One of my first photo shoots

I found a file with some old pics on a my desktop at home last night. This is one of the first times I decided to document the process with a camera. I'm guessing this may have been 3 summers ago because I was incredibly proud of my Kershaw Shun Knives that got as engagement and wedding gifts. This is another Garlic stuffed Pork loin, but with a few twists. First I cooked an appetizer with this and second I basted the loin throughout the process with bacon as seen above....Mmmmmm....Bacon.....


One thing I have noticed from these pics is that I have come a long way since then in both grilling and photography!?!?

First the shrimp. I took U8-12 shrimp from the local grocer that were already deveined and removed the shell but left the tail. I did these two ways. The first way I wrapped a large basil leaf around the midsection of the shrimp. Then I wrapped a half piece of bacon around the basil and secured it with a toothpick.

The second I did with Rosemary. In this case I took a short sprig of rosemary and put it in the valley created by the deveining process and then wrapped in bacon as I did with the basil shrimps. A little cracked black pepper is all it needs after that.

Here is a bowl of the shrimps ready for the grill:


Then the loin. As I did before with the garlic stuffed loin I cut slits into the loin and inserted slivers of garlic. I'm guessing I did some sort of marinade considering the color of the meat when raw. The marinade was likely worcestershire, garlic, black pepper and maybe some red wine.

I had yet to buy my Charcoal baskets that keep the coals on each side so this is a quasi indirect/smoking session on a standard 22 inch weber. In this case I seared the loin a bit over the coals before pulling it over to the side with no coals to indirect and smoke:


Here you can see the coals on one side and none on the other:


And after a bit, I rotate to get a bit of a sear all the way around the loin:


Then I pulled the loin to the other side of the grill and added some soaked wood chips and small chunks. Here is where I have grown as a pit master. I never use chips anymore or those tiny chunks as they burn up way too quickly.


And now it's time to make sure that loin will be juicy when I pull it off:


Evidently I got a little hungry and decided to throw a couple shrimp on the ole barby to enjoy during the process. Notice the bacon browning on the loin. How good does that look?


Once the shrimp is firm and the bacon looks done they are ready to eat:


Here's a rookie mistake with the bacon used to baste. The first three half slices were running out of fat to render out onto the loin, so instead of pulling those three slices off and eating them, I put three more slices on top of them. Learn from my mistake here. Don't let perfectly cooked bacon go to waste like I did:


I have no idea how far along in the process this is, but I'm guessing I was about to pull the loin off at this point. How does that bacon look now?


And here we have the loin resting and me proudly displaying my badass cutlery yet again:


Here are a couple of slices. You can see the bits of garlic if you look close:


How things have changed. First, I don't show off my knives as much. My pictures are clearer than these. I know not to waste bacon. I don't use wood chips anymore. That was the summer of 2006. A lot can change in 3 short year...

Click here for the rest of the process

Garlic Stuffed Pork Loin and Stuffed Tomatoes

I took a head of garlic and pulled out a bunch of cloves and removed the paper. Then I sliced those cloves into slivers. I took a long, thin, sharp knife and cut slits all over the loin and slid the slivers into the slits. Here is the loin with the garlic already inserted



I actually brined this and marinaded it as well. The brine was salt, a couple sliced up apples, garlic, black pepper, a can of sprite, and some brown sugar. I brined it overnight and then marinaded it for a few hours the day I cooked it in Andria's, Worcestershire, garlic and black pepper.

I was intrigued by a prepackaged rub that I found at the grocery store. I threw the rub in a bag and put the loin in the bag to get a really good coating on the loin. Here are the ingredients of the rub



Here is what will eventually be my meal. The tomatoes I will be stuffing, the loin in the bag with the rub and the big bottle of stout I will be sipping throughout the process.



A close up that wonderful beverage



I indirected the loin by putting the coals on one side and the meat on the other. I also added some smoke wood for some added flavor.



Now on to my tomatoes. I am by no means a gardener but I planted some tomatoes the last two years. This last year I planted yellow and red tomatoes. I will be stuffing one of each.

First I slice off the top of the tomatoes and then scrap out the insides with a melon baller.



Then I stuff them with a mixture of corn sliced off the cob, garlic, basil, cheese, black pepper, bread crumbs, salt and olive oil that I premade the last time I stuffed tomatoes and put it in the freezer.



Then I drop them in a tin foil, "nest," that keeps them from falling over or any of the stuffing from oozing out and falling between the grill grate.



Time to check on the loin



Looking good but there is still a great deal of flex to it so I know it still needs some time. This was at 90 minutes at about 250-275 degrees.

After about another 45 minutes I'm starting to feel more than a little drunk. I can't figure it out. I've only had 2 beers and part of a 3rd. Well within my tolerance. I went back inside and checked that bottle.



Ahhhhhh, that explains it. Those 2.5 beers I had in about 2.5 hours were closer to 7 beers in terms of alcohol content in less than 3 hours. After a large glass of water and refilling my mug with more water I put the tomatoes on the grill. They only take 20-30 minutes indirect and even less if you want to put them right over the coals.

Here we have the maters when they are almost done. The cheese is melted and the corn is cooked.



I pulled the loin and let it rest for about 15 minutes and then I sliced



Plated



The rub had a pretty high salt content in it and even though I did not salt the meat before going on because I brined it, it was a bit too salty. I avoid any ribs that have salt as the first ingredient. This listed salt as second so I went with it. Well the third ingredient must have been a distant third because it was pretty salty on the outside. The meat on the inside was delicious, particularly anywhere around the garlic slivers.

If I were to do this again I would go with a different rub use my rotisserie rather than indirecting the meat. The garlic sliver trick and a rotisserie are a match made in heaven....
Click here for the rest of the process