Cranberry Pork Loin
By America's Test KitchenPublished on March 1, 2012
Time
2 hours
Yield
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Use whole berry cranberry sauce, not jellied. Avoid unsweetened cranberry juice in this recipe, but cranberry juice cocktail will work just fine. Look for a pork loin roast with about a 1/4-inch cap of fat on the top; the fat helps keep this lean roast moist during cooking.
Instructions
- PREP PORK Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Using knife, score fat on top of roast at ½-inch intervals.
- MAKE SAUCE Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in cranberry sauce, 1½ cups cranberry juice, dried cranberries, ketchup, mustard, sugar, and vinegar and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons cranberry juice in small bowl, then whisk into pot. Simmer until sauce is thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
- ROAST PORK Place pork, fat side up, in 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Pour sauce around pork and roast until top of pork is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Carefully spoon sauce over pork and continue to cook until meat registers 145 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pork to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest 15 minutes. Transfer sauce to serving bowl, cover, and keep warm. Slice pork and serve, passing sauce at table.
Time
2 hoursYield
Serves 6 to 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
To keep our Cranberry Pork Loin from drying out, we used a center-cut loin with the fatty cap still attached. The fat basted the pork while it roasted. To enhance the rendering, we scored a crosshatched pattern into the fat before cooking. Browning the roast was as simple as turning up the heat on the oven.
Jellied canned cranberry sauce fell right off our roast, so we turned instead to cans with whole berries that clung much better. Adding dried cranberries to the sauce created pockets of tart chewiness. The berries also plumped up nicely in the simmering sauce.
Before You Begin
Use whole berry cranberry sauce, not jellied. Avoid unsweetened cranberry juice in this recipe, but cranberry juice cocktail will work just fine. Look for a pork loin roast with about a 1/4-inch cap of fat on the top; the fat helps keep this lean roast moist during cooking.
Instructions
- PREP PORK Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Pat pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Using knife, score fat on top of roast at ½-inch intervals.
- MAKE SAUCE Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in cranberry sauce, 1½ cups cranberry juice, dried cranberries, ketchup, mustard, sugar, and vinegar and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons cranberry juice in small bowl, then whisk into pot. Simmer until sauce is thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
- ROAST PORK Place pork, fat side up, in 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Pour sauce around pork and roast until top of pork is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Carefully spoon sauce over pork and continue to cook until meat registers 145 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pork to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest 15 minutes. Transfer sauce to serving bowl, cover, and keep warm. Slice pork and serve, passing sauce at table.
Gift This Recipe
Enjoyed this dish? Let others know by sharing it as a gift recipe.
Appears In
Keep Exploring
0 Comments