with the rod running lengthwise through the loin.

Anyhow, his recipe called for cooking the pork loin to 190*. I thought about taking it off at 140-145* but the outside didn’t have the color/texture I wanted at that point so instead of cranking up the temps for the crust just let it go to 190*. In retrospect I should've went with what I was thinking and pulled it. It tasted good, but was a little dry.

I wondered why he suggested so high for such a lean cut of meat – thoughts?

I have never had loin cooked beyond 160ish that was not dried out.
Just no internal fat to keep it moist at those temps.
But..... I am sure others have had better luck.

HINT--Blue type, especially small blue type is very hard to read. 8)

TIM

Your first thought was right, 145 is a juicy loin....if I can put it that way...

i agree with above 145-155 is the right temp

http://thebarbecuemaster.net

Usually spit roasted Spiessbraten is made with pork neck wich needs a higher internal temperature to break down the connective tissue and fat. wouldt go to 190 with that though unless im making pulled pork.

There are quite a few spiessbraten recipes using pork loin, but those are usually for the oven and not to be cooked on the spit over fire. They just kept the name because the recipe is quite similiar and the spiessbraten is so popular over here.

DM