Smoked Bourbon and Brown Sugar Tennessee Pork Loin

By kathya5084

Ingredients

• 3 to 3 1/2 pound pork loin
• 2 tablespoons Tennessee/Kentucky whiskey or bourbon
• 4 tablespoons of Cold Mountain Rub (see below), or your favorite barbecue rub
• 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 slices bacon
• Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce optional (see below)
• Cold Mountain Rub
• Yield: 2 cups
• 1/2 cup coarse salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup sweet paprika
• Glaze
• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey
• Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce
• Yield: 3 cups
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 6 to 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 to 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 60mins
Cooking time 240mins

Preparation

Step 1

Cold Mountain Rub
Place the salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika in a bowl and stir to mix. Store the rub in an airtight jar away from heat or light, it will keep for at least 6 months. To prepare the mix for 1 meal use a tablespoon of each ingredient.
Glaze
While pork loin is smoking, combine the butter, brown sugar, mustard, and whiskey in a saucepan and boil until syrupy, 4 to 6 minutes. Set aside.
Pork
Cut the roast almost in half lengthwise through one side, stopping about 1 inch from the opposite side. Open the roast up as you would a book.
Sprinkle the inside with 1 tablespoon of whiskey and let marinate for 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the rub over the inside of the roast, spread with 3 tablespoons mustard and sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the mustard. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of whiskey on top of the brown sugar. Fold the roast back together (like closing a book) and spread 1 tablespoon over the outside and sprinkle the remaining rub over the mustard.
Cut four to six 12-inch pieces of butcher's string. Position the pieces of string on the work surface so that they are parallel and 2 inches apart. Place two slices of bacon across the strings so that it is perpendicular to and in the center of them. Set the roast on top of the bacon, positioning its long side parallel to the bacon. Place two slices of bacon on top of the roast. If desired, add 2 more slices against the long sides of the roast. Tie each piece of string together around the roast so that they hold the slices of bacon against it.
Preheat the smoker to 260 degrees.
Add pork to 2nd rack of MES 40 inch smoker. Add apple chips. Smoke twice.
When internal temperature reaches 130 degrees, baste with the glaze.
Cook the roast for 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 hours (3.4 min/oz) or until the internal temperature reaches 155 to 157 degrees F. Glaze again.
Optional - Preheat gas grill on high. Brown roast a few minutes on all sides to caramelize and crisp bacon
Transfer the roast to a cutting board and rest for at least 5 minutes. Remove and discard the strings. Slice the roast and drizzle glaze over it. If desired, serve Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce on the side.
Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce
Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice and zest, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, mustard, onion powder, and pepper in a nonreactive saucepan and whisk to mix. Simmer over medium heat until thick, 8 to 10 minutes. The sauce will keep for several weeks.

Calories:
Pork, including stuffing, bacon and seasoning 91 per ounce.
Glaze, 50 per tablespoon.