Dad's day Pork Explosion - w/ pics.

So Pops and I decided to go all Genghis Khan on our arteries for dad's day, since we are not usually allowed such extravagances at family dinners.

I rustled up the Bacon Explosion recipe and we made a few alterations and got our pork on. It. Was. Epic.


Didn't remember to take pics until after we had already made the bacon weave, added the Jimmy Dean Sage flavor sausage and then sprinkled with diced shallot, green onion, garlic and cripsy bacon pieces, then drizzled some BBQ sauce on there as well.


That's two pork loins. I brined them overnight in apple cider, salt, brown sugar, garlic, onion, fresh tarragon, fresh rosemary. Sunday am, we took them out of the brine and coated with BBQ rub and allowed them to come to room temp (but not really, according to several websites) Then we butterflied both and combined them to form as close to a single loin as possible and placed them on the sausage bed.


Rolled that bitch up and started the fire.


We intended to smoke it low and slow at +/- 250, but with pops and I and the BIL doing some day drankin and paying less than diligent attention, the smoker hovered around 300-325. At that temp, it probably came out better because the outside bacon weave got really nice and crisp and dark. Had we keep it really low, I'm not sure the bacon would have turned out as good. The last 20 minutes, we basted the outside with BBQ sauce. At the elevated temp, it only took about 2 1/2 hrs instead of the 4 to 4 1/2 we expected. So, once internal temp of the loins reached 145, we pulled it and let it rest wrapped in foil to coast up to 150 or so in the microwave while we hurriedly finished the sides and salad.


The damn thing was ridiculously good. Juicy as hell, tender, delicious and oddly, it was not overkill on porkyness. I was thinking that it might be just too much of the pork flavor and that it would be one of those novelty things that you could say you've tried, but are not particularly interested in having again. Hell no, not only am I doing this again, but it's right on up there with ribs and pulled shoulder as one of my favorite pork dishes. This bad boy might have grabbed a regular spot at the holiday table, based on this tour de force performance.