Cherry Chipotle Pork Loin

This is one of my favorite BBQ recipes. I'm also posting my BBQ Notes from the smoke.

Ingredients

(1) Pork Tenderloin, boneless (approx 4 to 5 lbs)
(1) C. Bad Byron's Butt Rub
(1) C. Brown Sugar
(1) Bottle John Henry's Wild Cherry Chipotle Marinade
(1) Jar (16 oz) Maraschino Cherries
(1) bottle Apple Juice
(1) bottle Cherry Dr. Pepper
(1) bottle / recipe of BBQ Sauce (I use Head but Sweet Baby Rays is pretty good as well)

Instructions

Coat the tenderloin thoroughly with Bad Byron's and rub it in, then coat the tenderloin with the brown sugar and rub it in.

Place the tenderloin in a one gallon ziploc bag and fill with the bottle of Cherry Chipotle Marinade. Add the jar of maraschino cherries with juice.

Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours (the longer the better).

About an hour before it's time to smoke, fill a spray bottle with equal parts apple juice and cherry Dr. Pepper. Also, remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.

Fire up the smoker and once it's ready to go, place the tenderloin inside. Place a meat thermometer probe into the middle of the tenderloin and monitor the temperature while smoking. The idea is to smoke slowly at a relatively low temperature (225 degree tank temperature is perfect) and let the meat slowly come to an internal temperature of 170.

Although it's best to minimize the number of times you open the lid on the tank, I still like to spritz the tenderloin  with the apple juice / cherry Dr. Pepper mixture once per hour. I also usually turn the tenderloin over after about 4 or 5 hours.

I'm going to crust this tenderloin with Head BBQ sauce in the last 15 minutes of cooking, which means I'll paint the tenderloin with sauce and bring up the temperature to about 350 degrees so that the sugar in the sauce caramelizes and forms a nice bark or crust.

You also want to make sure to let the tenderloin rest for about 20 minutes before cutting it.

As a rule of thumb, you can plan for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours of smoke per pound of meat and you generally wanted to add a 2 hour buffer to that number (see my smoking notes below). I'm calculating an 8 hour smoke plus about 2 more hours just in case (e.g., the temperature doesn't raise enough, etc.)

Smoking Notes

I'm using a Traeger Big Tex pellet burning smoker with Cherry wood pellets. I started smoking this tenderloin at 8 am and the outside air temperature was approximately 70 degrees. I set the smoker to "smoke" initially and noted that the digital thermostat climbed to about 235 and held there. The tank temp was about 285.

I increased the P Setting on the auger from P2 (auger off 65 seconds) to P5 (auger off 95 seconds) as I wanted to lower the digital thermostat temp down to about 205. By the time the temperature stabilized it had fell to about 159 to 160 which is too low. I set the temperature switch on the thermometer to 225 to bring it back up quickly and adjusted the P Setting to P4 (off 85 seconds). Once the temp hit 180 I switched the temperature switch back to "smoke".

Within about 20 minutes the digital thermostat had settled around 205. The tank temp was about 230. After another 20 minutes, I checked it again and the thermostat had fell to about 191 and the tank temp to about 215. I adjusted the P Setting back to P3 and after another 20 minutes the thermostat stabilized at 205 again. The tank temp was about 230 again. At this point, I decided to leave it unless the outside air temp started heating up significantly.

As of 1:30 PM, the air temperature was about 80. Humidity was about 50%. The digital readout is about 205 and the tank temp is about 230. The tenderloin is registering an internal temperature of 142 degrees.

As of 3:45 PM, rain has moved in and cooled the air tremendously. The outside air temperature is now about 65 degrees. The digital thermostat fell down to the mid 160's, so I set it to 225 to raise it back up quickly. The tank temp had fell to about 190 as well. I adjusted the P setting back to P2. Once the digital readout hit 180, I turned the smoker back to smoke. It climbed to about 220 then leveled out at 205. The tank temp is about 225 again which is perfect.

As of 530 PM the tenderloin is at 154 degrees. I'm going to paint it with BBQ sauce and turn the temperature on the Traeger to high to carmelize the sauce and make a crust.

As of 545 PM the tenderloin is at 165 and has a good bark. Time to remove it. It will come to temperature as it rests. I'll wait to carve it for about a half hour.

Time to make some down home side dishes ... cheesy rice, grilled corn, and honey butter biscuits.

Looks fantastic and very juicy!!