Bacon-Wrapped Festive Stuffed Pork Loin
The stuffing for this USA pork loin hints at some of the wonderful flavours in an old-fashioned Christmas cake. We butterfly the loin and fill it with a sweet-savoury stuffing mix, wrap it in a fancy bacon weave then gently roast until tender and delicious. Finished with a maple sauce and butter glaze, this showstopper pork loin will be your new festive favourite.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 2.5kg USA pork loin, any fat and silverskin trimmed off
- 20 rashers of dry cured streaky bacon
- 1 tbsp of flaky sea salt
- 50g of unsalted butter
- 50ml of dark maple syrup
Stuffing
- 50g of unsalted butter
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
- 1 seasonal pear, peeled, cored and finely diced
- 50g of pecan nuts, roughly chopped
- 40g of dates, roughly chopped
- 40g of dried apricots, diced
- 1 clementine, zest and juice
- 1/2 tbsp of fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 tbsp of thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp of dark maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
Equipment
- Meat mallet/tenderiser
- kettle barbecue
- Wood chips
Method
Start by making the stuffing. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and gently sauté on a low-medium heat until translucent, 3-4 minutes
- 50g of unsalted butter
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
Next add the apple and pears and continue to sauté for 5 minutes until they start to soften a little
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
- 1 seasonal pear, peeled, cored and finely diced
Add the remaining ingredients and continue to cook on a low heat until all the ingredients are well incorporated, stirring gently so the mix doesn’t turn mushy, 10-12 minutes in total. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely
- 50g of pecan nuts, roughly chopped
- 40g of dates, roughly chopped
- 40g of dried apricots, diced
- 1 clementine, zest and juice
- 1/2 tbsp of fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 tbsp of thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp of dark maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
Next prepare the bacon weave. On a piece of baking parchment, lay 8 rashers vertically and one by one, weave another 12 rashers horizontally. Weave the rashers by lifting alternate vertical rashers and laying a rasher horizontally, then repeat in the opposite order with the next rasher. Repeat with all 12 rashers. Refrigerate until required
Butterfly the pork loin and gently beat with a mallet until flattened
- 2.5kg USA pork loin, any fat and silverskin trimmed off
Season the butterflied side well and evenly, with the sea salt
- 1 tbsp of flaky sea salt
Add the stuffing mixture to the middle of the loin. Close up the pork and place in the centre of the bacon weave. Wrap the bacon around the pork loin, using the parchment paper that you made the weave on, a little like rolling sushi. Tuck in any loose bacon pieces. To make sure the loin holds together with the bacon, wrap rightly in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours or ideally overnight
Preheat your kettle BBQ to 120°C and set it up for cooking indirectly, meaning the coals are banked on one side. Add soaked wood chips or wood chunks, if you’d like, at this stage
Place your bacon weaved pork loin on the indirect side of your BBQ (with no coals underneath) and cook until the internal temperature of the pork reads 60°C, around 1.5hrs
Melt the butter and maple syrup in a small pan and glaze the pork every 10 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 65°C. Remove from the heat and allow to rest for ten minutes before carving
- 50g of unsalted butter
- 50ml of dark maple syrup
Get in touch
Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.
You may also like
SITES
