How to Grill Pork Loin

Buy fresh pink pork to grill. Pork tenderloin is a lean meat so it’s easy to dry and tough no matter how you prepare it, especially if you want the meat to be thoroughly cooked because you’re concerned the meat isn’t fresh. Therefore, buying fresh meat and processing it as soon as it is freshest is a very important step to medium cooking and perfect taste.

• Discard pork that is gray or uneven in color and has a strange odor. Fresh pork should be bright pink in color and free from odors.
• In raw and undercooked pork, there is often a carrier of Trichinosis. In the United States, there are about 11 cases of trichinosis each year, and most are caused by consumption of wild pork. Even so, you don’t need to be too scared and don’t consume pork anymore. Instead, you should be careful when choosing meat and it’s best to buy it from reliable sources like supermarkets. ^[1]

Wash the meat and cut off the unsightly part. The pork loin should be pink, clean and with only a little bit of fat. If the meat has too much fat, you must remove the fat.

• Do not wash raw meat in a water bath to avoid spreading bacteria in the kitchen. You should only use a paper towel to dry and wipe the meat.

Consider marinating meat before grilling. Pork tenderloin is lean meat, so it is easy to marinate with marinade, dry marinade or any kind of marinade. You can marinate meat with ingredients of your choice, be it homemade marinade ingredients or ready-made products. Place the marinated pork in a covered bowl or resealable bag and let marinate overnight or at least 4 hours before grilling. Here are some suggestions for pork tenderloin marinades:

• To make the traditional sweet and sour marinade , mix 1/4 cup of piu oil, 1 minced garlic clove with 1 teaspoon of brown mustard, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of dried chili powder. The amount of ingredients can be adjusted according to taste. Rub the marinade over the pork and leave it overnight, making sure to flip the meat every now and then so the sauce is evenly coated.
• To make the sweet and spicy marinade , mix 1 cup of orange juice, 1 teaspoon of ketchup, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, chili powder, white sugar, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce. Add a handful of chopped cilantro to the marinade mixture.
• To make a sweet BBQ sauce , mix 2/3 cup molasses, ½ cup brown sugar with ½ teaspoon dried chili powder, five spices, salt and pepper, and add 2-4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar.

Let the pork loin come to room temperature before grilling. After marinating overnight in the refrigerator, the pork loin should be left at room temperature for about 1 hour before grilling to cook evenly. The meat that is still cold will cook unevenly when grilled and it is difficult to adjust the doneness of the meat.

• Meat can be placed on the counter while preparing the grill. That way, the meat will have enough time to warm up rather than get too cold when it’s grilled.

Apply the marinade to the outside of the meat just before grilling. Some people will like to remove the meat from the marinade and apply the dry marinade before grilling. Depending on the type of marinade used to marinate the meat, you can choose dry ingredients with a stronger or lighter flavor. The dry marinade will create a caramelized crust for a richer flavor roast. You can prepare your own dry marinade or use ready-made products. Before applying the dry marinade, you should apply a little olive oil to the marinade to stick to the meat more. ^[2]

• Simple marinade ingredients : Apply 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the meat. Then sprinkle coarse salt and black pepper over the meat.
• Dry marinade ingredients : Apply 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the meat. Then, apply a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Oregano leaves, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garlic powder and bay laurel to the meat.
• Fresh herb ingredients : Apply 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the meat. Then, put 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a dry pan. When the spices are fragrant, turn off the heat and put the spices in the mortar or pound them with a knife. Mix the crushed spices with 1 teaspoon of dried chili powder, 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh rosemary, and salt and pepper. Finally, apply the marinade from fresh herbs to the meat.

Preheat the grill 20-30 minutes before grilling. When the meat is ready, you should preheat the grill about 1 hour before the meal. The grill will take about 20-30 minutes to heat up to the right temperature (a gas grill will heat up faster), plus 20 minutes of grilling and 10 minutes of waiting for the meat to cool. So, preheating the grill about an hour before a meal will give you time to prepare.

• For a gas grill , you can prepare the grill a few minutes before grilling. Note that the grill should have an area with a lower temperature so that the meat can be grilled slowly under a non-direct flame.
• For a charcoal grill , you should put charcoal on one side of the grill and let the coals have a layer of ash on the outside before grilling. This way, you can lightly grill the meat over the coals and transfer the meat to the other side of the grill for the final grilling.