Hairy Bikers Roast Pork Loin Recipe

For a stuffed Hairy Bikers roast pork loin, a 2kg boned joint is filled with prunes, Bramley apple and sage, then roasted for crackling. And their official website recipe serves 6 at about 870 calories each by my rough sums, in roughly 2 hours 35 minutes.

From their 12 Days of Christmas book, it comes with “a tangy cider gravy”, made in the tin from the shallots the pork sits on. Then, to hold the stuffing, the loin gets a pocket cut between meat and rind, a job called ‘seaming back’.

For me, the crackling matters most, so after its hour at 190°C the joint moves to a baking tray for a final blast at 230°C. And they suggest buying the loin from a butcher, reckoning its rind will make better crackling.

Hairy Bikers Roast Pork Loin Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Roasting Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 40 minutesCook time:1 hour 40 minutesRest time: 15 minutesTotal time:2 hours 35 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:870 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Shallots and garlic are softened in butter and oil, then tossed with chopped Bramley, quartered prunes, honey, lemon zest, sage and breadcrumbs. Then that filling is rolled inside the loin, tied with string and salted, while the sliced shallots underneath flavour a flour and dry cider gravy.

Ingredients

For the stuffing

• 15g butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 medium banana shallots or 1 onion, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 large Bramley apple, peeled, cored and chopped small
• finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 100g no-soak pitted prunes, quartered
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 2 tsp dried sage, or 2 tbsp finely shredded fresh sage
• 50g fresh white breadcrumbs
• sea salt flakes and black pepper

For the pork

• 2kg boned loin of pork, rind scored thinly but deeply
• 2 more banana shallots or 1 onion, sliced, for the roasting bed
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes
• kitchen string
• 3 small apples, halved (optional, half per person)

For the cider gravy

• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 250ml dry cider
• 350ml vegetable cooking water (saved from boiling your veg)
• 6 to 8 fresh sage leaves, finely shredded (optional)

Instructions

1. Soften the shallots: Melt the butter with the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Then cook the stuffing shallots and garlic over a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened and starting to brown.
2. Add the fruit: Add the apple, lemon zest and prunes, then cook over a fairly high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the apple begins to soften. Stir in the honey and sage and cook for a couple of minutes until hot.
3. Finish the stuffing: Take the pan off the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs and plenty of seasoning. If you’re not stuffing the pork straight away, let it cool completely.
4. Prepare the tin: Heat the oven to 230°C/Fan 210°C/Gas 8, with the fan figure my conversion. Then pile the roasting-bed shallots down the centre of a large, sturdy roasting tin, in a heap about the length of the pork.
5. Seam the pork: Cut off any string, then pat the rind dry with kitchen paper. Cut between the eye of the meat and the rind, starting at the thin rib end and working towards the centre, to open a pocket. And your butcher can do this cut, called ‘seaming back’, for you.
6. Stuff and tie: Spoon the stuffing into the pocket, leaving at least 2cm clear around the edge, then roll the meat up firmly. Tie it at even intervals with about 5 pieces of string, each 20cm long, doing the ends and middle first.
7. Salt and roast: Massage the sea salt into the score marks, then roast the pork on the shallots in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5 and roast it for another hour.
8. Watch the stuffing: Scoop up any stuffing that falls into the tin before it burns, since it could make the gravy bitter. And at the end of the hour, as my own safety check, the stuffing in the middle should read 75°C on a probe thermometer.
9. Crisp the crackling: Move the pork onto a baking tray and keep the roasting tin aside for the gravy. Then turn the oven back up to 230°C/Fan 210°C/Gas 8 for 20 minutes more, with the apples if using, until the crackling is crisp.
10. Start the gravy: Rest the pork for about 15 minutes, which is my own step, while you spoon most of the fat from the roasting tin. Keep the soft shallots and sticky sediment, but throw away any burnt shallots.
11. Finish the gravy: Set the tin on the hob, stir the flour into the juices, then add the cider and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. After that, add the cooking water, bring it back to the boil and simmer until the sediment dissolves. Then stir in the sage if using.
12. Carve and serve: Snip off the string, carve the pork into thick slices and serve it with the crackling, apples and gravy.

FAQs

How long do you roast a stuffed pork loin?

This 2kg stuffed loin gets 1 hour 40 minutes of roasting in all, with hotter blasts at the start and end. But their Hairy Dieters rule for roast pork loin, 30 minutes per 500g plus 20 at 190°C, would give a 2kg joint 2 hours 20.

So I’d trust a thermometer over the clock, since a rolled, stuffed joint should be cooked right through. And if the stuffing is under 75°C after the hour at 190°C, give it longer at that heat before the final crackling blast. For their plainer loin with the rind lifted and replaced, see the FAQs on their roast pork with crackling.

Is there a pork loin recipe without crackling?

Yes, their Italian-style loin in Meat Feasts takes a 1.2 to 1.5kg boned, skinned loin, rubbed with crushed coriander, white pepper and thyme. Then it’s browned and cooked in about a litre of whole milk with garlic, lemon peel and bay at 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3 for 1½ hours.

A golden crust forms on the sauce, and the fat is then skimmed off before the sauce is reduced by half or more. And they serve it hot or at room temperature, “not fridge cold”, while their pork scratchings use up the spare skin.

Can I cook pork loin in a slow cooker?

Not this stuffed one, in my view, because the crackling needs those blasts at 230°C and a slow cooker would leave the rind soft. And loin is lean, so I’d expect it to gain less from hours of gentle heat than a fatty shoulder does.

As general practice, not their timing, RecipeTin Eats gives pork loin 4 to 5 hours on low, or about 3½ hours for 1kg. So if you try it, I’d take the rind off first and roast it separately in a very hot oven.

What should I serve with roast pork loin?

The recipe suggests the little apples sold for children’s lunch boxes, halved and served in place of apple sauce. And since the gravy uses vegetable cooking water, I’d boil the greens or carrots first and save their water.

For a side, their red cabbage braised in cider suits the prunes and the cider gravy, which is my pairing. Or for a different fruity filling, their stuffed pork fillet wraps two tenderloins round a ginger stuffing and smoked streaky bacon.

Can I make the stuffing ahead?

Yes, because the recipe has you cool it completely if you’re not using it straight away. So I’d chill it, covered, for up to a day, then stuff the loin just before roasting. And since cold stuffing heats more slowly, I’d always probe the centre.

I’d chill leftover pork within 2 hours and eat it within 2 days, though the crackling softens in the fridge. And cold slices with any leftover stuffing make a good sandwich, which is my suggestion.