Smoked Pork Loin with Apple Mustard Glaze

Ingredients

• 1.5kg pork loin, trimmed but with a thin fat cap left on
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp flaky sea salt
• 2 tsp coarse black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil
• 2 large handfuls apple wood chunks or chips, soaked for 30 minutes
• 200ml cloudy apple cider
• 3 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped
• 1 small knob butter
• 800g baby new potatoes, halved if large
• 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• flaky sea salt
• small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 400g tenderstem broccoli
• 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 crisp eating apple (Braeburn or Cox)
• ½ small red onion, very finely sliced
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp soured cream
• small handful fresh chives, snipped

Method

1. Take the pork loin out of the fridge a full hour before it goes on. Cold meat straight from the fridge stalls badly in a smoker and the outside dries before the centre catches up. Pat it bone dry with kitchen paper — water on the surface means steam, and steam means no bark.
2. Mix the brown sugar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic granules in a small bowl. Toast the rub between your fingers as you scatter it — the smoked paprika needs to bloom against the warm oil and pork fat to taste of itself rather than dusty. Rub the loin all over with the garlic-infused oil, then press the rub onto every surface and season generously — don't be shy, this is your bark. Let it sit at room temperature while you set up the BBQ.
3. Set up your kettle BBQ for indirect smoking: coals banked to one side, drip tray with a splash of water under the empty side, lid vents open. You're aiming for a steady 110–120°C at the grate. Once the coals are ashed over and the temperature has settled, scatter a handful of soaked apple wood over the coals.
4. Place the loin on the cool side, fat cap up, lid on with the top vent positioned over the meat — that pulls the smoke across the loin before it leaves. Smoke for around 2 hours, topping up with a few coals and another handful of wood at the 1-hour mark. You want thin blue smoke, not thick white. White smoke means the wood is smouldering and the bark will turn bitter — watch it, and don't burn the wood by piling it on.
5. While the loin smokes, make the glaze. Put the cider, both mustards, brown sugar, cider vinegar and thyme leaves in a small pan and simmer gently for 8–10 minutes until reduced by half and syrupy enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the butter off the heat for gloss. Taste it — it should be sharp, sweet and savoury in equal measure; adjust with a pinch of salt if the mustards are dominating.
6. After about 2 hours, the loin should be reading 50°C internal in the thickest part. Start brushing on the glaze every 15 minutes. Don't drown it — thin coats build a lacquer; thick coats slide off and burn on the grate.
7. Pull the loin when the internal temperature hits 60°C, and trust the thermometer over the clock. Pork loin is unforgiving: 60°C off the heat carries up to 63–64°C resting, which is juicy and faintly pink. Past 68°C it goes chalky and there's no coming back. Tent loosely with foil and rest for at least 15 minutes — the juices need time to settle back into the fibres.
8. While the loin rests, bring a pan of well-salted pasta-style water to the boil — it should taste like the sea — and simmer the new potatoes for 12–14 minutes until a knife slides through with no resistance. Drain, return to the hot pan with the garlic-infused oil and thyme, and toss until the potatoes glisten and the residual steam dries off. Season again with flaky salt and scatter with parsley.
9. For the broccoli: blanch the tenderstem for 90 seconds in boiling water, drain and dry well — wet broccoli steams instead of charring. Toss with the garlic-infused oil and a pinch of salt, then lay across the hot side of the BBQ in a single layer; don't crowd the bars or the spears will sweat instead of blister. Char hard for 2 minutes a side until the tips blacken in spots — that's where the flavour lives. Finish with a squeeze of lemon straight off the heat.
10. For the slaw: core and matchstick the apple, toss immediately with the cider vinegar to stop it browning, then add the red onion, mustard, soured cream and chives. Season, stir, taste, season again — adjust now, not at the table. Keep it loose and crunchy; this is the sharp counter to the rich glazed pork.
11. Slice the rested loin across the grain into 1cm pieces and pour any resting juices back over the board. Plate up with the thyme potatoes, the charred tenderstem and the apple slaw alongside, scatter watercress across the board, and serve with extra wholegrain mustard, cornichons and crusty bread for building proper plates.