For dinner last night, we smoked a 3 lb pork loin (left over from the pork chops we made a couple months back) brined in a new recipe I found. Most pork brines I've seen are pretty basic, so I looked for something a little more complicated just to see how it would turn out. The fact that this recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of gin is strictly coincidental. I was looking for more ingredients figuring it would impart more flavor.
First, I rinsed the loin then followed this recipe:
1/3 cup kosher salt (use ONLY Kosher salt!)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 -2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/2 cup gin
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves (I used ground)
1/4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
10 -12 garlic cloves, minced (or smashed)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
8 cups water
1 Mix the brine ingredients together in a pot and bring to a boil.
2 Stir the brine well to insure the sugar, salt and maple syrup has dissolved.
3 Let the brine cool(I boiled the ingredients in 2 cups of water then added the remaining water in the form of ice to make the brine cold fast), then place brine in a container.
4 Add in pork loin (making certain that it is covered completely).
5 Brine for up to 12 hrs.
Credit to Food.com for the recipe, which I converted to pork loin from pork chops.
I brined for only 5 hrs cause I was in a time crunch. Once the pork loin came out of the brine, quickly rinsed it under running water, heavily rubbed then dusted with Penzey's Chicken and Rib rub. Placed the loin (42*)into a cold smoker set to 235* with 1.5 oz of Alder and 1.5 oz Hickory.
After 3 hrs and an internal temp of 145*, I pulled the pork loin and let it rest for 15 minutes. Cut it up using a nice sharp knife, and it cut like butter. Made nice 1/3" slices on most of the cuts except several were sliced paper thin cause my wife prefers most her roasts cut thin like she was going to eat a sandwich.
It turned out very moist with no noticeable salt flavoring. It had as heavy a smoke flavoring as I would like (and I like heavier smoke), so I'd caution against using more wood. Maybe even go with just Alder next time or some other lighter flavored wood. It was tasty, but next time I'd brine it longer to pick up more internal flavor. The Penzey's rub was excellent.
My wife loved it. All in all, a keeper recipe and a do again.
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