Remaking a Holiday Favorite: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Honey Smoked Pork Loin

Times are hard.

Money is tight.

The lamb is too damn high and the three of us aren’t going to spend the week eating spiral cut ham leftovers. 

The lamb is too damn high. This is why we're eating honey baked pork loin #Easter pic.twitter.com/dUlNGDSMYw

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) April 17, 2022

I might save the prime rib for Mother’s Day depending on my wife’s wishes but I may reprise Christmas dinner with another box of snow crabs in a surf-and-turf take because even your friendly pitmaster has to play bougie every now and then and wow the socks off my way better half.

Truth be told, I was planning to do something different this year; after so long and so many cooks, the creativity wanes and ebbs before cresting into a meal that can be requested for this date in the upcoming years as well as any random Sunday afternoon potluck pending on family’s desires following softball season.

Back to the cook: This is what we are all here for.

INGREDIENTS

One half pork loin (mine was about 3 lbs.); for a larger crowd, feel free to use a whole loin

Fire & Smoke Society’s Sweet Preacher barbecue rub

Dub Shack BBQ’s Get Honey barbecue sauce

Honey mustard as a binder

Apple juice (optional; it’s in my water pan today)

STEP ONE. Open the package that the pork loin came in, pat it dry, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight on a raised rack. In a pinch, you could do this in as little as two hours prior to the actual cook but in this context, time is your friend. Don’t forget to trim the inedible silver skin from the loin.

STEP TWO. Take the loin our of the refrigerator and apply both the honey mustard binder and Sweet Preacher before setting it aside to rise to room temperature. After laying in the icebox all night long, the clenched protein needs to be able to relax and warm up to room temperature. Remember, happy meat is tasty meat.

STEP THREE. Light your fire. This time around, I’m using my Weber kettle and as always, the weapon is immaterial as long as the end result is great food. Establish the two-zone fire and add the all-important water pan and fill it with apple juice. This is going to be relatively quick but not hot dogs and hamburgers fast yet allow the grill to come up to 250-300 degrees before cooking. One chimney of charcoal should get the job done, and as an additional buffer, I added one split of apple wood because smoke also adds flavor and we all know that the best barbecue flavors come from the best wood near you – or the local hardware store, Academy, or even Walmart.

STEP FOUR. As I learned from the FDA, pork can be eaten at 145 degrees; to those who still are leery of a medium piece of pig, feel free to take your loin to 160: Just don’t dry it out. Around 130 degrees, move the loin over to the hot side and sear it for a few minutes on each side. The plan here is not to make those Chili’s style of cross hatches as much as it is to lock in the hard work of fire management; it is also a perfect time to glaze the pork loin with Get Honey on both sides to crisp up the skin. As the center of the loin reaches 145, remove it from the grill and bring it inside to rest for about fifteen minutes so the juices can redistribute from all sides; no one deserves dry meat least of all the people who share the space we call home.

STEP FIVE. After the fifteen minutes’ rest, slice and serve to your party with tantalizing side items!

Honey smoked pork loin is a slightly different take of the hams too many of you spend too much money on during certain holiday seasons and hopefully it also results in no leftovers – but if it does, make sandwiches, hash, or whichever direction your heart desires to take the white meat sometime this week.

Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell anyone within earshot that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ!