Bacon and Apple Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Maple Apple Glaze

I spent last weekend in the mountains of North Carolina where the autumn weather is a little ahead of ours in Atlanta. As I drove along the beautiful, scenic mountain roads, I passed countless apple orchards all competing for my attention. As I thought about the first bite of a freshly picked apple and the explosion of flavor in my mouth, I relented and wheeled into Justus Orchards. When I entered the store, the aroma of freshly baked apple pies and donuts permeated the air. There’s this thing called Pavlov’s response, and I had one!

I made a beeline for the warm apple cider to complete the sensory apple overload. It was at that moment that I fully embraced the arrival of fall. As I wandered through the store, I saw bags and bags of every apple variety known to man. For the full experience, customers have the option of picking their apples.

I couldn’t leave the store without a bag of honeycrisps, so I made my purchase and continued my drive along the windy, curvy roads back to Atlanta. I spent the next three hours pondering apple dishes and how to put the shiny orbs to good use.

You should know by now that I love all things sweet and savory and by the time I arrived back in Atlanta, I had settled on a pork tenderloin wrapped with bacon and apple. A maple and apple glaze would give this dish the finishing touch. I only achieved moderate success with my first attempt, but after some experimentation, the second version yielded a better result.

I devised a relatively easy way to wrap the tenderloin.

Step 1: Cut 8 14-inch lengths of kitchen twine and place them an inch apart on a 15-inch piece of plastic wrap.
Step2: Place roughly 12 slices of bacon (1 pound) in an overlapping fashion on top of twine.
Step 3: Top the bacon with thinly sliced apple.
Step 4: Place the seasoned tenderloin on the apples, folding the thin end over to achieve equal thickness.
Step 5: Use the plastic wrap to begin rolling the bacon and apples around the pork. After the roll is started, release the plastic wrap and continue rolling as tightly as possible.
Step 6: When roll is complete, gently pull the ends of the twine from the roll and tie with loose ends. This step might require help from a second person until you tie a 2 or 3 of the pieces of twine.

As I was thinking about this recipe, I wasn’t quite sure how to cook it. After considering my options, I decided to use the grill. I ruled out the oven because I think the bacon grease would have generated too much smoke for inside cooking. Using indirect heat, I grilled the tenderloin at 300 degrees with two burners on and the pork over an unlit burner. It reached 150 degrees after about one hour, but I highly recommend using a meat thermometer to assure you don’t undercook or overcook. Due to the inaccuracy of grill thermometers, start checking the temperature after 45 minutes. You can always continue to cook, but you can’t undo overcooking. I brushed the pork with the glaze a couple of times during the last 30 minutes.

Our good friends and frequent taste testers, Bruce and Felix, gave this dish two thumbs up and blessed it as blog-worthy! I think you’ll enjoy the first autumn main course of Southern Boy Dishes.

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Bill Harris

I grew up in small town Mississippi eating traditional southern fare.A lifelong foodie, I started cooking and experimenting with food at a very young age. I started Southern Boy Dishes as a creative outlet and a way to share my love of food.

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