A feast is for sharing your very best — and lots of it. We always bring as many different flavours to the table as possible, so each evening’s meat course is a duo of cuts. We always pair something slow from the smokehouse, like Smokehouse Pork Belly or Smokehouse Brisket, with something fast from the hearth or wood oven, like Wood-Grilled Butcher’s Steak. On pork night, we serve smoked bellies with wood-roasted loins and our signature four-step pork loin play. First, the wet-brine method adds savouriness, sweetness, and a hint of apple flavour. Second, we slowly render and crisp the fat cap of the loin over one fire then, third, give it a fierce finishing roast with another fire. Lastly, a rest.
No wood oven in your kitchen? No worries. A cider-brined pork loin roasted in an oven is still a beautiful thing.
Cooking
Special Equipment Needed (optional): backyard smokehouse or enclosed outdoor grill; lots of aromatic maple or other slow-burning hardwood or aromatic fruitwood (such as apple or cherry); optional lump charcoal.
4 cups (1 L) fresh apple cider
¼ cup (60 mL) sea salt
¼ cup (60 mL) tightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon (15 mL) cinnamon
½ teaspoon (2 mL) ground allspice
1 tablespoon (15 mL) hot sauce
1 boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4 pounds/1.35 to 1.8 kg), fat cap trimmed to ¼ inch (5 mm)
Marinate the pork loin
In a medium bowl, whisk together the apple cider, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and hot sauce. With a sharp knife, evenly score the fat cap, forming a tight diamond pattern, making parallel cuts about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart, first one way, then the other. Place the pork loin in a small container or loaf pan. Pour the cider brine over the meat to submerge it, cover tightly, and refrigerate long enough for the seasoned brine to be drawn into the meat, 6 to 8 hours.
Roast the pork loin
Fire up your wood oven, banking a small crackling hardwood fire to one side. Alternatively, preheat the oven to 350 F. Turn on the convection fan if you have one. Remove the pork loin from the brine and pat dry with paper towel. Discard the brine. Place the pork loin scored side up in a medium roasting pan.
Transfer to the oven and roast until tender. The pork is done when a thermometer registers at least 145 F in the thickest part of the loin. Begin checking the temperature after an hour or so, and expect about 90 minutes total cooking time. Remove from the oven, loosely cover with a small piece of folded foil, and rest as the meat relaxes and reabsorbs its juices, 10 minutes or so, before serving.
Excerpted from Farm, Fire & Feast: Recipes from the Inn at Bay Fortune by Michael Smith Copyright © 2021 Michael Smith. Photography by Al Douglas. Published by Penguin Canada®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
