Brined pork loin,, Success!

King-O-Coals

My fellow briners,, I just wanted to let you know that the pork loin was a humongous success. I brined it for 10 hours, rinced it well, dried it with paper towels, applied my favorite pig rub, mixed yellow mustard, buttermilk, cayanne, and pork seasoning can covered it with that paste,, left it in fridg for 24 hours, then egged it at 375 until internal reached 170. This was a tender juicy treat. I sliced it thin. The mustard mix stayed put and was spicy hot, while not being over bearing. The brine and the coating helped keep the meat protected during the cook. I put it in the egg at 0945 hrs. and took it off at 1145 hrs. My fans went wild over it. I did not taste it until I arrived at the get-together and I was a little shakey after my brined chicken experience. I received several proposals of marrage, and a few other proposals that I won't go into here. I think the brining made a big difference. I fed it to several finicky people and they made hogs of themselves. I'm now a brining converted cultist. Thanks to all who made me do right. I'm so happy,, I could just bust! I can't say, sniff, sniff, anymore right now,, snif,, you understand. sniff,sniff.

Nature Boy

King-O-Coals,
Did you use Spice Cooks brine???
Did you cook it in a v-rack/drip pan???[p]I am so glad you had a good experience after your last one.
Brining is worth considering often! I think brining would have helped my gas grill buddy on those prok chops last night![p]Your hens were obviously geezing.[p]NB

Cat

King-O-Coals,[p]Way to go! Congratulations on a bravura performance...and it's kind of you to remember the little people now that you're a star. ;-}[p]I'm going to try a brined loin post haste. Your technique sounds great; how about sharing the details of your favorite pork rub?[p]Cathy

King-O-Coals

Nature Boy, I guess I made up my own brine recipe. I used 1 gal. of water, 1 cup regular (non Iodized) salt, 5 bay leaves, about 6 pods of crushed fresh garlic, and a couple of tablespoons of Prudhommes pork&veal seasoning. I boiled 2 quarts of water with all that stuff in it and let it simmer for 15 minutes after disolving everything. I then added it to the other 2 quarts of cold water. Let it cool overnignt and then refridgerated it during the day while at work. When I got home, I rinsed the pork loin (acutally half of a 2-1/2 foot loin) and placed it in the brine. Left it for 10 hours and rinsed it and dried it off good. After coating it with my mustard concoction, I stuck toothpicks in it so my plastic wrap would be tented over it and left it for another day. Then placed it on a rack, placed the rack in a large aluminum pan and placed it on the normal grilling grate. I used a "stick" type thermometer to check the temp after about 1.5 hours. Started with the polder but realized the near 400 degrees could damage it, so I removed it before starting to cook. I egged it until the internal core temp hit 170, took it off and wrapped it in heavy duty foil to keep it hot until we reached our friends house. The center of the loin, in the middle of the length, had the flavor of the seasoning and bay leaves. Unbelievable! It was more tender than I can tell you. The link below is the one Cat put me onto. It has some great info on the theory of brining and a few brine solution recipes. It seems the 1 cup salt per gallon is the standard,, then you can use your imagination for seasonings for the solution.. Check it out if you haven't already..

King-O-Coals

Cat, you can't see me,,, but I'm having to type between my bows to you.. Your determination to force me to keep my head down and keep digging is what made my success. After my rubber chickens,, you should have just tossed me to the side and wrote me off as a loss. But you hung in there and the results of my success are to your credit. Seriously,, I knew this brining stuff must work wonders by the way you, Dr. Chicken, and the others professed. The link you posted was very helpful. I dig the scientific side of things and that article was just what the doctor ordered. My pork rub is kinda like cheating. I use Prudhommes(my seasoning hero) Pork & Veal Magic, Brucie's Blend Zydeco Seasoning, and Original King Street Blues Rib & Butt Rub (made in Virginia). These seasonings are great individually, so I figured I'd mix them. They are great if you like the Southern Creole type taste. In my brine I used bay leaves, Rosemary, oregano, Prudhommes Pork & Veal magic, fresh crushed garlic, and some fresh sliced onions. I simmered it for a while to release the flavors, then chilled it before using on the pork. Really, I just added all the stuff I like. I used a little Prudhommes, Brucie's Blend, ground cayeanne pepper, and the Rib & Butt Rub in the mustard/buttermilk mixture. It was very good with a little hot bite to it.. Thanks for your guidance. You can get Chef Paul Prudhommes seasonings online. Email me if you need the links..

