The day after I returned from a weekend of good eating in Louisville, I made this pork roast. Four days surrounded by some of the best bourbon, the lifeblood of the city, made me want to cook with it. Turns out that bourbon and pork are as good together as pitmasters say they are.
The foundation of this dish is onions and apples, classic pork go-withs in both France and America, while the flavorful wet rub — grainy mustard (French), honey, brown sugar, Sriracha and bourbon (from Kentucky) — is a mélange. Roasted in the oven for under an hour, everything comes together in a mix of sweet and hot that calls for some dunkables — biscuits or baguette.
I’m sure you know this, but just in case: Save the good stuff to drink before, during or after the roast. The pot is no place for splurge bourbon.
— Dorie Greenspan
BOURBON-ROASTED PORK LOIN is excerpted from EVERYDAY DORIE © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2018 by Ellen Silverstein. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
- One 3-pound (1-1/2-kg) boneless pork loin roast (not tenderloin), at close to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) bourbon
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) grainy mustard (preferably French)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions thinly sliced, rinsed and patted dry
- 2 apples such as Gala or Fuji, unpeeled, cored and cut into 6 pieces each
- Using a sharp paring knife, cut a shallow crosshatch pattern in the roast’s top layer of fat, taking care not to cut into the meat.
- Mix the bourbon, mustard, honey, brown sugar, Sriracha, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper together. Rub this over the pork, covering all sides. If you’re cooking the roast now, just set it aside while the oven preheats. Or put it in a covered container and refrigerate until needed. (The rubbed pork can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours — pull it out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking.)
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees F.
- Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy high-sided ovenproof casserole over medium heat. Toss in the onions and apples, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent and the apples are starting to soften.
- Center the roast on top of the apples and onions, pour in whatever liquids from the rub have accumulated and slide the pot into the oven. Roast the pork, uncovered, for 45 to 55 minutes, basting it a couple of times, until a thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 135 to 140 degrees F.
- Allow the roast to sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving it with the onions, apples and delicious pan juices.
WORKING AHEAD: If you’ve got the time, you’ll get even more flavor if you give the pork up to 8 hours in the refrigerator after you coat it with the bourbon rub.
STORING: The leftover roast will keep tightly wrapped in the refrigerator for about 4 days. You can heat it gently if some pan juices remain. Or slice it and make great sandwiches.
What can I substitute the bourbon for a gluten free liquor?
I’d skip the liquor all together and go with maple.
bourbon is gluten free!
I just put it in the oven five minutes ago. I am confused because it is NOT a rub. It’s all liquid? It just rolls off the roast…excuse me time to bast!!! Not much room to be able to bast! Is something missing from the recipe? I cut the recipe from Sunday’s Parade Bergen Record issue.
I would appreciate a reply.
Thanks!
Hi Barbara. The mixture is not a rub the way a dry spice mixture is a rub, but you do rub (verb) it all over the pork. Give it a good flavor massage!
Is the sriracha ground powder or liquid sauce?
It’s the red sriracha sauce in the squeeze bottle you see everywhere.
I agree with Barbara Kuhn. The mixture rolled off. It was not a rub. Also, the recipe had too much bourbon in it that did not cook down. The taste of bourbon was too strong and strange. Husband said the taste was lost. Not sweet, not sour, not spicy. The meat I bought was tender and I ended up using cranberry and additional siracha at the table for added sweet / spicy flavor. I got his from the parade section too. It looked delicious. So disappointed. I would not recommend this at all.
I made it this evening. Thought it was delicious. My recommendations: double the sauce, you will have more to baste the pork with. I loved the apples so next time I will add one more.
I agree completely. Delicious recipe.
Made this pork roast this evening (recipe from Parade). Made it exactly at recipe was written. I did let it marinade in the fridge for about three hours and removed from fridge one hour prior to roasting. Roasted for 60 minutes to a perfect 140 degrees internal temp, and let it rest for 8 minutes. Served with mashed taters, it was DELISH. Will definitely make again and recommend to others.
Our tied boneless pork roast was a disaster. We even cooked it a bit longer and still was only done around the ends. Very red and pink. What happened?
We wish we knew. It’s always a bummer when a recipe we feature works for one, but not for another.
Made this a couple weeks ago according to recipe. It was delicious. Actually left the roast with
the rub/marinade in the refrigerator overnight. I agree with one of the comments that more rub
can be used. Making it again tomorrow. Great recipe. I used two gala apples. One more thing, it
does take some looking at the grocery meat dept. to find a nice fat cap on pork roasts. Many times it is trimmed off to virtually nothing.
I have made this twice! The picture of Mrs. Greenspan’s pork Loin definitely looks like it was BROWNED prior to roasting to get that nice golden “char”. So, second time around, after marinating the lean pork loin overnight in “marinade”, I browned the dry roast first after draining all liquid off and reserving it for cooking as per recipe. Roasted for a full hour to an internal temp of 145 …. it was much better 2nd time around due to the browning and the apples and onions were simply DIVINE!!!