Pork Tenderloin

[aliengriller]

Pam--how long did it take to convince your hubby that pork cooked to 145 is OK?   My wife, being the stubborn red-headed German she is, just refuses to even eat it unless I can prove to her it's at LEAST 165!  She worked for a neurosurgeon who treated quite a few people from Mexico, I might add, with trichinosis (sp?).  Of course they bought their pork in Mexico.   Cannot convince her anything over 145 dries it out these days when they are butchering pork much leaner than even 15 years ago.   It has hardly ANY fat anymore.   And tenderloins never did have any fat!

[ronman451]

The cooker may have been running a bit hot, but it sure didn't stop you from turning out a couple of beautiful, perfectly cooked tenderloins.  I would love a slice of that on a biscuit with an egg right now.

BBQ for breakfast? Inconceivable!

Here's my quick five-minute breakfast before heading out the door this morning. If I had five minutes more, I would have added some roasted New Mexico green chile and made a burrito out of it...

[ronman451]

Did the wood add anything nice?

I think the apple wood adds a bit of complexity to the flavor in this cooker, but it's not real prominent. The wood chunks burn for only the first few minutes of the cook, which is okay by me because I don't dig over-smoked food.

For my next cook I am going to try it without adding wood chunks to compare the flavors. I'm also curious to see how the Kingsford Mesquite Briquets taste in the PBC.

[drholly]

Dinner AND breakfast both look delicious. mmmmm.... how about lunch?

[ronman451]

Did you add wood in previous cooks? Might have been why it was running a bit hot.

Yes, I've used a chunk or two of wood on previous cooks as well, but you may be on the right track. Here's my thinking...

This is the first time I've cooked such a small amount of food in the PBC. For example this weekend I cooked eight racks of babybacks (about 24 pounds worth), and the internal temp was relatively low, around 230 on average (they turned out awesome, by the way)...

With the tenderloin, two things were happening. One, since this cut is so lean, there were not a lot of drippings to cool the coals, so the wood chunks pretty much just caught fire and burned. Second, the cooker was very uncrowded with only a couple of pounds of meat hanging.

So, my unscientific hunch is that hanging more food lowers the temp a bit in the cooker.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Breakfast looks great, I had four bones of my St. Louis ribs with my eggs this morning.  BBQ with breakfast is great.

[Pam Gould]

Pam--how long did it take to convince your hubby that pork cooked to 145 is OK?   My wife, being the stubborn red-headed German she is, just refuses to even eat it unless I can prove to her it's at LEAST 165!  She worked for a neurosurgeon who treated quite a few people from Mexico, I might add, with trichinosis (sp?).  Of course they bought their pork in Mexico.   Cannot convince her anything over 145 dries it out these days when they are butchering pork much leaner than even 15 years ago.   It has hardly ANY fat anymore.   And tenderloins never did have any fat!

Welll good luck with that. It took a few times but when it came out juicy, it changed things. We have a lot of pork growers around here so it's fresh, that helps. Just have to burn hers and cook your how you like. We are still living,so I know it's ok..I always cook to temp so I know what is going on.  Pam  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.