Grilling Advice

anyone have any advice on cooking a pork tenderloin that is about 3 feet long on the grill? I have read many things on the net, but looking for personal here. giving me cooking lengths and rubs you have used. thanks

Brine, brine, brine.

Find a brine recipe you like, or just do a plain salt, water, sugar mixture, but your final product will be much more enjoyable if you brine it. Just do some google searches. I’ve done a maple brine with pork before that’s excellent, it was pork chops, but really good.

As for cooking time length, I’d invest in a digital thermometer and let the meat tell you when it’s done, rather than relying on general cooking time guidelines.

Joel

knowing someone that does bbq competions it sounds like you have your work cut out for you. they recomend slow cooking on indirect heat around 250. cook until the center is 160 degrees. use a dry rub such as wee willys seasonings or zesty italion salad dressing for a marinade. Hope this will help you out.

X2……especially about the meat thermometer

i second the thermometer. that’s the way to go and remember to let the meat rest at leat 5 mins and cut with a sharp knife. wouldn’t want to ruin a good piece of meat like that.

It might not be your cup of tea. Instead of trying to cook it as one piece, I now cook pork tenderloins by cutting them into thick medallions. I was told to try that last year and I prefer that method. It doesn’t hurt that it takes less time than entire chunk.

if you have a thin end, cut that off and butterfly the end into chops. If you have a fat cap at all keep it on. Some whole loins these days are already injected with a brine solution, so no need to double brine. My simple rub is one Weber steak seasoning, one Weber Kick’n chicken, one cheap garlic powder, one cheap onion powder, one tin Old Bay, pinch of Itl. seasonings blend, about a cup of dark brown sugar, paprika. (keep the salt out)Mix this all up and store what you don’t use in air tight container. Some smother mustard all over the loin, then add your rub mix. Indirect heat, alum pan with an inch of apple cider under the loin, and you can’t go wrong with apple chunks soaked in cider for at least an hour. If you have a gas grill (should be out-lawed!)make a pillow out of a couple layers of foil with the chunks inside, poke a few holes through the foil and set right on your burner, use the back burner only and set the loin up front, keep the cover on, and give it all about three hours and test temp about every 15 mins. Do not over cook and pull loin off at least 5-10 degrees before the temp you want, tent with foil for 10-20 mins. then slice thin and have some burger buns toasted, sweet pickles and a variety of sauces to go with.

I just grilled the same size Tenderloin this weekend. We cut it in half and grilled it in indirect heat. Once coals were glowing we pushed them away from center in a ring shape and grilled the tenderloin for aout 90 minutes. The skinnier end is the true tenderloin. You will find more marbeling and more tenderness in the meat at the narrow end. The back half seemed to be more like pork chop meat. It was a bit tougher and not as moist as the narrow end. We actually marinated it in Bloody mary mix it was great. I plan on injecting or marinating the back half much longer next time.

I cut the loin into two pieces. For the sake of handling it. I will marinate it in apple or orange juice over night. I then take my spices ( usually what ever is cheap off the shelf)pork rub, butt rub etc.. and mix it half and half with brown sugar. Rub the entire loin down with the mixture. Get your grill screaming hot. I mean as hot as it will get. leave all burners on high and then take the loin pieces and sere it on all edges. Use long grilling tongs to help roll the loin and even stand it on end to sere the ends closed. The rub on the ouside will turn black and appear burned. Make sure you have a good sealing burn on the outside of the loin. Then wrap the loin pieces loosely in foil. I make sure I have plenty of space around the loin so the moisture can help finish cooking the loin. Turn grill down and place foiled loin on top rack for about an hour. Be careful when taking loin off the grill as the juice in the foil makes for an awesome aujus to top your meat with when you serve it. It should almost fall apart and once sliced you can cut it with your fork.

just curious if these ideas work for both pork loins and pork tender loins? I know they are different and not sure what is at home in the fridge for saturday lunch.

tender loins don’t take long at all, and yes, grilled tender loins are the bomb! Right now whole loins are around $1.98 a pound, tender loins are $2.99 and up. If you ever see the whole bone in loin which is the loin (pork chops), tender loin, and back rib all in one, do yourself a favor and pick one up, they take a bit longer, but as it is falling apart on the grill everyone can just belly up to the grill and eat with one hand and drink beer with the other. The place where I get most of my meat (Fareway) puts this on special at least once a year.