Caribbean Spiral cut PORK LOIN - Mango/Pineapple/Coconut Stuffing

One of my favorite bloggers, Chris from NIBBLE ME THIS, did a terrific post where he made his own stuffed Pork Loin.  he did a cheese and pesto stuffing and as always, his came out terrific... Click HERE to see what he did.


But, he also closed his post with a fun game/challenge...

Quick Game:
You have a butterflied pork tenderloin in front of you right now and I am going to grill it for you, you just have to pick the ingredients (like an omelet station). What do you want in yours?

Well, I happened to have just bought a HUGE pork loin.  I had it cut into 4 pieces, froze three and was ready to go with a hunk.  So, why not play along with Chris.  First, sadly, I have no grill.  Much as i love being in St Thomas, without a grill, it is not paradise to me.  And with 1500 plus miles distance between Chris and I, not likely that I can take him up on the offer to cook my loin, so I am going to be baking my loin.


Next, Chris does an excellent job of a straight cut, stuff and bind technique, i am more of a spiral cut man myself.  I like being able to have a bite of stuffing in every bite.


And now, to get to the pork loin station and decide on the stuffing...


I did  a little research, and found a mango pineapple stuffed loin on the food network website, so i worked from that and came up with this recipe...

2 pound Pork loin (spiral cut)


For the STUFFING


1/2 cup Mango, diced
1/2 cup Pineapple, diced
1/2 cup Mushrooms, diced
1/4 cup shredded Coconut
5 cloves Garlic, minced
2 TBS Cilantro, chopped
2 TBS Mango Rum


for the GLAZE -


2 TBS Honey
2 TBS Mango Rum

It's not as hard as it sounds, and you will get better with practice, but to spiral cut a loin, you just slice in about 1/2 inch around the base of the loin and continue to lay it out as you cut.  Ideally you will have a 1/2 inch thick, and about a foot of pork.  I have done posts on slicing a loin in the past... Click HERE to get to one showing more photos of how it works.


Layer the stuffing on top of the loin and carefully roll up.  I secured with skewers, you can use toothpicks or cooking bands (which I left at home... arrrgh).

Inevitably, it is impossible to not have some of the stuffing fall out as you roll up the loin.  I made the glaze, and added some of the bits and bobs that fell out, and topped the loin with the glaze.  It sure makes the top brown up pretty!


Slow cooked this in the oven at 250 degrees, til it reached an internal temp of 160 degrees (about 3 hours, but I really didn't time it, I did remember to bring my remote prob thermometer).





Allowed the meat to rest for about 10 minutes, while I warmed up a can of peas (don't you judge me), and doctored up a baked potato.


And the verdict... Surprisingly NOT sweet.  I really expected the mango and the pineapple to be a powerful taste.  It really wasn't.  The garlic was the majority flavor in the stuffing, and I believe I will leave it out next time.  I also plan to double the amount of pineapple.  And maybe add a bit of feta cheese... hmmm, guess it's a work in progress.


The taste was very good.  Just not exactly what I had expected.  This very much had a savory taste, and not a sweet taste.  Interesting was all I could think of with the first bite... GOOD EATS was what I was thinking after that.


So, Chris, how did I do with my Caribbean twist to your game???