BBQ74/17 – Stuffed and Rolled Loin of Pork:
Stuffed and Rolled Loin of Pork: I was looking back over my blog to see what I wanted to cook again and I spotted this recipe by Scott Rea which I cooked before. The photo from last time is brilliant because I cooked it in the winter so it was dark and the flames were flaring up! The picture is my header photo on my Twitter profile too.
The notes in the link to the previous cook are really good, I used them to prepare and cook it again this time so I won’t repeat everything again. The Pork Loin was from Martin’s Meats again (£17.90 for 2kg) and I got some Gloucester Old Spot pork sausages for the stuffing (£4.95).
I made the stuffing mix then opened up the pork loin and put the stuffing into the opened loin before rolling it back up and tying it back up. My knots weren’t top notch but they worked first time so I must be getting better at them!
I set the BBQ up using the charcoal baskets which I put to the side with the rotisserie through the middle. I added some cherry and oak chunks – I am using this combination a lot lately, I really should try some other wood!
Based on the previous cook I was expecting this to take 2 hours again. I left it alone for an hour and went back to check on progress. I could see the fat was turning to crackling and the whole thing was taking on some nice colour from the cherry wood.
I checked back after 90 minutes and colour wise it was looking ready but the internal temperature of the meat was still below 70c and I was aiming for 75c.
I was looking forward to eating the black bits where the sausage stuffing had charred as I remembered those being awesome last time!
I gave it another 10 minutes and checked back. The fat / crackling was now darker than I had wanted so in hindsight I should have wrapped it in foil to protect it. I had been careful to push the smoking wood right out to the side to stop any flames hitting the meat and burning it but I could see one piece had a strong flame burning which was hitting the meat.
Again, the charred sausagemeat stuffing was looking very nice!
The internal temperature was now 75c so I took it off to rest wrapped in foil. After 30 minutes I unwrapped it.
I picked off some of the stuffing, it was fantastic! I then sliced through the meat. The crackling was very, very crispy so I flipped the meat over and sliced the meat from the top hitting the crackling last which made it easier to slice.
I had a quick taste of the meat, it was very juicy and the fat had softened right down. The crackling was awesome, very crunchy!
What a feast! I was tempted to just lay it out like this and let everyone fire in but I think we would have just eaten all of it! My youngest kept pointing at it and asking for more!
I really enjoyed this cook. I was more relaxed cutting out the pork loin as I have done it a few times now and my knots were pretty good this time! The end result was great, really tasty and very juicy. This would be a good dish to cook when you have folk round as I think it has a bit of the wow factor about it.
Next time I would check the colour of the meat around 90 minutes and wrap it in foil if the internal temperature wasn’t high enough but the outside was dark enough.
I would also cut the pork loin a bit thinner so it rolls more and spreads the stuffing better. I think I managed that better last time but this pork loin was quite small. As it was quite small it was hard to get it on the rotisserie skewer. Don’t try to push the skewer through the fat as it’s not going through even with brute force! Try and get it through the meat itself. Last time the joint was wider so it was easier but I think if I slice it thinner next time it will roll more and be wider.
I had a right battle lighting the charcoal. It was the last part of the bag from EBC and it was mostly small bits and dust. It took over half an hour to get it lit and even then it wasn’t lit properly. There was a strange smell from this EBC charcoal almost chemical like and there was a fair bit of black smoke. I don’t think I will use it again. In fact I just placed another order with Oxford Charcoal so looking forward to cooking with that again.
| Cook Equipment: | Weber Kettle |
| Cook Method: | Rotisserie |
| Charcoal: | EBC |
| Smoking Wood: | Smokewood Shack Oak and Cherry |
| Cook temperature: | 200c |
| Cook time: | 2h plus 30m rest |
| Internal temperature: | 75c then cubed |
| Notes: | 1: Watch the outside colour and wrap if need be.
2: When cutting the loin make sure it’s quite thin so it rolls more |
My word, I’m definitely doing this at some stage. Lovely work Nathan
Cheers Mark, I love this dish. Definitely one I need to do more often. Tag me in the photos when you make it mate. Enjoy!