Cat

King-O-Coals,[p]I'm really pleased it worked for you. The Prudhomme stuff is actually available here. (We're not as provincial as you might think. *grin*)[p]If you dig scientific, you'd enjoy Shirley Corriher's book 'Cookwise.' She's a food scientist and a good cook, so there are lots of great recipes interspersed with explanations of why things (including brining) work the way they do.[p]Cathy

King-O-Coals

Cat, don't tell me they send "our" seasonings up there to yankee land!:^) Yes, I'm sure you can get Magic Seasonings,,, but can you get them in 24 oz. canisters at a fraction of what that much would cost if buying them in the small bottles?? I use this stuff constantly, so I buy the canisters. 24 oz. canisters are about eleven bucks when ordered from his online catalogue. AHHHHHHHHH! What to brine next?

Cat

King-O-Coals,[p]No. We can only get little teensy jars, the price of which requires us to take out second mortgages. It's not easy being a barbecue person in Manhattan.[p]As for your next brining adventure...how about a chicken? One not of drinking age. ;-}[p]Cathy

RhumAndJerk

King-O-Coals,
Brucie's Blend Zydeco Seasoning are you sure that you have not been shopping at my secret spice in Cleveland, Ohio. The pork loin sounds great. I have yet to brine anything, but I felling the urge.[p]One of my Jamaican Cookbooks suggests brining for 24 hour and then Jerking for another 24. Soon, very soon.[p]Congratulations on the perfect pork,
RhumAndJerk[p]

sprinter

RhumAndJerk,[p]I'm going to pretend that I didn't read that and that you were actually kidding with us. I'm especially not going to let my wife read this post. How DARE you say that someone has found the "perfect pork" (no offense KOC). If my wife saw that, I'd lose my excuse for #1)buying several pigs each year and #2)spending so much time on the weekends trying to "perfect" my cooking.[p]Like I said, I'll just pretend that I never saw this post and keep going along my happy way............[p]hehehe[p]It really sounds great, all kidding aside. I've been telling myself that I'm going to brine something soon but everytime I pull something out of the freezer I end up putting it on the grill too soon. Oh well, such is life.[p]Troy

King-O-Coals

sprinter, just tell her we are on our way to perfect. After this experience, I know why no one could tell me eggsactly what brining does to meat. Oh yeah, they said it would add flavor and juiciness to pork and chicken, bla,bla,bla,. But I never imagined what they meant until last evening. I cooked this 18 inch long loin for 2 hours at 375 dome, on an inverted rib rack over an aluminum pan. After 1 hour of no-peekey, I opened it up and stuck it with one of them little shirt-pocket thermometers like the head chefs use. It was near 150 at that time. I have been told to take it off then,, but I want to make sure it's not going to squeel when I cut it. I left it on until the internal was 170. That took a total of 2 hours. The thick mustard and buttermilk paste protected it from the heat. Now, this is where the brine made the magic happen. As soon as it came out of the egg, I wrapped it loosly in foil (tent like) for a short trip to a friends house. It sat there for a half hour before I couldn't stand to wait any longer. When I cut it, it was so tender and juicy,, but the juice wasn't like the normal pork juice,, which is always delicious in it's own right. It was the most perfect tasting pork,,, sorry,,, I mean the 'closest' to perfect tasting pork I have ever had. I'm doing 2 more large 18 inch long pieces tomorrow night. THERE IN THE BRINE RIGHT NOWOOOOOOOOO! hhheeeeeeeeeeeehheee!

King-O-Coals

Here's that link. You curious folks need to bookmark and read this.

[ul][li]Ready for the brine?[/ul]