Bone In Pork Loin, Braised Red Cabbage, Walnuts & Apples with Apple Cider/Baslmic Vinegar reduction sauce.

A couple months ago, I entered an online BBQ contest. Yup, they have such a thing. Came in third. Not too bad considering the competition. 
Stated with a 8# bone in pork loin.

Let sit at out for approx 30 minutes to relax the meat and let it come up to room temp.

Next was a nice hard sear to brown all the sides, minus the bone side as it is concave in shape. Did this in my Dutch Oven.

After that, I scored the top thru the fat and slightly down into the meat and applied a good slather of mustard. For those of you that may not know about applying mustard to meat like this, is totally melts away and leaves ZERO taste behind. Use it to hold the rub to the meat.

The herbs used were as follows.
5 cloves of Garlic minced.
1 Tbl ground Fennel seed.
3 Tbl Fresh garden picked Parsley.
2 tsp Kosher salt.
1 Tbl ground black pepper.

Onto a 230 degree smoker where it sat for approx 5 hours. Smoked to an internal temp of 163 degrees. I did not spritz or mop at all the whole time. I had a pan below which I added approx 1/2 gal of apple cider to to help keep things moist inside.
Removed and foiled and let rest for 30 minutes.

The end results. On the platter with Cabbage and Fresh sprigs of Rosemary and Parsley.

Reductions sauce was 1 C Apple Cider and 1 C of Balsamic Vinegar.
Brought to a boil and stirred constantly until reduced down to around 2/3 C. Let it cool down slowly where it stated to thicken up. An absolute must for any pork dish. A real nice sweet/tang that really compliments the pork.

Forgot pics of the cabbage
The red cabbage was pretty simple. 1 Med/Large head quartered and sliced thin. I used my mandolin slicer.

Stared by toasting the Walnuts in a pan. Set them aside. Next, melt 2 Tbl of butter in pan until it starts to foam up. Add 1 thin sliced medium onion and stir until soft.
Add cabbage and cook, stirring often until it starts to tender up a bit.
Add 1 bay leaf, 1/2 C Apple cider 1 T red wine vinegar. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring every now and then for approx 45 minutes. Watch towards the end as the liquid can cook out and it can burn.

The last 5 minutes of the cook, take 1 sweet apple, I used a Fireside from our tree. Peel it, and cut into small pieces about 1/8” thick by 1” x 1”. Cook approx 5 minutes or until they start to get tender.

Serve cabbage onto plates and top with toasted Walnuts. Season to taste with salt and or pepper.
Slice pork and serve with a good drizzle of reduction sauce over it and on the side. Delicious.