NOTE: This recipe requires an overnight brine. Trust me...if you want tender flavorful pork. The cook time is 3 hours.
Ingredients
Brine:
4 cups of real apple cider
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
4 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp of ginger juice
1 tsp cinnamon
Pork Loin:
2 Pork loins
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 small onion (coarsely chopped)
Rub:
1 cup of apple cider
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp thyme
Tools
Dutch oven or deep oven-safe sauce pan.
Small sauce pot
Recipe
The night before: Make the brine! In a bowl, combine all of the brine ingredients. Mix well. Place the pork loins into a large ziploc bag. Pour the brine into the bag, making sure the pork is submerged. Keep in refrigerator overnight.
The day of: Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
In a small sauce pot, bring the apple cider (from the rub list) to a boil and reduce by almost half. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, combine the rub ingredients and set aside.
Heat the dutch oven (or oven safe pan) over medium-high heat.
Remove the pork loins from the brine and pat dry. Rub the pork loins all over with olive oil and sear them in the dutch oven for 4 minutes on each side. Remove from dutch oven.
Add the onions to the dutch oven. When they become almost translucent, deglaze the pan by pouring in the boiled apple cider.
While the pork loins are removed from the dutch oven, rub them in the herb mixture.
Place them back into the dutch oven and use a spoon to baste the pork with the apple cider in the bottom.
Remove from the heat and place directly in the oven UNCOVERED.
Cook for 3 hours or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Baste the pork once per hour.
When the pork is done, remove from the oven and rest for at least 5 minutes.