The Art of Smoking Pork Loin: A Comprehensive Guide

Smoking pork loin is a delicate art that requires attention to detail and a deep understanding of the nuances involved. At Rhythm and Blues, they have mastered the technique, and today we'll delve into their secrets.

Injecting Brine for Moisture

One of the key techniques employed by Rhythm and Blues is injecting brine into the pork loin. This adds not only flavor but also moisture, helping to keep the lean cut of meat juicy and tender. To create this brine, they mix together brown sugar, kosher salt, warm water, and a splash of apple juice, whisking until the mixture is well combined. They add an ice cube or two to lower the temperature, making it ready for injection.

Two Approaches to Handling Pork

When handling pork loins, there are two primary approaches: cleaning them completely of fat and injecting brine, or leaving the fat intact and rubbing it with a spice blend. Rhythm and Blues chooses to leave some of the fat on their pork loins, as this allows the rub to adhere better when they apply it later.

Preparing the Rub

The rub used by Rhythm and Blues is a critical component of their smoking process. It's designed to add flavor without overpowering the natural taste of the pork. The first step in creating this rub is adding brown sugar, celery seed, paprika, granulated garlic, and coarse ground black pepper. These ingredients are whisked together until they're evenly distributed, forming a well-balanced spice blend.

Applying the Rub

With the rub prepared, it's time to apply it to the pork loins. Rhythm and Blues chooses not to inject brine into their pork, instead relying on the rub to add moisture and flavor during the smoking process. They carefully coat each loin with the rub, making sure to cover every surface evenly.

Setting Up the Smoker

Before placing the pork loins in the smoker, Rhythm and Blues sets up a liquid-filled water pan. This helps maintain humidity levels within the smoker, ensuring that the meat stays moist and flavorful during cooking. The temperature of the smoker is set at 275 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for smoking pork loin.

Smoking the Pork Loin

With everything in place, it's time to smoke the pork loins. Rhythm and Blues places the loins in the smoker, closes the lid, and sets a timer for an hour or more before they're ready to be basted with their signature sauce. As the meat cooks, they periodically spray the air with a mixture of cider and vinegar to maintain moisture levels.

Preparing the Signature Sauce

Rhythm and Blues' signature sauce is a crucial component of their smoking process. The sauce is designed to add flavor and moisture to the pork loin without overpowering its natural taste. To create this sauce, they mix together dijon mustard, hot sauce, brown sugar, bourbon, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, molasses, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. They puree the mixture until it's smooth, adding a rich and complex flavor to their pork loins.

Glazing the Pork Loin

Just before serving, Rhythm and Blues applies a glaze to their smoked pork loin. This adds a layer of sweetness and flavor to the meat, making it irresistible to those who taste it. The glaze is made by heating up some of the signature sauce in a pan, then brushing it onto the pork loins.

The Finished Product

After hours of careful attention, Rhythm and Blues' smoked pork loin is finally ready to be devoured. The fatty side is juicy and tender, while the leaner side remains moist and flavorful. Both sides are smothered in the signature sauce, which adds a rich and complex flavor profile to the meat.

