Hairy Bikers stuffed pork fillet is two tenderloins wrapped round a fruity ginger stuffing, then rolled in smoked streaky bacon and roasted. The recipe is in Meat Feasts, so it serves six at about 750 calories a portion, and it takes 2 hours 20 minutes.
Si and Dave write in Meat Feasts that “the stuffing and bacon wrapping in this recipe keeps the meat lovely and moist”. That works because two flattened fillets sandwich the stuffing between them, so every slice shows a full spiral, not a small pocket.
Holding that spiral together comes down to the hour in the fridge, which is the step most people skip. Chilling sets the fat in the rashers, so the parcel keeps its shape while you unwrap it and lift it onto the tray.
Hairy Bikers Stuffed Pork Fillet Recipe
Description
Both fillets are bashed thin and layered with apple, apricot and stem ginger, then rolled in streaky bacon and left to firm up for an hour. The tray juices turn into a ginger wine cream sauce while the meat rests under foil.
Ingredients
For the Pork:
For the Stuffing:
For the Sauce:
Instructions
- Soften the shallot: Melt the butter with the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then gently fry the shallot and garlic for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured, stirring as you go.
- Mix the stuffing: Take the pan off the heat, then stir in the apple, apricots, sultanas, stem ginger, breadcrumbs, ground ginger, lemon zest and juice and the herbs. Season it, then add the stem ginger syrup and mix until the stuffing holds together when you press it, so leave it to cool.
- Flatten the fillets: Trim off as much fat and sinew as you can, then put each tenderloin between two sheets of clingfilm and bash it with a rolling pin until it is about 1cm thick.
- Lay out the bacon: Put a clean sheet of clingfilm on the board, then arrange the rashers in overlapping lengths to make a rectangle roughly 32 x 28cm. Stretch any short rashers with the back of a knife, so the sheet stays even.
- Build the parcel: Sit one tenderloin in the middle of the bacon, spread the stuffing over it, then lay the second tenderloin on top. Bring the rashers over to close it completely, while the clingfilm underneath helps you pull it tight.
- Chill for an hour: Wrap the parcel tightly in more clingfilm to hold the shape, then put it in the fridge for an hour before it goes near the oven.
- Roast: Heat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6, then take off the clingfilm and sit the pork on a lightly greased baking tray with the bacon ends tucked underneath. Roast for about 50 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the pork is piping hot right through.
- Rest the meat: Lift the pork onto a board and cover it with foil while you make the sauce, so the juices settle back through the meat.
- Lift the tray juices: Put the baking tray on the hob, add 200ml water and simmer for 2 minutes over a medium heat, scraping the sticky bits off the bottom. Strain it into a pan, then pour in any juices from the resting pork.
- Finish the sauce: Add the ginger wine and cream and bring it to a simmer, stirring. Mix the cornflour with a teaspoon of cold water until smooth, then pour it in and bubble for a couple of minutes until it thickens, so you can season it, slice the pork and serve.
FAQs
How do I stop the bacon unravelling as it roasts?
Sit the parcel seam side down on the tray, so the weight of the meat holds the join shut from the start. The fat then renders as it cooks and welds the rashers to each other, which means the wrap is at its weakest in the first ten minutes and strongest by the end.
Take the clingfilm off by rolling the parcel out of it rather than pulling the film away, because pulling drags the rashers out of line just as you are about to lose your grip on it.
Can I build it the day before?
Yes, and doing it that way makes the whole thing much easier. The stuffing has to cool completely anyway, so making it the night before just moves that wait somewhere useful, then you build the parcel and leave it wrapped in the fridge overnight instead of for the hour.
Take it out about twenty minutes before it goes in the oven, since a fridge-cold parcel needs longer to heat through in the middle. If you like the idea of a pork dish you can get ahead with, this pork and apple pie is worth a go too, though it braises the shoulder for two hours first so it is more of a weekend job.
Can I cook potatoes alongside the pork?
Not at the same temperature, no. The pork wants 200°C while dauphinoise potatoes want 180°C for a full hour, so they fight each other if you put them in together. Get round it by starting the potatoes during the hour the pork is chilling, then they only need their final blast at high heat while the pork rests under foil.
The simpler answer is to keep the oven for the pork alone and cook something on the hob instead. Red cabbage takes 55 minutes in a covered pan and goes really well against the smoky bacon, though it serves four, so make half as much again to feed six.
What works instead of ginger wine in the sauce?
Sweet sherry or Marsala are the closest, because ginger wine is sweet as well as gingery and a dry drink leaves the sauce thin and sharp. Add another tablespoon of stem ginger syrup with it to put the ginger back, and you already have the jar open from the stuffing.
For a version without alcohol, simmer 150ml of ginger beer down to about 100ml first, so the sweetness concentrates. Keep the cream and cornflour the same either way, since those are what thicken it.
Does this stuffed pork fillet work served cold?
It does, and Si and Dave suggest exactly that with a salad. Let the parcel cool right down, then wrap it in foil and keep it in the fridge until you want it, so the stuffing firms up and the slices hold together cleanly instead of crumbling.
Cold is where it becomes a picnic or buffet dish rather than a Sunday dinner. A sharp, crunchy side suits it better than anything creamy at that point, so coleslaw works nicely because the lime and grated apple cut through the bacon fat. That one serves four as well, so scale it up if you are feeding the full six.
