Need a recipe or suggestions...

[catnhatnh]

...company this weekend. I have a large (9 lbs+) boneless pork loin that I would like to barbeque on my gas grill over indirect heat and using wood "smoker" pellets. Any help with prep tips, (to marinade or not to marinade-that is the question...) secret sauces,cooking techniques, etc, would be deeply appreciated...thanks in advance...Also smoke flavor preferences?

[ernstbass]

1. Definately marinade

Sometimes I use the bottled Allegro marinade if I don't have time/energy to whip one up. I'm not much of a griller (carbonize everything) so I can't help you there.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Marinate for sure

Any large cut that you want to slow cook on a grill gets better with marination. In fact, to not marinate could leave you with a styrofoam-like dry dinner.

As to a marinade recipe ....... truly anything you want will work.

The essence is some oil, some vinegar, some wine, some herbs or flavorings. I use fresh parsley, oregano, and basil, some sliced onion and some chopped garlic, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar, red wine, olive oil ...... and then, all as you please ...... worchestershire, any of the hundreds of asian sauces, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, brandy lemon juice, port, pernod, rosemary, thyme ...... as I said .... you can really be creative and free to experiment.

[wryter2000]

3. Brine it

Pork loin gets dry easily. Soak it in a solution of 1/2 gallon water to 3/4 c kosher salt or 1/3 cup regular salt for several hours.

[bearfan454]

4. I like mesquite wood for smoke flavor myself.

Some people like hickory and I've even heard of pecan and apple wood for smoking.

[catnhatnh]

5. Thanks for the replies....

...it's Friday night and company is 2 pm Saturday.Went with cutting that bad boy in half to fit on the indirect side of the grill.Being wishy-washy went with 1/2 in a commercial mesquite marinade and 1/2 Sazon and spice dry rub with inserted garlic cloves. Will slow cook over a drip pan filled with beer while basting with drippings and add smoker pot with mesquite pellets Gonna stop about 150 degrees internal temperature and foil wrap 20 minutes. Would have tried brine but stopped by time constraints-maybe next time.Again thanks and wish me luck...

[bearfan454]

6. How did your boneless pork loin come out catnhatnh ?

Juicy and succulent ?

[catnhatnh]

7. I was happy with the results,thanks to the suggestions...

...made here...Cut that 9 pounder into two 4-1/2s, dry rubbed one with sazon and italian herbs and inserted about six cloves of garlic in slits cut into the roast. The other was marinated with two envelopes of commercial mix-one mesquite smoke and one smoky chipolte pepper.Let both rest in the fridge overnight.
Cooked both roasts on my gas grill...prepared grill (cleaned and oiled grates,removed 1/2 of lowest grate,and preheated)Filled drip pan with 2 cups prepared barbecue sauce thinned with 2 cups ice tea,added two TBS msg (many don't use this) and two bay leaves....Prepared five heavy duty foil packs of "BBQ Delight" Jack Daniel's Old No 7 smoking pellets.Now we're ready to cook...
Both sides of grill turned to low.Drip pan is set on the remaining half of the lowest grill,and roasts are set on second rack above the drip pan.Both roasts are basted with the mix from the drip pan(I use a one inch paint brush) and repeat every 15 minutes throughout the cooking time. Once the drip pan mix comes to a simmer, that burner is turned off.As the mix thickens I thin it with more ice tea or beer-whichever is nearer at hand-and the further I got into the roast (it was over 90 degrees here) the more often it WAS beer. That was the set up, now ready and up to temp I threw a foil pack on directly on the lava rocks on the side with no rack and closed the cover. Air temp under the lid quickly zipped up close to 400 degrees even with just the one burner on low (a curse of all gas grills when trying to barbeque) so I propped the cover up about an 1-1/2 inch and found I could hold about 330 degrees-still a bit high but tolerable.Also some of my pellet smoke escaped but most of it did reach the top dome area where my roasts sat on the second rack...every twenty minutes or so I threw on another foil pack.....
After about two hours I reached an internal temperature of 150 degrees.Both roasts were removed to a platter and loosely tented with foil and allowed to rest 20 minutes.Meanwhile the drip pan mix,now enhanced with two hours worth of pork drippings from above was boiled once more to kill any possible germs and the bay leaves removed..Roasts were sliced about 3/4 inch thick and smothered with pan drippings.Served the pork with a choice of cold pasta salad or double stuffed potatoes....then sat to pound down a few cold ones as the guests dove in....
The results-while both roasts were delicious and well received the dry rub had a gorgeous "smoke ring of nearly 3/8 inch and firm white meat throughout and the marinated loin had a slightly lesser (1/4 inch) smoke ring and the core had just the slightest blush and much more juice remaining.Older guests tended toward the dry rub but the under 50's went for the marinated pork-I'm guessing it was a cultural thing coming from warnings of the dangers of raw pork...In the end 9 guests versus 9-1/2 lbs of pork with sides resulted in less than 3 lbs of leftover meat-they seemed to enjoy it...In short, I'm happy-best barbecue I've ever made.Thanks for the tips!!!

[NMDemDist2]

8. wow! sounds GREAT! so smart of you to use the large cut to make

two different styles too