Conclusion

Smoking pork loin is an art that requires patience, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of the nuances involved. Rhythm and Blues has mastered this technique, and their expertise can be seen in every delicious bite of their signature dish. Whether you're a seasoned smoker or just starting out, we hope this article has provided you with valuable insights into the world of smoking pork loin.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennice and juicy great flavor this is a delicious pork wine okay guys here in tifton georgia rhythm and ribs now we're really focusing on the pork loin because it is the most challenging thing to do in a smoker it doesn't have all that inner muscular fat it is very easy to overcook so one of the tricks that they do at rhythm and ribs is they inject their pork so i have brown sugar and kosher salt we are going to add a touch of warm water just to kind of help melt this a bit so we give this a whisk add a splash of apple juice i'm gonna drop in an ice cube or two just to bring this temperature back down so it is ready for injection what we're seeing here in tifton is two different approaches to how people are handling porcoin some are cleaning a completely zero fat on it they're gonna inject to create moisture some of the competitors here are leaving all the fat on all right we have our brine for injection made so now we're just gonna get that juice and put it straight into the meat what this does is obviously it adds a little bit of flavor but it also is helping taking that lean cut of meat and keeping it very juicy the one that i'm leaving the fat on we are not going to inject and now we will start working on our rub they use a lot of sweetness in their rub so the first thing we are going to add to our rub is some brown sugar some celery seed paprika granulated garlic granulated onion cayenne pepper coarse ground black pepper and some kosher salt we whisk these together till they're evenly dispersed and then our rub is ready okay you guys we have our two different style pork loins here and we are now just going to take our rub go right over the pork the rub doesn't adhere quite as much to the fat as it does when it is just straight meat so that's why there's those two different approaches here but both of these loins are now ready to hit our smoker so if we look at our smoker we are at 275 degrees which is what we want to go with with the pork loins so this is about ready to put on i'm gonna put a little bit of liquid in our smoke box to keep the moisture up set the water right in there and now we're just going to take our two pork loins and drop them in so our loins are in we are at 275 we're gonna let those go for a little bit i could make a little mist with cider and vinegar to spray them every 30 minutes or so just to make sure that that moisture is there loins were cooked anywhere between 140 and 155 degrees some people tempt them some people went by eye but that's what we're shooting for all right i like to get the sauce going about an hour hour and a half before the loins are ready that way we can baste with the sauce and get all that flavor i'm gonna do one a little peach inspired because we are in georgia so i have a red onion we are gonna slice that up very thin in my pot here i have a half a stick of butter about a quart of fresh peaches so we are going with some dijon mustard hot sauce to taste brown sugar i love bourbon so i put a splash of bourbon in my sauce a little bit of worcestershire sauce four or five shakes cider vinegar because we need some acidity a little bit of molasses which is going to give the sauce some body and depth and then a little bit more acidity with the juice of a lemon and then we go with a pretty heavy pinch of salt and some cracked black pepper and where i put that water pan is the same place where i am going to put my sauce hour hour and a half till everything's tender puree it till smooth and you can see here butter is melted that sauce has come together now all you do now we give our loins one last glaze there's our one with the fat no fat oh and see that beautiful sheen that's kind of what you're looking for whether it's competition or not let's cut right in the middle of this and see what we have the fatty one is very juicy here is the one without the fat you can see how tender it is by how it's falling and again nice and juicy great flavor gentle smoke this is a delicious pork wine thank you tifton younice and juicy great flavor this is a delicious pork wine okay guys here in tifton georgia rhythm and ribs now we're really focusing on the pork loin because it is the most challenging thing to do in a smoker it doesn't have all that inner muscular fat it is very easy to overcook so one of the tricks that they do at rhythm and ribs is they inject their pork so i have brown sugar and kosher salt we are going to add a touch of warm water just to kind of help melt this a bit so we give this a whisk add a splash of apple juice i'm gonna drop in an ice cube or two just to bring this temperature back down so it is ready for injection what we're seeing here in tifton is two different approaches to how people are handling porcoin some are cleaning a completely zero fat on it they're gonna inject to create moisture some of the competitors here are leaving all the fat on all right we have our brine for injection made so now we're just gonna get that juice and put it straight into the meat what this does is obviously it adds a little bit of flavor but it also is helping taking that lean cut of meat and keeping it very juicy the one that i'm leaving the fat on we are not going to inject and now we will start working on our rub they use a lot of sweetness in their rub so the first thing we are going to add to our rub is some brown sugar some celery seed paprika granulated garlic granulated onion cayenne pepper coarse ground black pepper and some kosher salt we whisk these together till they're evenly dispersed and then our rub is ready okay you guys we have our two different style pork loins here and we are now just going to take our rub go right over the pork the rub doesn't adhere quite as much to the fat as it does when it is just straight meat so that's why there's those two different approaches here but both of these loins are now ready to hit our smoker so if we look at our smoker we are at 275 degrees which is what we want to go with with the pork loins so this is about ready to put on i'm gonna put a little bit of liquid in our smoke box to keep the moisture up set the water right in there and now we're just going to take our two pork loins and drop them in so our loins are in we are at 275 we're gonna let those go for a little bit i could make a little mist with cider and vinegar to spray them every 30 minutes or so just to make sure that that moisture is there loins were cooked anywhere between 140 and 155 degrees some people tempt them some people went by eye but that's what we're shooting for all right i like to get the sauce going about an hour hour and a half before the loins are ready that way we can baste with the sauce and get all that flavor i'm gonna do one a little peach inspired because we are in georgia so i have a red onion we are gonna slice that up very thin in my pot here i have a half a stick of butter about a quart of fresh peaches so we are going with some dijon mustard hot sauce to taste brown sugar i love bourbon so i put a splash of bourbon in my sauce a little bit of worcestershire sauce four or five shakes cider vinegar because we need some acidity a little bit of molasses which is going to give the sauce some body and depth and then a little bit more acidity with the juice of a lemon and then we go with a pretty heavy pinch of salt and some cracked black pepper and where i put that water pan is the same place where i am going to put my sauce hour hour and a half till everything's tender puree it till smooth and you can see here butter is melted that sauce has come together now all you do now we give our loins one last glaze there's our one with the fat no fat oh and see that beautiful sheen that's kind of what you're looking for whether it's competition or not let's cut right in the middle of this and see what we have the fatty one is very juicy here is the one without the fat you can see how tender it is by how it's falling and again nice and juicy great flavor gentle smoke this is a delicious pork wine thank you tifton you\n"