Cook's says: "There was a time when a Sunday roast and a family gathering was a weekly event. Depending upon what part of the country you lived in, it was either a prime rib or a big cut of pork. A beef roast is pretty easy to cook; a pork roast, however, is not. All the fat has been bred out of commercial pork and the lean meat quickly dries out in the oven. Is there a particular cut that doesn’t dry out? Are there any tricks to keeping it roast pork moist and flavorful?"
Test Kitchen DiscoveriesSTOP! Before you continue ::: this is a 2-day cooking process. I recommend preparing your roast the way I did, starting on Saturday and finishing up on Sunday. It was easy to plan cooking around the other events / activities scheduled for my weekend!
* Skip lean loins and use deep-flavored, amply marbled, and very inexpensive pork shoulder or Boston butt. The fat renders as the meat roasts and keeps it moist.
* For a classic roast pork spice rub, blend garlic, pepper, rosemary, sage, and fennel seed.
* Cook the roast in a low (300-degree) oven for a whopping 7 hours. The combination of long cooking time and low heat renders the fat and softens the tough connective tissue.
* The roast won’t slice neatly fresh from the oven, so it must be refrigerated overnight until firm, after which neat, clean slices are perfectly possible. Dress the slices with a sauce prepared from the drippings mixed with a little apple cider and jelly and heat in the oven.
Before I send you off to check out the recipe, here's how to make it easier on yourself:
(1) The roast I bought (for a mere $3.78 at Hannaford) was a little over 3.75 pounds, and it was already tied with twine, right in the package! That's the way to go - who has twine around the house anyway, right? Use the same cooking time for a larger roast. It doesn't hurt a bit!
(2) Instead of all the spices involved in the inigtial preparation steps, I remembered having a small jar of McCormick's Turkey rub. I used it a couple of Thanksgivings ago and it was NOT a hit, at least not on the bird! HOWEVER, the ingredients contain the spices called for in the Cook's recipe! All I added to the rub was garlic powder!
(3) After about 5 of the 7 hours had elapsed, I checked the meat to find it had BARELY rendered any 'drippings,' so I added 1/2 cup apple cider by pouring it over the roast. When it was time to take it out of the oven, once again there were barely any renderings, so when I placed the meat in the galss baking dish to refrigerate overnight, I again added apple cider to the container of renderings. ALSO: the meat seemed very dry, and I did pierce it with a fork while transferring from pan to baking dish and it struck me as perhaps being more tough than tender.
(4) SKIP the vinegar entirely! Use Apple Cider or a little Cola or Ginger Ale!
Here, step-by-step, is how to make this succulent dish, fully illustrated!
Thanks, Butteryum Blog!
Tags: Old-Fashioned Roast Pork, Cook's Country Roast Pork
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