Crown Roast of Pork
By America's Test KitchenPublished on September 17, 2013
Time
2¾ hours, plus 6 hours marinating
Yield
Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients
Before You Begin
A crown roast is 2 bone-in pork loin roasts, with the rib bones frenched and chine bones removed, that have been tied into a crown shape. This can be difficult to do, so ask your butcher to make this roast for you. We wrap extra kitchen twine around the widest part of roast to provide more support when flipping. Use potatoes that measure 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
Instructions
- Combine 3 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic in bowl; reserve 2 teaspoons for vegetables. Pat pork dry with paper towels and rub with remaining herb salt. Wrap kitchen twine twice around widest part of roast and tie tightly. Refrigerate roast, covered, for 6 to 24 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Place V-rack inside large roasting pan. Toss potatoes, shallots, apples, 4 tablespoons butter, and reserved herb salt in large bowl and transfer to pan. Arrange roast bone side down in V-rack and brush with remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Roast until meat is well browned and registers 110 degrees, about 1 hour.
- Remove roast from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Using 2 bunches of paper towels, flip roast bone side up. Add apple cider to pan and return to oven, rotating direction of pan. Roast until meat registers 140 degrees, 30 to 50 minutes. Place meat on carving board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Transfer apple halves to blender, and potatoes and shallots to bowl. Pour pan juices into fat separator, let liquid settle for 5 minutes, and then pour into blender. Add chicken broth to blender with apples and pan juices and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to sauce medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm. Remove twine from roast, slice meat between bones, and serve with vegetables and sauce.
Time
2¾ hours, plus 6 hours marinatingYield
Serves 10 to 12Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Consisting of two bone-in pork loin roasts tied together in a round, a crown roast offers plenty of meat for a holiday crowd and a dramatic presentation, but its unique shape presents serious challenges to even cooking. The standard method (seasoning, brushing with oil, and roasting in a moderate oven) yields roasts that are overcooked around the outer perimeter and undercooked around the inner circle of the crown. For even cooking, we turned the roast upside down and started at a higher temperature, which allowed more air to circulate through the hard-to-cook center of the crown and better exposed the thickest part of the roast to the oven’s heat. Stuffing is a popular addition, but it was a major impediment to even cooking, so we opted for potatoes, shallots, and apples roasted in the pan alongside the meat. The apples came out of the oven too soft to serve, but we liked the fruity flavor they imparted to our pan sauce. Pureeing the apples into the sauce gave us both fruity flavor and a perfectly thick consistency.
Before You Begin
A crown roast is 2 bone-in pork loin roasts, with the rib bones frenched and chine bones removed, that have been tied into a crown shape. This can be difficult to do, so ask your butcher to make this roast for you. We wrap extra kitchen twine around the widest part of roast to provide more support when flipping. Use potatoes that measure 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
Instructions
- Combine 3 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic in bowl; reserve 2 teaspoons for vegetables. Pat pork dry with paper towels and rub with remaining herb salt. Wrap kitchen twine twice around widest part of roast and tie tightly. Refrigerate roast, covered, for 6 to 24 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Place V-rack inside large roasting pan. Toss potatoes, shallots, apples, 4 tablespoons butter, and reserved herb salt in large bowl and transfer to pan. Arrange roast bone side down in V-rack and brush with remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Roast until meat is well browned and registers 110 degrees, about 1 hour.
- Remove roast from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Using 2 bunches of paper towels, flip roast bone side up. Add apple cider to pan and return to oven, rotating direction of pan. Roast until meat registers 140 degrees, 30 to 50 minutes. Place meat on carving board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Transfer apple halves to blender, and potatoes and shallots to bowl. Pour pan juices into fat separator, let liquid settle for 5 minutes, and then pour into blender. Add chicken broth to blender with apples and pan juices and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to sauce medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm. Remove twine from roast, slice meat between bones, and serve with vegetables and sauce.
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