Bought a whole boneless pork loin last week and divided it up into thirds. Chops and Canadian bacon will follow, but this weekend it was stuffed loin.

Marinated about 3 lbs in a flavored brine:

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
• 3 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg



That chilled for 24 hours. The next day I prepared the stuffing by dicing some Granny Smith apple and Bosc pear. I added that to some 3 day old baguette and sliced onion, butter and a little rub (see below). Slit the loin down the middle, but not all the way through; opening it like a book. I then slit each half the same way so that the loin would lay fairly flat. I added the stuffing, rolled it back together and tied it up with twine. Rubbed it all the way around with rub:

• dried lemon zest
• dried orange zest
• black pepper
• sage
• kosher salt
• rosemary
• thyme






Went on the WSM with an empty water pan at 350. I wanted to grill this at a medium temp, but indirectly (thus the empty water pan) and I can control the temps easier on the WSM than on my kettle. Cooked until internal hit about 150. Pulled it, tented it for about 10 mins.



It was very moist, very tender and had a great flavor. The fruity stuffing was quite tasty and I find that fruits work well with pork. The rub was fantastic and the combination of it and the subtle sweetness of the brine worked very well together.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul K,

That looks really good Paul. I've never been very happy with my pork loin's but that looks fabulous. The ingredients in your rub also sound good. Next time I decide to do a pork loin I will try this

Brandon

Very nice, Paul. You have included so many things that I love. I must give this one a try!

Did you use any smokewood?

What kind of salt did you use in the brine? Diamond or Morton's kosher salt? Table salt?

Perhaps put this thread in the Pork Recipes forum so it can be found easier?

Rita

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rita Y,

Brandon & Rita, thanks.
Rita, I used Morton's kosher salt. And on this go around, no smokewood; just lump. I wasn't sure how the flavored brine and rub would work, so I didn't want to add smoke into the mix. That's a good idea, I'll move this to pork recipe section.

Paul

Thanks, Paul.

For anyone interested, here is the salt conversion:

3 tablespoons (1.25 oz, 35.4 g) Morton’s kosher salt = 2 tablespoons table salt OR 4 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Rita

I was looking at this thread yesterday and absolutely drooling. I've done a stuffed pork tenderloin once, and liked it a lot, but it didn't come close to what you have on the screen here. It looks delicious. Like most of my earlier cooking, I just followed Cooks Illustrated for advice. Turned out nice.

Hey Paul--

Looks and I bet tastes fantastic! I will be trying this soon. Any reason why you couldn't "butterfly" the loin before it goes into the brine?

Chris

I'll be trying this one too, looks AWESOME!
Todd

quote:

Any reason why you couldn't "butterfly" the loin before it goes into the brine?

Chris, I thought about that too. I don't see why you couldn't. I'm thinking the only thing it would affect is time in the brine; butterflied would require less time. How much time is the question. I had the time to go with the whole loin, but if you're in a hurry, your idea is probably a good one.

Looks terrif, Paul.

On brining: Time is indeed shortened by using thinner meat so butterflying first can accomplish this. It's worth noting though that flavor brining takes substantially longer than straight brining so plan accordingly.

On stuffings: I am very fond of fruit-meat combos and applaud your choices here, in both the stuffing ingredients and the rub and brine flavors. Stuffing are fun, I think, and just by altering one or a few ingredients, or prep procedures, the possibilities are endless.

What did you serve this with?

This is definitely a "keeper" Paul. Really nice job. Thanks for sharing and moving to recipes as well. I'll be saving this one to try for sure. I think I'll be trying this soon. When you post to recipes it would be great if you could include quantity/amounts for the filling as close as you can to help guage. I'll probably be tyring this soon. Really looks and sounds good. I might look at this and Rita's pork recipe (which is TERRIFIC) to look at opportunities to combine.

Very interested to see what you do with the rest of that loin!

Thanks for the kudos guys...

quote:

What did you serve this with?

Kevin, it was served with wild rice, mixed green salad, apple sauce* and a chilled pint of Hefeweizen.
* On the apple sauce, I didn't have enough fresh apples to make from scratch, so I processed (still lumpy) a couple and added to store bought.

quote:

Very interested to see what you do with the rest of that loin!

Ray, I'm excited about doing some Canadian bacon! A 1st for me. The other 3rd will be cut into thick chops.

Has anyone noticed in a flavor brine, major differences between using whole black peppercorns versus cracked? I usually crack mine under a stockpot, before adding them to a recipe. I'm sure it's a time factor as well.

Well, yes. The flavor is more subtle if you leave them whole--but it is also more subtle if you crack or grind and then brine for a shorter time.

Either way, if you want more pepper flavor (and more flavors from your other brine ingredients, depending on what they are), heat the pepper first, in liquid or in a little fat (go for a low boil if in liquid, 180-200˚ if in fat), ahead of time, for maybe 10-15 min or so--and, if cracking or grinding, do so just before use.