A whole pork loin is incredibly versatile piece of meat such as the smaller pork tenderloin. I love it for a lot of reasons. It's affordable, you can take the flavor profile in so many different directions and it feeds a ton of people. It has a lot of latitude in how you prepare and cook it.
Meat Church How To YouTube Video:Â https://youtu.be/lApdSBZeQ0A
Ingredients
- (1) Whole pork loin
- Meat Church Gourmet Garlic & HerbÂ
- Meat Church Brine
- Basting butter
- 1 stick of salted butter
- 1 T garlic, minced
- 2 T chopped herbs such as rosemary, oregano & thyme
- Tools
Prepare your smoker
Prepare your smoker at 300 degrees. I recommend a medium smoke wood or pellets such as hickory or pecan for this smoke, but honestly you could use whatever wood you prefer. We used the Meat Church Pellets for this cook on a Traeger Ironwood 885 in the above video. Also, as discussed in the video, you can go with a lower temp if you want to achieve a smokier flavor or higher temp if you want to cook it quicker.Â
Optional Brine
I brined my loin overnight in Meat Church Baptism Brine.Â
Prepare the Loin
If using a whole loin you will likely need to cut it in half so you can cook the smaller portion to perfection. You don't want to dry the small section out while waiting on the larger portion to complete cooking.Â
Slather the loin in a binder such as olive oil.
Season liberally with Meat Church Garlic & Herb. You can substitute the Garlic & Herb for whatever seasoning or flavor profile you desire.
Cook the Loin
Place the loin directly on the cooking grate. We are targeting 145 internal, but we will pull it at 140 internal. The loin will carryover cook another 5 degrees or so after you pull it so we ensure that we do not over cook it.
While the loin is cooking melt the butter and stir in the garlic and herbs. Baste with this butter every 45 minutes or so.Â
When the loin reaches 140 pull it. This took 2 hours for the loin in this video. Rest, lightly tented with foil, for 15 minutes.
Slice and enjoy!
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