Old-Fashioned Roast Pork
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS For this Sunday dinner–worthy pork roast, we skipped lean loins and opted for a deeply
flavored and inexpensive pork butt roast, which we flavored with a spice rub of cracked
peppercorns, rosemary, sage, fennel seeds, and garlic. Cooking the roast in a low
oven for seven hours rendered its fat and softened its tough connective tissue. For
easy slicing, we refrigerated the cooked roast overnight until firm, then reheated
it in the oven while we made a simple sauce from apple cider, apple jelly, and cider
vinegar. See the sidebar that follows the recipe.
SERVES 8
A heavy roasting pan with 3-inch sides is the best choice for this recipe, but a shallow broiler pan also works well. Boneless pork butt roast is often labeled Boston butt in the supermarket.
|
6 |
pounds boneless pork butt roast, fat trimmed to ⅛ inch, tied lengthwise and crosswise |
|
3 |
garlic cloves, minced |
|
2 |
teaspoons peppercorns, cracked |
|
1½ |
teaspoons salt |
|
1 |
tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary |
|
1 |
tablespoon chopped fresh sage |
|
1 |
tablespoon fennel seeds, chopped |
|
2 |
large red onions, cut into 1-inch wedges |
|
1 |
cup apple cider |
|
¼ |
cup apple jelly |
|
2 |
tablespoons cider vinegar |
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat pork dry with paper towels. Combine garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary, sage, and fennel seeds in small bowl. Rub roast with herb mixture.
2. Transfer to roasting pan and cook for 3 hours. Scatter onion wedges around roast, tossing onions in pan drippings to coat. (If roast has not produced any juices, toss onions with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil before adding to pan.) Continue roasting until meat is extremely tender and skewer inserted in center meets no resistance, 3½ to 4 hours. (Check pan juices every hour to make sure they have not evaporated. If necessary, add 2 cups water to pan and scrape up browned bits.)
3. Transfer roast to large baking dish, place onions in medium bowl, and pour pan drippings into 2-cup liquid measuring cup, adding enough water to measure 1½ cups. Let roast, onions, and drippings cool for 30 minutes, cover each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
4. One hour before serving, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Cut meat into ¼-inch slices and overlap in large baking dish. Skim off fat from pan drippings and transfer drippings and reserved onions to medium saucepan. Add cider, jelly, and vinegar and bring to boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to simmer. Spoon ½ cup sauce over pork slices and cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Place in oven and heat until very hot, 30 to 40 minutes.
5. Just before serving, reduce sauce until dark and thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve pork, spooning onion mixture over meat or passing separately.