Vargr
Vargr
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Now, for those wishing to create this wonderful pork centerpiece, wuff cautions that the recipe is pretty complex. There are a LOT of "moving parts" going on here. Thankfully, every one of them is very easy to create, with perhaps the exception of opening up the pork loin to prep it for becoming a pork roll. And that part just needs a bit of confidence, and a pretty sharp knife. Also, it's pretty forgiving, so don't let it dissuade you from trying out this wonderful dish for yourself.
Vrghr recommends starting prep for this the day before. That way, you can take each element on its own, and take your time without the stress of getting it on the table in time for your guests. The actual roasting, basting, and creation of the bourbon finishing sauce is a very simple affair, easy to finish on "feast day".
Wuffy will link several YouTube videos in the recipe below, to help give visual aids to some of the aspects of this creation, as encouragement for you to try it yourself.
To all Vrghr's Furry Friends, here's hoping the Spirit of the Wolf joins you in the year to come! May you celebrate your friendship and the spirit of caring the Wolf Spirit represents. And may you enjoy your Wolfenoot celebration next year! Awwwooooooooooo!
And may you enjoy this wonderful roast at some point in the coming year!
(Wuff is going to lay this out a bit differently, to break up the steps to simplify things a little)
For the Hoisin Bourbon Glaze (Can be made the day before)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup Hoisin Sauce
1/3 cup Bourbon
2 tablespoons Seasoned Rice Vinegar
2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon grated Fresh Ginger (or Ginger Paste)
1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon Chili Paste with garlic
1/4 teaspoon 5-Spice Powder
Directions:
Combine all in small sauce bowl/container. Whisk together thoroughly to combine
Cover and refrigerate until ready to glaze the roast
For the Mushroom Stuffing (Can be made the day before and added to roast then)
Ingredients:
2 lbs of assorted Mushrooms (Vrghr used equal portions Crimini (baby bella/brown), Oyster, and Shiitake)
1 large Shallot, fine diced
1 small Onion, fine diced
5 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons minced Garlic
1 Cup dry White Wine
1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Directions:
Clean the mushrooms and slice off any tough stems. Chop/dice up the rest of the mushrooms into small pieces
In a very large skillet, melt the butter over high heat. Add the shallots and onions and cook until fragrant and translucent, but not browned. Add the minced garlic and continue to cook another minute or so, until fragrant. Do not brown the garlic
Reduce heat to medium high. Add the mushrooms and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. Stir to mix in the cooked veggies and butter, and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until all the mushrooms have become soft and dark and given up most of their liquids
Pour in the white wine, stir, and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until nearly all but a tablespoon of the wine is gone. Remove from heat and allow to cool until ready to stuff the roast
Prepare and Stuff the Pork Loin
Ingredients:
4-5 lb Pork Loin (NOTE - NOT a Tenderloin. Get the full Loin Roast!) Roast
2 lbs THIN CUT (NOT thick cut!) Bacon
1 lb Pancetta (unsmoked Italian Bacon - can substitute Prosciutto)
Salt & Pepper
Montreal (Canadian) Seasoning
Mushroom Stuffing
Butcher's Twine & Heavy-duty Foil
Directions:
Remove any large pieces of fat from the pork roast. The bacon wrapping is going to bring plenty of fatty bacon goodness, so trim your roast pretty lean
Time to slice open your loin roast. NOTE - we are NOT going to butterfly and pound it flat!! This significantly changes the texture of the roast, and while that is good for some applications, it is not what we're going for here!
