Roast Pork Loin with Lemon, Garlic and Fennel

This is our best recipe for the perfect wood fired pork joint you will ever try! Beautiful pork loin rubbed with garlic, fennel seeds and lemon peel, roasted over wood embers for the perfect crispy crackling with a soft and succulent centre. You can use the roasting juices to spoon over the pork.

Preparation time

10 min

Cooking time

1hr 40 min

Serves

6 people

Ingredients

2kg pork loin, bone in and French trimmed
1 large garlic bulb, cut in half
1 whole lemon
2 tablespoons of fennel seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
6 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
75ml extra virgin olive oil
75ml water
75ml white wine
Salt and pepper to season

Method

Pre-heat your wood-fired oven to 180°C and bring the pork to room temperature.
Place the pork loin in a large roasting dish and rub with the garlic and fennel seeds. Season with salt and pepper, add the thyme sprigs, bay leaf and drizzle the olive oil. Grate the lemon peel on top of the pork, cut the lemon in half and add to the roasting tin. Pour the wine and water.
Start by roasting the pork skin side up for 20 minutes to brown all sides, you will need to keep turning the roasting thin to avoid the crackling from burning. If the cracking has crisp up but you still need to brown the sides, cover with a sheet of foil to avoid it from burning.
Once the pork is browned on all sides, cover the roasting tin with tin foil and roast at 180°C for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Make sure you close the oven door leaving the door vent open and turn the flue to three quarters close.
Remove the pork from the wood-fired oven and transfer onto a warm serving platter skin side up and allow to rest covered for 20 minutes. Remove the excess oil from the cooking juices with the help of spoon and fine strain the juices. Check if the juices have the right seasoning, if not, add some more salt and serve with the roasted pork.

Roast Pork Loin with Lemon, Garlic and Fennel

Perfectionists in the Art of Wood-Fired Cooking.