A crown roast of pork makes a visually impressive—and utterly delicious—centerpiece for a year-end holiday feast.
Photo by iStock
Serves 12 or more (depending on size of roast)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3–4 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
1 crown roast, bound and frenched (see tips below)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 head of green leaf lettuce, washed and spin-dried
Mix oil, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs together. Rub mixture all over roast, concentrating on areas between the chops. Transfer to roasting pan and cover tightly with foil. Refrigerate overnight. Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Put roast on a rack in the roasting pan, with ribs pointing up. Roast, uncovered, until the internal temperature is 140 F. Start checking temperature at 1 ½ hour into roasting time. (Oven temperatures vary, so make sure you have a backup portable thermometer in your oven to ensure accuracy.) Remove from oven when roast reaches 145 F. Turn oven to 475 F.
Transfer roast to clean baking pan. Pour drippings out of original roasting pan into a skillet or sauté pan. Put roast back into oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes until nicely browned and meat temperature reaches 150 F. Remove from oven, tent and let rest 15–20 minutes while making gravy.
Place sauté pan with drippings over medium heat—there should be 3–4 tablespoons of fat in pan. Drain off any excess. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil, stirring up brown bits from bottom of pan. Cook until mixture boils and thickens, 2–3 minutes. Pour through a sieve into a clean saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Pour into a gravy server and keep warm until ready to use.
To serve roast, transfer to a large serving platter or cutting board lined with lettuce.
Spoon half of the cranberry pecan cornbread dressing (see recipe below) into the cavity of the crown roast to enhance the presentation. Slice between the ribs to serve pork chops and dressing. Pass the gravy boat.
Chef’s tips:
Crown roast of pork is a pork loin roast consisting of two 8-rib racks tied together in a circle. The hassle-free part of this is that your butcher will do most of the work for you, from tying the roast to frenching the rib bones. “Frenching” is the process of removing the meat from the tips of the rib bones.
A crown roast can be made with more racks to feed more guests, but be aware of how big of a roast your oven will hold.
The one last key to making a good crown roast even better is brining. If you have a container large enough to hold the tied roast, this is a step you will not want to miss. Brining is soaking the roast in a mixture of water, salt, sugar, citrus and herbs.
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