Roasted Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

I love pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and feel as though I can turn out decent food with either. Less so with the boneless loin. More often than not, unbrined it comes out dry and brined it comes out squeaky and, though flavorful, that flavor is mostly seasoned water, not porky goodness.

Inspired by my new Blogger.com friend The Chef en Amateur by his smoked, bacon wrapped pork loin recipe, I attempted a simple weeknight bacon wrapped pork loin using the roast boneless pork loin method from Timing Is Everything, one of my kitchen bibles.

The bacon would add the salt and fat for moisture and flavor and, unbrined, it would be full of it's own porky flavor. The relatively quick roasting method would make it suitable for a weeknight meal. Here's what went down;

Roasted Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

1 3 pound boneless pork loin
half a package thinly slice smoky bacon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Wrap pork with the bacon so that the weight of the pork holds the bacon strips together under the roast on a baking pan.

Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 250 degrees F and cook until done to your liking. Timing is Everything recommends 20 - 22 minutes a pound.

Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

The verdict? It smelled simply delightful while cooking. The meat was moist, smoky and flavorful but...as you can see, the bacon didn't really crisp up. I could have held the bacon to the roast with skewers and browned it on all sides before roasting but then it falls outside the realm of simple and weeknight. I suppose I'll have to remove it from that category or try a longer lower method or a higher hotter method.

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