Having the crew over to watch the piggy game Saturday night and this seems like a good menu idea. I've never smoked one before, anyone have recipe and/or tips?

Yes, don't do it. Buy the time the sausage is cooked in the middle, the outside is bone dry. This may not be what you want to hear, but I can't say I've had one that I liked. It you're determined to go that route, stuff it with something besides meat so you don't have to cook the outside so much. Or, make either of these two instead (you can do both on the smoker, they're awesome that way), and thank me later.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pork-shoulder-aldiavolo
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12197-momo***us-bo-ssam

If you quote it you can copy the link for the second one.

Stuff it with a ground pork sausage that you cooked previously - all you need to do is warm it up and not have to cook it. As stated above, anything raw you put in the middle of a pork loin will yield a really dry pork loin by the time the inner stuffing is cooked.

I personally like cream cheese and jalapeno stuffing with some Jimmy Dean pork sausage mixed in. Wrap with bacon, glaze with habanero peach grilling sauce about 15-20 mins prior to pulling off the pit. Don't overcook your loin - there isn't enough fat to render through and it can dry out quick.

As the others have said, loin is just too lean to cook fully on a smoker.

You could stuff a pork butt instead, though I've never tried that.

If you want to stick with a loin I'd cook it in stages. Stuff it (with a fully cooked stuffing) then cook it sous vide at a low temp until done. Look for times/temps online but lower/longer should keep it from drying out. A crock pot on low should do the trick too, just make sure there is plenty of moisture. Then take it out, dry it off and bacon wrap it then throw it on the smoker to finish and add some flavor. Use a hotter temp to crisp the bacon.

I was thinking something like this too. I'm guessing from this that you might be OK not precooking the sausage, depending on the target temp you want for the loin.

Based on the two articles at Serious Eats, 150F might work.

I like a spinach, garlic, and Swiss cheese stuffing. Smoke it slow the sear the hell out of it to cook the bacon.

Although it works best with a pork loin roast, you might try stuffing with boudin. Get a brick of DJ's boudin at HEB and roll it up like a cinnamon roll. Smoke for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Edit: Re-read and assumed you were using a tenderloin.

Unsurprisingly, pork was on sale at HEB in College Station this weekend. I scored this beast for $1/pound.


I trimmed it up good, halved it, butterflied it, and marinated in some italian dressing/worshteshire, and a little Slap yo' Mama.



I roasted three heads of garlic, then mixed it into some cream cheese with chives and onions and smeared it on the pork, then rolled them up and trussed them. As long as I already had bacon and cream cheese on hand, might as well do a few bacon wrapped japs while I'm at it...



We all know bacon makes it better...



This is not the most beautiful lattice job ever but it got the job done.



I put it in the oven at 250 for a couple hours, then finished it on the grill to crisp up the bacon.



Bottom line: it disappeared and we Beat the Hell outta Arky!

I would make it again, but as others have alluded to earlier in this thread - be careful about it drying out. Baste early and often (I did not do this enough) and eat it as soon as it comes of the grill - it dried up as it sat. But it was still damn good, pretty cheap, and fed a bunch of people.

Gig 'em.

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As the others have said, loin is just too lean to cook fully on a smoker.

You could stuff a pork butt instead, though I've never tried that.

If you want to stick with a loin I'd cook it in stages. Stuff it (with a fully cooked stuffing) then cook it sous vide at a low temp until done. Look for times/temps online but lower/longer should keep it from drying out. A crock pot on low should do the trick too, just make sure there is plenty of moisture. Then take it out, dry it off and bacon wrap it then throw it on the smoker to finish and add some flavor. Use a hotter temp to crisp the bacon.

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This is patently false.

Late to the party but I have done this a time or 2 for our tailgates...

Those big loins are often $1/lb at HEB. I like to get a good 7-8 lb loin and cut it in half. Then I take a sharp knife and slice a hole down the middle of the meat, making a "tunnel" through it. I season the interior of the hole with whatever rub I am using that day and the stuff the middle with a good boudin sausage (or really any sausage you like). If there is room and/or I just want to, I will add peppers, garlic & onion around the sausage for extra flavor. Then season the outside of the loin before wrapping generously with bacon. I do not do bacon weaves. Instead I actually wrap 1 piece at a time to get a thicker wrap.

Once prep is done, I cook in a smoker at approx 250 degrees for approx 4 hrs.

Uncooked loin before I started cutting them in half...


Sliced boudin loin (butterflied loin instead of hole)...


Sliced boudin loin (2nd cook as described above)...

Spray them with Kickapoo Joy Juice (1/2 jack, 1/2 soy sauce ) in a pig sprayer. Puts a golden coat and thank me later. Also great when smoking chickens

Awesome