Pork Loin, Sweet Potatoes, & Asparagus

Spring seems to be early here in Ohio, daffodils & tulips are out and the robins are here.
I have been doing some spring cleaning & just got a new computer. New operating systems are getting harder for me to learn. I have two PC’s & both are working & on the net but don’t seem to be able to get the talking to each other yet. So it was good to relax & cook a good supper tonight.

Awhile back going thru my recipes I found an old recipe for injecting turkey for deep frying. A friend gave it to me. I have never deep fried a turkey but used it on some turkey breasts to smoke & thought it was good. I thought maybe it would be good for a pork loin. I found a piece of loin at my butchers to try it on. It was about 4 lbs.

The fat side was almost covered with a fat cap. I decided to not trim & do fat side down in a v roaster rack. I rubbed a little olive oil on then I injected it with the marinade from the lean side, about every inch all over. Then a generous coat of Penzey’s Galena street rub. I covered it with saran wrap & was in the fridge about 4 hours before smoking.

I put the loin on smoke, 170 to 180 deg for about an hour before going to 325 deg., at this time a laid two slices of bacon on the loin. I cut two sweet potatoes in half, butter & brown sugar in the middle & wrapped in foil. I put them in the smoker. I cleaned a bunch of asparagus & poured some white balsamic vinegar over, ready to nuke when the loin was done.

I planned to pull the roast when it was 155 deg. IT. After 45 minutes at 325 deg. I thought it was coming up slow so went to 350 deg to finish. Another 40 min it was done, total cook time was about 2 hours 20 minutes. The sweet potatoes were on about 2 hours; that included some on smoke mode. They were overdone but to me it doesn’t hurt. Sweet potatoes are good with pork & I like to use them instead of white potatoes, I know they will be done & can do them with the pork on the smoker.

I pulled the pork & sweet potatoes, foiled the loin while I nuked the asparagus. The loin was very moist & tender. It all tasted pretty darn good. I will use the injection again.

Printable Injection Recipe

Injected & Rubbed

Ready to rest

Fat side up & ready to slice

Sliced

My Plate, the cook had an end piece & got the bacon too!

Smokin Don