Cranberry-Glazed Pork Loin
By Matthew FairmanPublished on September 5, 2023
Time
2¼ hours, plus 12 hours 20 minutes salting and resting
Yield
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
A blade-end roast is our preferred cut, but a center-cut boneless pork loin roast can also be used. This recipe calls for cranberry juice cocktail, which is sweetened cranberry juice; avoid unsweetened cranberry juice. Note that the meat needs to be seasoned for at least 12 hours before cooking.
Instructions
- Pat pork dry with paper towels. Combine salt, pepper, and five-spice powder in bowl. Sprinkle pork all over with salt mixture. Wrap pork tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Bring cranberries, cranberry juice, honey, hoisin, orange juice, and ginger to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until cranberries begin to burst, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, mash cranberries with potato masher until mostly broken down.
- Return cranberry mixture to boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until glaze is thickened and rubber spatula dragged across bottom of pan leaves trail that fills in quickly, 12 to 16 minutes. (Mixture should be reduced to 2⅔ cups before straining.) Strain cranberry mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
- Measure out ¾ cup cranberry glaze for brushing pork; reserve remaining glaze for serving. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set wire rack in sheet. Spray rack with vegetable oil spray. Unwrap pork and place fat side up on prepared rack. Brush top and sides of pork with ¼ cup glaze. Roast pork for 25 minutes.
- Remove pork from oven and brush with ¼ cup glaze. Return to oven and roast for 25 minutes. Remove pork from oven and repeat brushing with remaining ¼ cup glaze. Return to oven and continue to roast until pork registers 130 degrees, 20 to 40 minutes longer, checking temperature every 5 minutes after 20 minutes. Transfer roast to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Microwave reserved glaze until warm, 30 to 60 seconds. Slice pork thin and serve with glaze.
Time
2¼ hours, plus 12 hours 20 minutes salting and restingYield
Serves 6 to 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We wanted a glossy, lacquered pork loin roast and a cranberry glaze with balanced flavor. To create an occasion-worthy centerpiece out of this affordable cut, we began by salting a flavorful boneless, blade-end pork loin (center-cut works too) at least 12 hours in advance to season the meat to the center and keep it tender and juicy. Then, we created a full-bodied, sticky glaze by cooking down loads of fresh cranberries with cranberry juice, floral-sweet honey, savory hoisin sauce, piquant ginger, and bright fresh orange juice. Reducing the glaze to precisely 2⅔ cups ensured the perfect consistency, while applying portions of it in three stages (before and during roasting) created a thick, even coating. Reserving some glaze to drizzle over the sliced pork gave every bite ample saucy flavor.
Before You Begin
A blade-end roast is our preferred cut, but a center-cut boneless pork loin roast can also be used. This recipe calls for cranberry juice cocktail, which is sweetened cranberry juice; avoid unsweetened cranberry juice. Note that the meat needs to be seasoned for at least 12 hours before cooking.
Instructions
- Pat pork dry with paper towels. Combine salt, pepper, and five-spice powder in bowl. Sprinkle pork all over with salt mixture. Wrap pork tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Bring cranberries, cranberry juice, honey, hoisin, orange juice, and ginger to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until cranberries begin to burst, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, mash cranberries with potato masher until mostly broken down.
- Return cranberry mixture to boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until glaze is thickened and rubber spatula dragged across bottom of pan leaves trail that fills in quickly, 12 to 16 minutes. (Mixture should be reduced to 2⅔ cups before straining.) Strain cranberry mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
- Measure out ¾ cup cranberry glaze for brushing pork; reserve remaining glaze for serving. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set wire rack in sheet. Spray rack with vegetable oil spray. Unwrap pork and place fat side up on prepared rack. Brush top and sides of pork with ¼ cup glaze. Roast pork for 25 minutes.
- Remove pork from oven and brush with ¼ cup glaze. Return to oven and roast for 25 minutes. Remove pork from oven and repeat brushing with remaining ¼ cup glaze. Return to oven and continue to roast until pork registers 130 degrees, 20 to 40 minutes longer, checking temperature every 5 minutes after 20 minutes. Transfer roast to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Microwave reserved glaze until warm, 30 to 60 seconds. Slice pork thin and serve with glaze.
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