Inspired by the pork medallions that Noskos fired up, I tried my hand at these nice little bacon-wrapped goodies last saturday. Noskos’ version was rubbed with a cajun rub. Mine was rubbed with a sweeter rub of brown sugar with a dash of garlic salt, onion salt, ground ginger, paprika and of course some sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. The bacon was salted bacon, so the salt in the rub was kept low. These were first seared directly over a fire of lump, coconut briquettes and a chunk of grape vine wood. After a quick sear they were cooked indirect until the meat firmed up a bit. It was the first time using grape vine with a thick cut of pork. Unlike in a previous post “through the grape vine,” the wood went very well with the sweet rubbed pork. Of course since this was just grilled rather than smoked, the smoke was subtle.

I also made a quick sauce to accompany the pork. It was a bit of a last minute decision but it turned out well. I took a left over piece of the thickly cut bacon, chopped it up and sauteed it with a large shallot. To this I added about 20cl of light blond beer (which I rather not name) and cooked it down quite a bit. Then I added about one tablespoon of the left over rub, some heavy cream, and a 1/2 tablespoon of strong dijon mustard.

To drink with the pork I had a bottle of Cuvee de Ranke. A nice smooth musty sour with fruity edges that went extremely well with the sweet pork and salty bacon. A truly wonderful combination! Perhaps one of the better food pairings that I have had in quite a long time, unless you count the treats that Glenn cooked up for the Pre-ZBF gathering at Alvinne. Next time I will also use this in the sauce in place of the unamed blond lager, and that will no doubt take the sauce from being good to being stellar!

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