Pecan Marinade-Injected Pork Loin

Done and ready to slice!

Why must it always rain when I decide to cook?!

Weather notwithstanding, I went ahead and fired up the grill. And boy, am I glad I did! This recipe came out phenomenally well and, naturally, I just had to share it with you. The best part? It's easy and low-maintenance.

I began by picking up a pork loin from Costco. This thing was huge! Since I only needed to feed 3 people, I prepared just 1/4 of the loin. I vacuum-sealed and froze the rest for another day.

So, first things first... In a small bowl I mixed the following ingredients, which would serve as the marinade to be injected into the meat:

• 3/4 C  Apple Juice
• 1/2 C  Water
• 1/2 C  Brown Sugar
• 1/4C  Kosher Salt
• 2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce

After whisking the ingredients together, I filled up my injector needle. You can pick one up at just about any grocery store. I purchased the one seen above at Lowe's. I injected the meat four times on each side, causing it to plump up significantly.

Once the meat was fully injected, I placed it on my grill surface and applied a dry rub. The one I used is called Jeff's Naked Rib Rub, but it works equally well on any cut of pork. You can use whatever rub you prefer. 

Indirect heat with waterpan

Then I fired up my Weber Kettle grill, setting it up for indirect heat. Now, in case you don't understand what I mean by "indirect heat," I've taken a couple photos to demonstrate what I mean. In simplest terms, it means all the charcoal on one side of the grill and a water/drip pan on the other. Once that setup was complete, I placed some soaked wood chips (pecan, in this instance) on top of the charcoal to create a light smoke while the meat cooked. You'll also notice that I opted for lump charcoal, rather than traditional Kingsford-type briquettes. 

Pecan chips on top of lump charcoal

And so, onto the grill went the pork loin. The rub I used is based largely on paprika and brown sugar, so I anticipated that it would eventually create something of a dark brown "bark." I adjusted the upper and lower vents to maintain a temperature of 300 degrees, then went in search of a beer.

Coming along nicely after an hour

 Around an hour or so later, I took a peak at the pork loin to check my progress. The dry rub was, as expected, beginning to form a nice bark and the smell from the grill was incredible! The internal temperature, however, was not high enough to consider it "done." For a pork cut such as this, 150 degrees or so is the appropriate and safe internal temperature. 

It took about another hour to reach the desired temperature. I removed the meat from the grill, wrapped it in foil, and let it rest for 20 minutes (and let me tell you, it was tough to wait that long). I sliced it and taste tested... it was delightfully moist and flavorful with a subtle sweetness. Originally, when I was deciding how to prepare this cut of meat, I had thought it would be necessary to add barbecue sauce -- not so! It was so flavorful that absolutely no sauce of any sort was necessary.

Despite the fact that I've been overly verbose in explaining the methods for preparing this dish, it's remarkably easy and I'm sure you'll have equally terrific results! Trust me, this one is worth a try.