Well I got my smoker for Christmas from my dad, he got my brother and I matching Landmann Smokey Mountain 3495GLA. My brother and I are total opposite in that he jumps right into thing, and I have to study and analyze things until I become a walking dictionary on the subject. He smoked a prime rib the weekend following Christmas, I'm just now firing it up. First off, the Landmann was exceptionally well packaged and a breeze to assemble. Seams to be well made as well, no light weight thin metal. I did seal it up with high temp silicone, and created a seal strip for the door and drawers with it as well. Got it up to temp and let it "season" for 45 minutes. I let it fully cool down. Once temp was down I fired it back up and added some Pecan wood chunks, and Hickory wood chips. Once the smoke was rolling good and temp was steady at 180-195 degrees I put the pork loin in. I had prepped the loin by trimming off the fat cap and rope, then trimmed off some false lean meat. I washed it off and patted it dry, then I rubbed it down with a over the counter dry rub. I let it rest at room temperature for about an hour while I fiddled with the smoker. I inserted a temp probe and got it in the smoker. I smoked it at 19th and didn't have to fuss with it much to keep the temp steady. I ended up adding more wood chunks and chips 3 times in the hour and a half it took to get it to an internal temp of 145. Once it reached 145 I pulled the loin and wrapped it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 5 minutes or so. 5 minutes wrapped in a double layer of aluminum foil brought the loin up to 155 internal temp. Sliced it up and served it up to my wife and son. I'm very happy with my smoker, I will be adding a needle valve for more precise temperature control. Also going to up grade to an Igrill 2 or Maverick 733 meat thermometer. The loin was tender and moist, I didn't get the smoke ring I hoped for, due to the real temp of the smoker being higher then I think it was, the factory temp probe and thermometer is a little lacking. Also I realized I'm not a dry rub guy, totally over powered the smoke and loin flavor. Not that I will toss it to the dogs, I just have high standards for smoked meats, 7 years in a Butcher shop helping fun the smoke house, and getting the best ever smoked meats from an old southern pit boss spoiled me. So I'm gonna order a meat injector and going back to what I know, brines, low and slow, heavy smoke. Now, time for another Coors and loin sandwich.!
Thanks guys, I'm pleased with my first run... but I think the smoker can do better, and I know I can do better.
It was tasty, the rub just over powered the loin and smoke flavor... Live an learn! Yeah lil bro is funny, if it come to family, customers, or the fire department, he always thinks before he leaps... but for himself, he is a learn by trying type of guy.... Love the overgrown lug, but drives me batty some days. I'm an analyzer through and through, I have to see it through in my mind before execution, that can take 3 seconds, or three years (yeah I drive my wife nuts) but I have to think it through first... if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right the first time.
Well... here is take two on the smoker. Local grocery store is running a special on whole pork loins, $1.88/ lbs. So I got two, saved two half's for the smoker, had the rest tenderize to grill. I decided to use a simple brine... water, white sugar, brown sugar and salt. I ejected the loin on Saturday afternoon, and let it soak in the brine overnight. I had also grabbed ingredients for some atomic buffalo turds (jalapeño) and subatomic buffalo turds (padlano) Got the loin on around 2 on Sunday everything was going good until a nasty little rain popped up. The cold rain on the smoker sucked a lot of heat out of it, also put my El cheapo thermometer on the fritz. Once the rain stopped the smoker held heat steady again, but the thermometer was DOA. When I thought the loins had an hour left to smoke I put the ATB's and subATB's in. I had 45 minutes to get some morel mushrooms battered up and fried. My wife, mom and the little guy where eating mushrooms as fast as I could fry them, so no pictures of thoses... I did manage a pic of the ATB's. The loin looked almost perfect.... Smoke flavor was awesome, I used a mix of Hickory and Pecan wood chunks. The brine needed more time to work, better coverage (my fault) and I thought I could get by without quick cure but it is a necessity! I like this much more then the dry rub, just need to tweak it a little. Also time to upgrade thermometer, I'm thinking an Igill 2!
