Pork Loin Roast

This is probably one of my favourite recipes. What’s fun about the pork lion is that the flavour of the meat isn’t so overpowering, it allows the stength of the ingredients to impact upon the dish - sort of like a blank canvas for the artist! What’s great about this particular recipe, the strong flavours involved mean that it is not necessary to marinate over night, so all prep and cooking can be done on the day! And though the cook itself is pretty intensive (a lot of things to do), it isn't a particularly long cook overall, so it keeps you nice and busy without taking up the entire day.

First, assemble the ingredients!

• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Olive Oil
• Dijon mustart
• Honey
• Streaky bacon
• Butter
• Bourbon Whiskey
• A Cooking Apple or 2

The Prep

I start by preparing the rub. It’s a real simple one. One part pepper, one part salt and one part paprika. About 15ml (1 tbsp) of each should do the trick.

• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika

I begin by scoring the fat on the top with a knife in a criss-cross diamond fashion, deep enough so that it comes close to the flesh, but not so deep that it comes away from the flesh. Next I butterfly the pork loin. This means cutting through the centre, but without severing through it completely, so that it can can fold over, yet still remains in one piece. Drizzle inside and out with a good dose of olive oil.

With the pork loin now butterflied, I sprinkle some of my rub over the inside first. Then I dab generous amounts of Dijon Mustard on one side of the the inside of the loin cut. On the opposite side I squeeze out my honey. Lots!

Top tip: Have your jars and lids open before you apply as things get messy! Don’t forget to clean them off after.

I next fold my loin back over so as it is one complete piece again. Don’t worry about all that mustard and honey seeping out the edges! I continue to sprinkle the rub so that every side and every nook and cranny is covered in a liberal layer of rub. Squeeze some more of that lovely honey over the etched scoring on the fat and try and rub it in as deep as I can. Yum! I can already begin to taste it :P

Okay, what next? Are we done with the prep? No way!

I cut some lengths of string. 5 or so should do it, and lay them out on my work area: 3 beside each other about 8cm apart and the other two in perpendicular  direction. Next I lay out some streaky bacon over the string, one beside the other so that they nearly overlap.

The loin goes on top of the bacon. Draw up the strings, lifting the bacon up around the sides of the loin (add more bacon in the perpendicular direction so that all sides of the loin are covered) and tie off the string over the top of the loin, leaving only the cross-hatched scoring exposed.

Top tip: When choosing the bacon I would advise against using pre-smoked bacon. Our own woodchips we will add to the coals will provide the correct level of smokiness. When purchasing, look for “un-smoked” on the packet.

Apple Sauce

Just before I put the meat on, I chopped myself a cooking apple with a generous squeeze of honey for sweetness and placed it in a miniature cask iron pot with lid. I nestled the pot in the lower depths of the BBQ to do its thing, out of the way of the main cook. The apple sauce is not essential the recipe, but a nice addition for additional sweetness.

Below is how it turned out:

The Cook

For this roast I ideally want to get the heat in the drum up to about 180/190C. We are, of course, using the "indirect heat" method of cooking. That means burning your coals over one side of the BBQ while you cook your meat on the far side (i.e. not directly over the coals).  With the lid down, We can control the heat inside the drum by using the vents: opened to warm it up, closed (cutting off the oxygen) to allow the heat to gradually come back down again, and try to get the heat to hover in or around our desired temperature.

For this sized cut, the cook should take about an hour and ten minutes at 190C. But don’t take my word for it! Always use a probe thermometer to get an internal temperature from the deepest part of the cut. For pork, one needs to reach at least 63C internal temperature. Personally I like it cooked to about 66C.

Smokey Flavour

By adding wood chips to the coals throughout the cook, it produces smoke which will affect the taste of the meat giving it that smokey flavour which is so unique to the BBQ method of cooking. Indeed, the smoke flavour really does become an ingredient in its own right so picking the right type of wood can make all the difference. For this particular cook I decided to give apple wood a go as they are suppose to give a nice mild smoke texture with a hint of sweetness. I soak the chips in a small amount of water around the time I light the BBQ so that they have plenty of time to absorb the water and then throw them directly onto the coals at different intervals throughout the cook; that is, from when the meat fist goes on, to every time I open the lid to to baste it.

Bourbon Sauce

Don’t start relaxing just yet! When the meat is on for...oh say, 15 minutes, it’s a good time to start preparing the special bourbon sauce.

About one cup full of bourbon whiskey should do it. Add the Dijon mustard - a few thick spoonfuls. Mix it in well in or it begins to lump up. Squeeze in a generous amount of honey and about 100g of butter...or whatever feels right. Maybe a sprinkle of paprika powder too. You can even add peri-peri sauce if one desires a little heat, but I don’t feel that it’s particularly necessary for this particular cook.

• Bourbon Whiskey (one cup)
• Dijon Mustard
• Honey
• Butter (100g)
• Paprika

When everything is mixed, I stick it under the hud and let it melt & mix in the heat of the BBQ for ten or so minutes before I start the basting.

Now that she’s on, roasting away, I give it a basting with the bourbon sauce every ten to fifteen minutes or so. Not too often as I don’t want to lose the heat every time I raise the lid, but I do want to give the meat a good drowning all the same.

Just enough time now for a nice beer while I wait in the Irish sun for the cook to reach completion. Now, this is what BBQing is all about!

Top tip: When I remove the loin from the BBQ at the end of the cook, I wrap it in tinfoil and allow it to rest for a further 15 to 20 minutes off the heat before serving. This allows the juices to render back in.

My Reflections:

Today, as I said, I went for apple wood-chips. I actually found the influence of the smoke on the meat a little weaker than I would have liked. I used hickory wood on this same cook in the past and this wood seemed to have imparted its flavour on the pork with greater vigour. Of course, each to their own, and a very mild smoke flavour might be the preferred choice for many, but I think with the strength of flavours (the mustard, bacon and honey) ideally a strong smokiness is required. Hickory, for me, seems like the right choice for this particular recipe.