The OTHER white meat. Bacon Roasted Pork Loin

Pork loins.




My bacon was leftover and had been cut!!

These in my opinion are one of the last great deals in the food market.  When they go on sale, I get the huge 10-12 lb ones and divide them into 3 portions.  I store them in a Ziploc and they freeze so well!  You can do anything with these babies!!!  Here is what I do with mine, probably TO often, but it is so good, so tender and so juicy, why mess with a good thing right?  I, by the way am obsessed with juicy meat.  If you have read any of my other blogs, you may already know that growing up, my mother was training to be a shoemaker.  She cooked all meat into shoe leather and used gravy as the softening agent.  It never worked well as I recall but it didn't stop her from repeating the same ritual each week with a new victim..err...I mean roast beef.  It is likely where my aversion to any roast beef comes from.  I do make it occasionally but, shoe-making stopped with my mom.  My precious pork loin doesn't deserve to have it all end "that" way!!

The key to keeping any roasted meat juicy is simple, COVER IT!  Use foil and cover tightly to keep all steam and liquid IN.  Instead of evaporating out, it creates steam that falls back into the meat.  This is a simple recipe but it is delicious, and NO you can not achieve the same consistency in a crock pot, do not even ask!!! This meat is tender, juicy and slice-able, not mushy baby food!

You will need:

3lb Pork Loin (or however much will feed your family)

1tbsp salt

1tbsp pepper

6 slices of uncooked bacon

1 cup chicken or beef stock

1/2 cup water

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

3 dashes of hot sauce

Line a baking pan with foil for easier cleanup.  Preheat oven to 375.  Sprinkle meat with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder.  Give your pork loin 3 good dashes of hot sauce on top.  This WILL NOT make your pork spicy AT ALL!!  So just do it!!!! Wrap bacon around the pork loin all the way down so it is complete covered.  Pour stock and water into pan.  Cover tightly with foil and bake approx 1 hour, remove foil and let bake another 30 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 150 degrees and the bacon is crisp. Let it rest 10-15 minutes before slicing.  You can use juices for gravy if you like.  

You can also roast any veggies of your choice with the pork!  Try some new ones, maybe some parsnips, or celery root!!  I challenge you to try a new veggie this week!!!

Your "other white meat rocks" chefwannabe

Chris