Instead, please watch Chef John address how to open up a loin for stuffing here. And remember, a Pork Loin can sense fear! So approach it confidently! *GRIN*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jVuC60Z3xw
Sprinkle the opened side of the pork loin lightly with some of the Montreal (Canadian) Seasoning
Stuff the opened pork loin with the Mushroom mixture (see the video above for that as well). Then place the individual slices of Pancetta (or Prosciutto) on top of the mushroom layer
Roll up the roast (see the video again). But don't worry about that Caul Fat layer in the video. We're going to use the Bacon Weave Mat for that! If needed, stick a few toothpicks into the roast to keep it from unrolling while you weave your bacon mat. (Just don't forget to pull them back out before putting the bacon around the roast! The butcher's twine will keep everything rolled up later)
Using the sliced bacon, weave together a mat large enough to cover the roast end to end, and all the way around. You may need to slice some extra segments in half and tuck them onto the end of the strips to make them long enough. Don't worry, the weave will keep it all together!
Here is a pretty good video showing how to weave a nice mat (or raft) of bacon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogtKpiGKzDw
Note, this is a great technique to know for a lot of things! Just think of making nice squares of bacon to top a burger, instead of those slices that seem to always slide off to the side!
Sprinkle the outside of the roast lightly with salt and pepper, then transfer it on top of the woven bacon mat. (Don't forget to remove the toothpicks if you used them!) Wrap the bacon around the rolled roast, overlapping the ends a bit
Next, we're going to truss this roast up so that it doesn't unroll. Chef John showed one way to tie off the loops, but here is a butcher that has an even easier technique! Give it a try, as it really works quite well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxvUhBPkoLM
Using butcher's twine, wrap a loop end-to-end and knot it, then do it again, rotating the roast 90 degrees (1 quarter) so the two loops make a + if looked at from the end
Now, add additional loops every 2-3 inches along the whole length of the roast to keep everything rolled up tight. Using heavy foil, wrap up the roast and seal up the ends. Tuck in the refrigerator until feast day
Roast the Pork Loin
Directions:
On feast day, remove the roast from the refrigerator and remove the foil wrapping. Place the roast on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Insert an oven thermometer (if available) and set temperature threshold to 145 degrees
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Place the roast on the center rack of the oven and cook it for 15 minutes to start crisping up the bacon coating. DO NOT BASTE it with the glaze yet, as the sweet glaze will burn at these high temperatures!
After 15 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue to bake for another 15 minutes to let the temperature come down before basting with the hoisin glaze (see recipe above)
After 15 minutes at 350, baste the roast all over with the hoisin bourbon glaze. Repeat the glaze every 30 minutes there-after, until only enough glaze remains for one more coating. Then stop basting - reserve the remainder for a last coat when the roast is removed from the oven to rest
When the temperature in the middle reaches 145 (about 2 hours, depending on your oven) remove the roast from the oven to rest but DO NOT COVER IT WITH FOIL! This would make the bacon coating soggy from the trapped steam. Baste it one last time and let it rest while you make the Bourbon Cream Sauce (below)
Make the Bourbon Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup beef stock (better than bullion)
1/2 cup Bourbon
2/3 cup water
1 cup diced Crimini (baby bella, brown) Mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
1 Shallot, minced
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 tsp Rubbed Sage
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp dried Tarragon
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons Corn Starch + 2 Tablespoons cold water, whisked into a slurry (for thickening)
Immersion Blender
Directions:
In a small sauce pan over high heat, saute the shallots in the butter until translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute, until fragrant but not browned
Reduce heat to medium high and add the diced mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and dark, and they start giving up their liquids. Add the pepper, sage, and tarragon, and continue to cook and stir until the liquids have mostly evaporated
Add the bourbon and allow to flame/reduce for a few minutes until liquid is reduced by about half. Add the beef stock and water, and continue cooking until the level reduces another 1/4.
Whisk in heavy cream. Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth
Drizzle in a bit of the corn starch slurry and allow to return to a light simmer. Repeat as needed until sauce reaches desired thickness.
Plate the roast
Using scissors or sharp knife, cut and remove the butcher's twine
Slice the roast into portions, and plate. Drizzle a little of the Bourbon Cream over roast slices
Give thanks to the Wolf Spirit and DEVOUR!!
____________________
We grow not old, so long as we continue to chase our dreams.
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