Applewood Smoked Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin with a Honey Mustard Glaze

I brought this to a New Years Eve party a few nights ago.  It was cooked here and carved there.  Here's my recipe for Applewood Smoked Bacon Wrapped Port Loin. 



I bought an entire Pork Loin.  It was about 10 lbs and cost about $20.  You can clearly see it can serve a lot of people.  I cut it into 3 pieces, a 2 lb roast for later use and I cut the remaining piece in two so they would fit into one of my roasting pans, side by side, without touching. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together, 1/4 Cup Honey, 3 Tbl Stone Ground Mustard, a Splash of Red Wine Vinegar and White and Black Pepper to taste.  I purposely didn't add salt to the mixture.

I scored the fat side of the loin to give it "some teeth" because I wanted the glaze to permeate the meat and for the bacon to stay put when I carved it.  I think the idea was successful. 

Lightly coat the meat with some of the glaze. 







Next, count out the number of strips of bacon needed, about 4 per loin as pictured, and cut it in half.  I used good quality Thick Sliced Applewood Smoked Bacon.  Drape the bacon over the honey glazed side.  Using kitchen string, tie the meat to hold the bacon in place.  If you look at the picture you can see how to do it.  First, you loop once around and tie it off.  Next as you go along, twist the string away from you, before looping around so it self loops.  Continue on until you get to the end and tie it off.  Butchers used to tie in this manner, but now they use stretchy elastic string that destroys your handy work when you remove it, so I always opt to tie my own.  If all else fails, loop it around and feed the string through to self loop.  The result should be that you use one continuous string.

Place the loins in a roasting pan and Glaze again.  Season with Pepper and a small amount of Kosher Salt to taste.   If you want to make a pan sauce, add a quartered onion for flavor.  I served mine with the au jus as to not compete or over power the honey glaze.  Place in the oven for a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes.  After 45 minutes, I glazed for a final time.  NOTE: For the last 15 minutes of cooking time, turn the oven up to 400 to crisp up the bacon.  Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.  Remove the string once it is ready to carve keeping the bacon in tact.  Using a very sharp knife, carve as thinly as possible, still getting full slices of meat.  This ways it's tender and easy to eat.

You can serve as an entree or with small rolls for sandwiches.  It's very versatile and goes with many side dishes.  What's best is that you can serve this dish at all times of the year.   And like your favorite jeans, you can dress it up with holiday fare or dress it down with barbeque style sides.  Happy New Year and may 2013 bring you joy!