Tag: pork
Smoked Stuffed Pork Loin
Smoked Stuffed Pork Loin
I’ve wanted to make this recipe for quite some time. It started to get cold outside and I had a lot of basil in garden to use up. I took a pork loin and butterflied it open, hammered it thin, and brined it for a day. Then I stuffed it with mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, red onions and my basil. Then it got rolled up and tied, then smoked. Once the pork reached an internal temperature of 150 degrees, I pulled it from the smoker and let it rest for 20 minutes. I sliced the loin into 1” thick pieces, resulting in a pinwheel effect of stuffing in the pork loin.
Equipment
- Meat Mallet
- Butchers Twine
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 4 lb boneless pork loin roast
- 9 slices mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups Italian basil leaves
- 8 oz sun dried tomatoes
- 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 3 tsp black pepper
- 3 tsp garlic powder
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
Wood Chips
- 2/3 hickory wood chips
- 1/3 applewood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the brining ingredients. Set aside.
- Place the pork loin fat cap side up.
- Slice a third of the thickness of the pork loin horizontally almost all the way through. You are almost butterflying the loin, except you are cutting into only a third of the thickness instead of in half.
- Butterfly open the thicker side of the pork loin. It should look like you have 3 sections wide open of pork loin.
- Using a meat mallet, hammer down the pork loin all over until it is equal thickness; about 1”-1.5” thick.
- Placd the pork loin in a gallon sized storage bag with the brine. Squeeze out any air. Brine for 24 hours.
- When ready to stuff, pat dry with paper towels. Lay out the pork loin flat.
- Place the mozzarella across the entire pork loin.
- Layer whole basil leaves and sun dried tomatoes on top of the cheese.
- Cover with sliced red onions.
- Carefully roll up the pork loin.
- Using butcher’s twine, tie up the pork loin. I start by tying in the middle, then 3 ties on each side of the center. Then tie up the loin once horizontally. Let the pork loin sit at room temperature an hour before smoking. Season the outside with paprika, black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Placd the stuffed loin in the smoker.
- At the 3 hour mark, take the temperature with a probe thermometer. Continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.
- Let rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
Smoked BBQ Spare Ribs
Smoked BBQ Spare Ribs
Ribs are definitely my specialty. This is the first time I get to smoke a rack of spare ribs in my smoker. I purchased a whole 5lbs spare rib rack with the riblet still attached. I like to remove the riblet and save for soups. In this case, I chopped them into smaller riblets and threw them in the brine with the rack. Then I dry rubbed them with my Jamaican jerk seasoning, smoked them, and tossed in Jamaican jerk bbq sauce. But that’s for another recipe. If your rack of ribs is too wide for your smoker, I suggest cutting them in half. It’s a little easier to handle. There are a couple of approaches you can choose to do with your ribs. You can apply a dry rub to the ribs and let them marinate overnight in the refrigerator before smoking. Another way is to brine the ribs for 4 hours, then apply a dry rub. I like the amount of moisture and flavor that brining adds to meat, so I went that route. Once brined, pat dry with paper towels and apply the dry dry rub on both sides. Let the rack sit at room temperature for an hour before smoking.Hickory is a great wood to use for smoking ribs. I added some peach wood in addition to add some sweetness to the smoke. Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw in your rack. Maintain a smoking temp between 225-250 degrees for 4 hours. At the 4 hour point, brush on your favorite bbq sauce and smoke for another hour. Let the ribs rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Servings: 2
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb spare ribs
- bbq sauce
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 white onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 bay leaves
Dry Rub
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
- peach wood chips
Instructions
- Mix the brining ingredients together.
- Brine the ribs for at least 4 hours. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels.
- Mix the dry rub ingredients together.
- Rub both sides of the ribs heavily with the dry rub. Let rest at room temperature for an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw in the ribs. Maintain the smoking temp between 225-250 degrees for 4 hours.
- Brush a layer of your favorite bbq sauce on the ribs. Smoke for at least 1 more hour.
- Let the ribs rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Cider Brined Smoked Pork Chops
Cider Brined Smoked Pork Chops
This recipe is a much improved version of the cider brined pork chops that we used to sell on my meat team. As always, I recommend using a bone-in pork chop that is at least 1” thick. 1.5”-2” is even better. Brine the chops in a simple mix of cider, salt, and brown sugar for 4 hours. Pat them dry and season them with a thick coating of the dry rub. Let the chops rest for an hour at room temperature before smoking.Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. I used applewood and pecan wood chips for the smoking process. Both work great with pork. Maintain the smoking temperature between 225-250 degrees. At the 90 minute mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature. You want the thermometer to read 150 degrees. Depending on the size of your pork chops, they could be done now or need another 30 minutes of smoking. Once finished, let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 6 bone in pork chops 1” thick
Cider Brine
- 1/2 gallon apple cider
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Dry Rub
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Wood Chips
- applewood chips
- pecan wood chips
Instructions
- Mix the brining ingredients together.
- Brine the pork chops in a gallon sized storage bag for 4 hours.
- Pat the chops dry with paper towel. Season with the dry rub on both sides of the pork chop. Let rest at room temperature for an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw in your pork chops. Monitor the internal temperature with a probe thermometer 90 minutes into smoking. The pork needs to read 150 degrees. The chops could be done at this point. They also might need another 30 minutes of smoking.
- Let the pork rest for 10 minutes before serving.
