My wife and I shop at Sam's Club and yes we are Plus members. We do that for the 2% cash back on our purchases and there are many things we buy and share with family members. Also, if you use the Sam's credit card, you get an additional 3% cash back on all credit card purchases in the store and online with free shipping. Well, that is enough of a commercial for Sam's Club, don't cha think?
On my last run to Sam's last week I was searching around for a good choice of beef to prepare and cook with my smoker. My DynaGlo offset smoker does a great job and I love to use it. Well, beef prices are absolutely absurdly through the roof. A decent brisket that used to be in the $25-$30 range, they are all $70- 80. For a freakin' brisket!!!!! That is unacceptable for such a low end beef cut. I can't do it, or actually, I will not do it.
So, what I did find as a great cut of meat at Sam's Club was a pork loin. It was a smaller one as you can see my my receipt clip and ad on SamsClub.com.
We cut it into 3 equal pieces and packaged it for the freezer.
This week I prepared one of the pieces on the smoker. My process is simple. I brine it for 2 days in about 3/4 cup of salt in water in the fridge. I put a light coating of TexJoy BBQ Seasoning Rub on all sides and smoke it for 6.5 hours at 200-225degF.
I find that it really does not matter what type of wood you use to smoke, hickory, maple, cherry, mesquite.....they all work equally well.
And this is what is left after my wife and I had 2 meals with this pork sliced at about 1/8-1/4" thick. It is tender and moist, the flavor is outstanding, and there is little fat left on the meat. (Personal pet peeve, I do NOT like meat fats, the texture to me is just nasty) There is enough in this dish for at least 2 more meals for each of us, maybe three. A great way to eat the leftovers and harden up the soft fat is to lightly butter or grease a pan and brown both sides of the slices. That is soooooo good.
Another tip, while the meat is on the smoker, cut up a bunch of your favorite veggies, we typically like yellow squash, broccoli, onions, cauliflower. Put them in a ziploc bag with enough olive oil to coat all of the veggies and a dash more, then season to taste. Salt and Pepper, I use all purpose seasoning, but not a ton. Shake it up to evenly lightly coat your choice of veggies. Then, put them into an aluminum foil hammock to fully enclose them. Poke about five or six knife slits in the top of the foil tent. Throw that in the smoker during the last hour of your cooking. You will be incredibly happy with those results, I promise you. This is the day after photo, looks rough, but they are excellent. And I tell you I can smell the smoke when I opened the container.
Happy cooking, and enjoy.
