Would you like a simple new recipe for grilling or charcoaling pork loin? You will love this delicious and flavorful one from my friend, Stanley.
When Stan told me that he was working on a new book, Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo, I knew it was going to be a success, because don't we all want to get better at grilling our beloved pastured meats?
Stan sent me a copy and today I'm sharing the first recipe we made, it was a smash hit around here!
However, our only charcoal grill is just a small one that Kent uses when he makes his famous chili each year to serve at our neighborhood chili cook-off. So we didn't charcoal our meat, we barbecued it on our gas grill instead. Instructions for how we did it are included below.
Charcoaled Pork Roast with French Brine
Note: Thankfully we're able to keep most of our herbs alive all winter in a sunny spot downstairs, and we had almost all of the ones called for in this recipe. If you don't have your own or you don't have organic, just use what you have.
Ingredients
- 1 (3 pound) bone-in pastured pork loin roast, with fat cap. We used 2 boneless pastured pork loins for our family, but didn't double the brine recipe below. Ours had some fat on it, but I don't know if it was a “fat cap”.
- 1 quart filtered water
- 1 Tablespoon coarse unrefined sea salt, preferably from France
- 1 Tablespoon dried organic thyme leaves
- 12 sprigs fresh organic thyme
- 4 cloves organic garlic, slightly crushed
- 2 imported bay leaves, crushed
- 8 sprigs fresh organic Italian parsley
- 1 teaspoon organic mustard seeds
- 20 organic whole black peppercorns
Instructions
1. The day before you plan to cook the roast, prepare the brine. Pour the water in a glass or stainless steel bowl large enough to hold the roast. Add the salt and stir vigorously until the salt dissolves. Add the rest of the brine ingredients, and stir well. Add the roast to the bowl, bone side up. Add more filtered water if necessary to cover the roast. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight. (I just used a freezer baggie and mixed everything well with my hands, on the outside of the bag of course, and then added the pork roasts.)
2. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to cook the meat, so it can come to room temperature.
3. Build a charcoal fire on one side of the cooker only. (Read below for how Kent cooked the roast on our gas grill.) Bring your cooker to medium high heat, with all vents fully open. Place the roast on the grill, fat side up, with one of the meat sides of the roast facing the heat source in front of, but not over, the heat source. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
4. Rotate the roast so the opposite side faces the heat source. Cover and reduce heat to medium low by adjusting the top vents to half-closed. Cook for 30 minutes at medium low heat.
5. Add two handfuls of charcoal to the fire. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until the pork is fully cooked and done to your taste. Add another two handfuls of charcoal if you want to keep cooking after an hour. Check for doneness at 10 minute intervals.
Gas grill instructions:
Kent used Stanley's method, only with our gas grill, so he kept the roasts on indirect heat the entire cooking time (1 hour). He did this by turning on the front burner only, but keeping the meat over the back burners. He had the front burner on high (it was cold out), but it was never right under the meat. He did flip the pork a couple times part-way through, and it ended up being cooked absolutely perfectly. The roast was tender, juicy, and SO flavorful!
Did you make a real food recipe?
I want to see it! Tag @KitchenKop on Instagram and hashtag it #KitchenKopRecipes OR share anything you know I’ll love by tagging @KitchenKop and hashtag #KitchenKop -- see you over there!
Thank you Stanley!
Do you have any of your own grilling tips or favorite recipes for pork loin to share? Maybe a favorite marinade?
Buy Stan's book: Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo
- Read the story of Stanley's miracle healing and health recovery when he began eating Real Food. 🙂
- Another goodie from Stan: Janssons Temptation – a yummy potato side dish!
- Check out his first book: Tender Grassfed Meat: Traditional Ways to Cook Healthy Meat.
- Also be sure to visit his blog: TenderGrassfedMeat.com.
(Don't ask me why that picture on the right has a pink hue…? The pork was done, honest, haaa! See the better picture on the cutting board above.)
Meal Planning Help!
Sick of planning meals and answering the question, “What am I going to feed these people?” No matter what kind of eater you are (traditional, GF, paleo, vegetarian)… Check out these affordable interactive easy-to-use meal plans where the work is done for you. NOW recipes also available from Nom Nom Paleo, The Paleo Mom, and Wellness Mama all in one spot! You can read over my review here.
We just got some pastured pork – I am so glad you shared this! Now we just have to test out the grill that we inherited. Thanks!
I haven’t used charcoal in years. The convenience of gas has taken over. But the flavor of charcoal is so much better!
Does the book have any recipes with directions for using a slow cooker?
No, I have never been able to get outstanding results with a slow cooker, so there are no slow cooker recipes.
Tender Grassfed Meat has a number of recipes that are slow cooked on the stove or in a low oven.
Tender Grassfed Barbecue has some recipes that are slow cooked in front of a charcoal fire.
Here are some crock pot recipes for you to check out if you’d like: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/11/index-of-crock-pot-recipes.html
Kelly