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 and have gotten pretty good at growing them. It's really not all that hard. Prior to this last year my Father in Law helped me build a trellis for them as they got way too big for the chicken wire enclosure I used last year. Here is a picture of my tomatoes in early August. The top of the trellis is 7 feet tall:

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....