Slow-roast crown of pork

Crown roast of pork makes a spectacular holiday meal. The roast is a 14-rib piece of meat – a butcher will tie two rib racks end to end to produce the crown. Make sure the butcher frenches the bones (detaches the meat and fat) for you. I like to slow-roast the meat to keep it tender and juicy. I cook the stuffing separately because I've found that when I stuff the roast, it not only takes longer to cook but the meat and stuffing both suffer. (see recipe for Cranberry Stuffing). Make the gravy in the pan after roasting the pork. For a smaller group, just get one rack.

Servings: 12

Ready Time: 2 hours 40 minutes

Pork

1 14-rib crown roast of pork

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped

1 tablespoon cracked fennel seeds

1 tablespoon cracked pepper

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

1 teaspoon orange rind, grated

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt to taste

Sauce

¼ cup red wine

1/2 cup pomegranate juice

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

Method

Preheat oven to 450F.

Stand pork on a rack in a roasting pan. Combine sage, tarragon, fennel seeds, pepper, grated ginger, orange rind and oil and rub all over pork. Season with salt. Roast for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and roast for a further 1 ¾ to 2 hours or until just pink or an instant-read thermometer reads 160F. Remove roast from pan and let stand while making sauce.

Discard any fat from pan. Place pan over high heat, add wine and pomegranate juice and reduce until slightly thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, soy and pomegranate molasses and boil another 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Drizzle onto each pork chop.

Slice pork into chops and serve drizzled with sauce.