Stuffed Pork Loin

[puddle jumper]

I saw Joe doing a pork loin the other day and it gave me a idea, so here it goes,,,

I took a large pork loin 4 1/2 lbs and butterfly cut it to open it up,,
a little cattlemens BBQ sauce for flavor, spread onions, pepperoni and cheddar cheese on the inside, and folded it back up,,

Made a bacon weave,  added cyan salt and pepper to the outside and  wrapped, covered the whole thing in seran wrap and into the fridge to go on the smoker at noon today...
I will let you know how she turns out..
PJ
 

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[BIG BOB]

wow- that will be good. I want to here results! I buy a lot of loins and am always looking for ways to spice them up.

[UWFSAE]

Very pretty.  You might want to try par cooking the onions (just a quick saute right to the edge of being translucent) to keep there from being too much water released inside the stuffed loin.  I really like the pepperoni inside ... I haven't tried that yet.

Please post pics when it's finished; I'm curious to see how the interior looks cooked.   

[DivotMaker]

Holy cow!  What a great idea!  It's like a solid bacon explosion!  Definitely let us know how this little baby turns out.  I would imagine that the raw onions and pepperoni will create a lot of grease & moisture inside the roll, so I'm curious if it does.  Joe's right about par cooking the onions; you might also want to try that with the greasy pepperoni, too.  To limit the amount of grease released, you could nuke the pepperoni for a bit (not sure how long), and absorb the grease on paper towels before putting in the loin.  I like to make pepperoni chips in the microwave, and have found it generates a LOT of grease!

Just thoughts....it will probably turn out great, and this will be moot. 

[puddle jumper]

OK,,, Where to begin,,,
  The cook was probably the best pork loin I have ever had,, I put it on the smoker around 1:00 set the temp to 235, with with the same amount of wood I used the other day on the ribs, two 1/2 x1x3 pieces of oak  this time I put them on top of each other looking for a lighter slow smoke,,, opened it once to baist with BBQ sauce at 3:00

at 5:00 I got to a internal temp of 165 and that is what I was shooting for so I pulled it wrapped it and into the cooler for a rest, I was planning on serving at 630 so it was in the for a while, at 610 i put it back on the smoker to crisp back up some,, and pulled back off at 645...

I also did potatoes again they went on a three when I basted and did not come back off till the end at 645,, last time I did them they where soft after three hrs this time they never got soft and had to finish them in the micro... no idea what the difference was today with them???

 As I said it was the best pork loin I have ever had but it was also different then I was expecting,, it was very moist not greasy at all,, and the onions did fine going to the higher temp...The cheese melted and I lost some of it out the cuts in the meat not a lot but some... what was different was I expected more pop from the flavors from the pepperoni cheese and onion,, and it just was not there,,, Just a really moist pork loin flavor so I'm thinking next time I will inject some spices and see if I can get some more Q flavor in the meat...

 Over all a good cook, but its something I'm going to have to play around with to see if I can get it to turn out more the way I was looking for...
But after all that's the fun of cooking...
 
PJ

[UWFSAE]

Nice cook, John ... glad it worked out for you.  Did you change the fat you used to coat the outside of the taters?  Or change their position in the smoker? 

[BIG BOB]

DID THE BACON REALLY CRISP UP THAT MUCH?
DID YOU COOK IT ABOUT 1/2 WAY BEFORE THE WRAP?

[puddle jumper]

Nope on the tatters,, ,,I just coated them with olive oil and salt like before but they where in a different place in the smoker,,, that might be it??

 The bacon gets crisp and really smokey so much my daughter eats that off first,, lol
and my wife actually drove home from work on her lunch break today for leftovers!! that by the way are really good the smoke works into the meat in the fridge time...

One side note, Joe as we got closer to the middle of the loin the onions where not done as well as closer to the end where I had my piece from last night so i think they need to go into a frying pan first next time...

PJ

[DivotMaker]

That's a really interesting cook, PJ!  Got to give you a 10 on creativity!  Glad it turned out good, and even more happy you learned from it!  That's what this is all about....try something, learn, try it again, learn/improve, repeat the cycle.  We're always going to shoot for improvement, even though our family and friends that eat our cooks will probably think it's the best they've ever had!    Good job!

[UWFSAE]

Puddle, my suggestion about the onion was both for texture and flavor (I love sauteed onions but raw overpower most flavors for me); even a quick saute with a little butter and a de-glazing with apple juice or a little white wine would provide very complimentary flavors for that loin.  Also, having done several Bacon Explosions, putting a little rub on the outside really gives these preps a robust flavor.

On the potatoes, I'd imagine that keeping the taters on a rack close to the smoker box would speed the cooking time.  Since you'll be doing the potatoes after the loin has been smoking for a good while there shouldn't be risk of cross contamination; just to be safe, keeping them off to the sides near the smoker wall will also help reflect some temps towards them.  If you keep having trouble, a full size russet will "bake" in 15 minutes ... perhaps 4-5 minutes on high (having been pierced with a fork) and then do your oil and S&P before the run in the smoker.

I'm going to give the loin idea a shot ... it's definitely a more upscale application than a Bacon Explosions I've smoked and would be killer stuffed with sauteed apples, onions, and some apple butter along with the bacon wrap.

[puddle jumper]

Thanks guys for the props and suggestions,,
I really like the sound of the apple butter,, never thought about using that in my cooking but it sounds really good...
I think a little yard bird is my next cook,,,
I will keep you posted...
PJ