It’s funny how things change over the years, and how few people remember. One of those things is the great flavor of a “REAL” pork roast. You know, the ones with the bones still in them and that glorious ivory-colored fat cap on top that crackles and browns like caramel.
Oh sure, you can get all the sad, plastic-wrapped, boneless pork tenderloins you like, many swimming in chemical-laden marinades that mask the meat’s natural flavor. In fact, supermarket coolers are lined with these pale, uniform cylinders of meat, hermetically sealed and ready for minimal effort. You can also find a former pork roast butchered into pork chops, some even with lonely bones clinging to one edge. But how many of you remember those Sunday pork roasts your mother used to make? The ones where the succulent meat pulled away from the bone with the gentlest tug of your fork, where that glistening cap of fat had transformed into a crispy, salty crust that made your mouth water before you’d taken the first bite?
You likely will not find a “REAL” intact pork roast displayed in your butcher case nowadays, but if you’re persistent, talk to the butcher and describe exactly what you want. I had a young butcher recently who blinked at me in confusion when I asked him to retrieve a real pork roast from the back. “You know,” I explained, “the entire section they carve the chops from, with that thick, marbled fat cap intact.” His face remained blank when I insisted he leave every bit of that precious fat untouched.
After he agreed to sell me the whole cut because he couldn’t decipher my request, I guided him to cut it in half so I could have two smaller “Real” pork roasts, and I tucked one away in my freezer.
Trust me. There is nothing like the flavor of a “real” pork roast cooked to perfection—the bones infusing the meat with richness, the fat slowly rendering and basting the roast in its own liquid gold, creating a symphony of textures from the crispy exterior to the fork-tender meat beneath that practically melts on your tongue.
I hope you give this a try and find out what these delightful roasts used to really taste like.
Ingredients
- 3–5-pound bone in pork roast.
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 beef bouillon cube
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons Marsala
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine honey and mustard, and spread over the top and sides of pork roast once you place it in a pan with the bone side down.
- Sprinkle garlic powder, rosemary, salt and pepper over the roast, and on the sides.
- Roast the meat for 15 minutes.
- Add about 1/2 of the water to the pan bottom, and reduce the heat to 325.
- Roast the meat at 325 for 35 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer reaches 175 degrees, checking to add water to the bottom of the pan constantly. The pan should never go dry.
- When done, place meat on a cutting board and cover with foil.
- Take the pan, scrape up the drippings and put 1/2 a cup of water in the pan while keeping it on low heat on the stove top.
- Add 1/2 the beef boullon cube and Marsala.
- Then simmer the pan for 3-4 minutes before adding cornstarch and 3 more tablespoons of water, mixing well.
- Slice the pork and pour the sauce over the meat, and or sides like mashed potatoes or hashbrowns.
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