Rotiserrie Cooking a Pork Loin Roast

Cooking a pork loin is a simple and delicious way to impress your friends and family with a colorful presentation and a savory main course for any meal. It also serves as a fantastic grand finale to wrap up your bar-b-cue season while affording you time to spend entertaining your guests while the rotisserie cooks the meat for you.

Ingredients:

1 pork loin

3 green onions

2 cloves of garlic

½ green pepper

½ red pepper

Bar-b-cue sauce

Salt

Pepper

Other:

Cooking string made of natural (i.e. cotton) material only.

Wooden or bamboo shish-ka-bob skewer

Gas or charcoal grill

Optional:

Wood chips (for gas grill)

Preparation

1. Remove pork loin from package and rinse thoroughly in cold water.
2. Rinse the green onions and set off to the side
3. Slice the garlic cloves into quarters and set off to one side
4. Rinse the peppers and slice the peppers into ¼ to ½ inch slices and set off to the side.
5. With a long fillet knife or other long thin bladed knife, insert knife into one end of the loin and push through the meat longwise. Make three or four of these slits along the outside section of the loin leaving the center in tact (the rod of the rotisserie will be inserted through the center of the pork loin.
6. Insert the green onions, garlic clove slices, and green and red pepper slices into the slits. This may take some patients to work all of the vegetables into the roast but a shish-ka-bob skewer helps.
7. Insert the rotisserie rod through the center of the roast
8. Secure the roast to the rotisserie rod using several wraps of cooking string
9. Salt and pepper the loin to desired seasoning.

Cooking

1. Place the roast onto the rotisserie and subject the roast to high heat for approximately five minutes. This will seal in the flavor and juices. If using a gas grill, this is easily accomplished by turning up the flame on the grill. If using a charcoal grill or fire, you can accomplish the same thing by moving the loin closer to the charcoals.
2. If using a gas grill, add wood chips at this point.
3. At this time Continue to cook at medium-low heat for approximately 30 minutes per pound at 350 degrees. These are estimates and cooking times will vary depending on temperature and size of the pork loin. Ensure that the inner temperature reaches a minimum of 160 degrees by using a meat thermometer. It is always best to check the temperature in a few places to ensure that you're not hitting the cooking rod or any of the vegetables that were inserted.

Note: Watch flare ups as they can cause the outside of the roast to burn or cook too quickly. A spray bottle of water is a good way to keep the flare ups in check.

For flavor variations, you can marinate the pork loin in a mesquite or hickory seasoning prior to cooking but this will eliminate the crispy sweet outer shell provided by the bar-b-cue sauce. You can also forego the additional flavoring and opt to brush on olive oil throughout the cooking process. Finally, apple chips seem to bring out the best flavor in pork so consider adding them to your charcoal or gas grill for some extra accents and flavors.