Smoked Pork Loin With Pecan Wood And Mexican History

We did not always think pork was delicious.

Along with horses, pigs were the first European animals to be brought to the Americas by the Spaniards.  Our indigenous ancestors did not readily welcome the Spanish pigs. The “Relación De Michocán,” written in 1540, describes the reaction of the Michoacán king, Tzintzicha, when the arriving Spaniards made the mistake of gifting him with ten pigs:

Tzintzicha immediately ordered the pigs killed, because he considered them not just giant rats, but also an omen of bad luck.  He was right about the second. Don’t let this story put you off pork. Eventually it became culinarily accepted and commercially important.

Two 3-lb pork loins

3 gallons of brine

Ingredients
2 1/2 gallons room temperature water
1/2  gallon ice
2 lb salt
1 lb brown sugar
1 ounce TCM (tinted curing mixture, also called Prague powder #1)  Note: Being aware of the pros and cons of nitrates and nitrites in TCM, I think this is a safe, moderate use of nitrite.  TCM prevents botulism, a foodborne illness caused by bacteria that grows when meat is cooked at very low temperatures over a long time.  TCM will also give the loin a nice pink cast.

Method:
1.  Add the sugar, salt and TCM to the water and stir until completely dissolved.

2.  Add the ice to cool the brine.

3. Cut off excess fat and weigh the pork loins.  Inject them with an amount of brine that equals 10% of their weight.

ARITHMETIC: Injected brine for a 3 lb pork loin would be thus: 3 lb loin X 16 ounces = 48 ounces.
Then 48 ounces X .10 = 4.8 ounces.  So you’d inject 4.8 ounces of brine. (it’s convenient that 1 fl. oz. of water weighs 1 oz.)

4.  Place loins in a stainless steel or plastic container and completely cover them with the brine.  Top them with a heavy dish to keep them submerged.

5.  After three days of brining, remove them, rinse with fresh water and pat them dry and place in the fridge, uncovered, for 16 hours until a pellicle forms on the skin.  This tacky glaze will help absorb smoke and keep in the moisture.  You can omit this step if you want. I always do it, but it’s not essential.

6.  Then smoke the pork in pecan wood at 185° F for about 6-8 hours until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 145° F  and not more than 150° F.

When I served it at the buffet table, the slices were ultra thin, as you can see in the picture.  This makes for a beautiful presentation but also adds to the melt-in-your-mouth texture.  Chef Kevin Babbitt, fellow CIA grad, helped me prepare the buffet feast and to him goes the credit for slicing the pork and arranging it as you see it laid out in the picture (revelers got to it really fast).  He is the Sous Chef at Texas Meat Company in Boerne, and also Sous Chef, leading the fine dining at Cypress Grille.

When I was at the CIA our class of 18 culinary students was drilled for 3 weeks in “precision knife skills.” It takes a lot of practice to get wafer-thin slices, and you use a very long slicing knife that is razor sharp.